It appears that Ranil and the UNP had a Freudian slip when naming their new political alliance the United National Front for Good Governance, as the English word, front, is commonly defined as “to serve as a cover or disguise for another activity, especially something of a disreputable or illegal nature” (Webster). The Sri Lankan voters have already seen for seven months what Ranil and the UNP believe constitutes ‘good governance’, and it actually is quite the opposite with the largest bond fraud in the history of Sri Lanka committed by their government, and a concerted effort by Ranil and the UNP to cover up this fraud with a so-called ‘independent’ committee of UNP loyalists.
Ranil’s independent committee of UNP loyalists found when they investigated the bond fraud that the Central Bank Governor “had no direct involvement in the selection of the bids for the bonds”, whereas the COPE report contained actual interviews of Central Bank staff members who specifically recalled the governor coming into their department, reviewing the bidding list, and then directing them to accept bids at the exact amount of his nephew’s bid. This is clearly direct involvement by the governor, so Ranil’s UNP committee simply lied to the public to cover up the fraud. And the obvious agreement between the governor and his nephew to change the interest rate from 9.5% to 12% at the last minute after all the other bids were in so only his nephew would be bidding at 12% will cost Sri Lanka ‘billions’ of extra US dollars over the lifetime of these bonds, money that could have been used for better roads, education, and healthcare.
And if this bond fraud and cover up by Ranil and the UNP is not disgusting enough, Ranil claims if he and his UNP party are elected in August he will appoint a ‘new’ independent committee, without telling us what was wrong with the last independent committee he appointed to investigate the bond fraud. Who in their right mind would believe Ranil and the UNP when the last ‘independent’ committee deliberately lied to the public concerning the governor’s direct involvement with the placement of the bonds with his nephew’s company? And what extreme delusion could Ranil possibly be suffering from to think his actions and those of his UNP loyalists are anything close to any notion of ‘good governance’?
But this is what ‘fronting’ means. You put on your best face and then go pretend for the public, hoping you can fool them and make them believe the exact opposite of what is really going on.
So when you see the ‘front’ for good governance on the ballot, remember what these UNP crooks and their enablers have already done in only seven months in office. And remember this when voting – a ‘front’ is a cover or disguise for something else that is probably disreputable or illegal, and could therefore not possibly be associated with ‘good governance’.
Metteyya Brahmana
