Rajiva Wijesinha

“ For six months UNP was protesting against this election. But I won’t blame the party as a whole because still there are members there who believe in democracy. But the behavior of the opposition leader is a threat to democracy. He attained and continues in the leadership without allowing any democracy at all. In fact he declared while he was Prime Minister that he did not think democracy was essential for the development of a country. ”

“ The government needs to do more, not to control things but to ensure that what happens is clear to everyone, that we know who pays whom to do what. They should also make sure that the people of this country benefit from what is termed aid, not just a few very sophisticated people. ”

“ In Sri Lanka for instance, the most critical NGOs receive funds from similar sources, often from the few countries that cite those NGOs to support the criticisms they make. Conversely, when we participated in the Geneva sessions, we realized that the vast majority of countries in the world supported our position. It is sad then to find just a few NGOs producing reports as it seems just to ensure they continue to get funds from countries that want to criticize Sri Lanka. ”

“ What is the response of the government when international organizations such has Human Rights & Amnesty International produce various reports about Sri Lanka and distribute them all over the world?
We need to respond more actively, However we know that there are just a few NGOs, local and international, that create problems for this country. It would help if we could identify their sources of funds, because transparency is important to help people to understand what their aims are. ”

“ They do their best to implement development programs. They do not create any problem to the country. But there are some NGOs which target the government all the time. But we must admire those NGO actors who work with responsibility, who do not live off problems, who put forward sensible suggestions when things need improvement. They too point out that there are problems to be solved, but they confirmed that the people wanted to vote and it did not seem that votes were going to be extracted by force by armed groups.
Your opinion is that this election was a fair & free election? ”

“ But we will do our best, recognizing that, until we empower these people in other ways, it will be a difficult task to disarm them by force, especially amidst still continuing severe threats from the LTTE. But the government can directly tell them to stop the usage of their weapons. That will definitely happen. Meanwhile we must show them the ability of democracy to solve problems.
It is said that the TMVP is having weaponry. Even though they were not used in the Batticaloa local government election there is a possibility they may be used at the provincial council election? ”

“ The head of the International Labor Organization in Geneva understood this at once, when we discussed this, that we should not be satisfied with handouts for those who have suffered, we must empower them to stand on their own. We are now encouraging the UN to work more with agencies that aim at empowerment rather than dependency, ie ILO and IOM. But of course such work is less fashionable, it is less easy to get money. ”

“ They are supposed to provide funds for alleviating poverty. But much money goes to the wrong hands, to those whose main aim is to bring down the Government. We have to question those counties whether they are providing funds for false reports. ”

“ It claims that a claymore attack, in which five soldiers died along with two civilians, could have been perpetrated by the army. Do they really think the forces kill their own troops? The trouble is that people just look at the headlines, and do not read through the full reports. ”

“ The Board deciding on allocations includes those connected with other NGOs that are part of the same network. In short, they obtain funds meant to help our people, and distribute these amongst themselves. ”

“ But a few NGOs will go on and on about this, having never bothered about the LTTE carrying weapons all over the place after 2002, in total violation of the CFA. I should add that most of the NGOs try their best to serve the people. ”