Current Political Situation in SriLanka by Jayadeva de Silva ,leader of the Independent Group 9 contesting Colombo district at the forthcoming general election

1. 1
Why are they Contesting ?
CCCC SriLanka Sponsors a Team of Peoples Representatives for
Colombo District
Jayadeva de Silva
Campaign for Clean and Competent Candidates was initiated to compel the
political parties to nominate better people as their candidates. Twelve parties
signed the famous March 12 declaration and undertook to do that .Did they
honour that agreement? No. PAFFREL produced a petition with million signatures
to compel these parties. Did they take notice of it ? No.

2. 2
CCCC SriLanka launched a website giving the people of this country to nominate
clean and competent candidates and they managed to field a team for Colombo
District only .They contest as the IndependentGroup no 9 with electric torch as
their symbolwhich has been chosen to depict their mission which states inter
alia. “We the citizens of Sri Lanka, entrust our sovereign right to the
members of parliament to ensure the Rule of Law and Good Governance
prevails at all times. We shall ensure this through a process of
identifying suitable candidates who have hitherto kept away .
This team comprises of Doctors , Aurvedic physician, Lawyer,
Journalist, Academic, Buisnessmen, Enterpreneurs, Social activists,
Journalists ,Marketers, Company directors. They belong to Sinhala,
Tamil, Malay who belong to Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Islam
religions. Further 25 % of the candidates are women.
Campaign for Clean and Competent Candidates, invited all those who
wish to contribute to this unique mission, to make our sovereignty more
meaningful.
Activists of the movement found that public opinion about the majority
of the persons who have sought and obtained nominations from major
political parties are very unsatisfactory. They believe the only way to
deter unsuitable persons entering the parliament is to field good
candidates as independents.
The movement is seriously handicapped by the lack of resources needed
.Yet the response from the members of public is extremely encouraging
CCCC had many discussions on the current political situation and had
decided to focus attention on certain key issues
They have identified tourism, tea export, apparel, textile, rice
production and other agricultural products as major economic sectors of
Sri Lanka. In addition to these economic sectors, overseas employment

3. 3
contributes highly in foreign exchange, 90% of expatriate Sri Lankans
reside in the Middle East
The parties which ruled the country after 1948 did not implement any
national plan or policy on the economy, veering between left and right
wing economic practices. Almost five years after the end of the three-
decade civil conflict, Sri Lanka now need to focus on long-term
strategic and structural development challenges as it strives to transition
to an upper middle income country.
Identified key challenges include ensuring that growth is inclusive,
realigning public spending and policy with the needs of a middle income
country, ensuring appropriate resource allocations for the various tiers of
government, and enhancing the role of the private sector, including
provision of appropriate incentives for increasing productivity and
exports.
Following is a list of their key proposals
1 Review of the existing National development plans in the light of
the recent changes;
2 Possible deployment Police and Armed forces to combat crimes
including drug menace;
3 Promote setting up of an Independent police commission;
4 Create employment opportunities for poor marginalized youth;
5 Create increased employment opportunities to disabled including
disabled soldiers;
6 Renegotiate contracts entered with foreign and local contractors to
obtain more favorable terms for the country;

4. 4
7 Reinvigorate all plantation industries by eliminating all types of
corruption;
8 Improve living conditions of the plantation workers;
9 Promote local and export agriculture;
10 Attract quality investments with opportunities for quality high
paying jobs;
11 Reduce income inequality, reduce reliance on sending housemaids to
foreign countries
12 Promote concept of living and equitable wages;
13 Create equal employment opportunities based on merit and need;
14 Appoint quality academics for higher learning;
15 Attracting foreign academics for short term assignments;
16 Equal opportunities in education for children;
17 Part of the emoluments of all teachers to be based on the academic
performance of the students to prevent wasteful expenditure of time and
money on tuition;
18 Formulate concrete policy to tackle to challenges of global warming
and pollution;
19 Preserve our forests, wet lands and bio diversity;
20 Improve public transportation as a cost effective alternative;
21 Maintain friendly relations with all the countries as was the practice
for many decades

5. 5
22 -Promote social equity and gender equity and concerns of all ethnic
and religious groups, minorities and women.