Despite promoting himself as a symbol of minimalism and anti-corruption, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has come under scrutiny after Tamil-language media published details obtained via the Right to Information Act, showing that 1 Crore 10 Lakhs 79 Thousand 75 Rupees and 50 Cents was spent on a single public event in Jaffna. Curiously, no mainstream Sinhala or English media outlets have reported these figures, raising questions about selective coverage and transparency.
The event took place the day after Thai Pongal at the Kokkuvil Technical College grounds. According to the District Secretariat, 25 Lakhs 66 Thousand 885 Rupees were spent solely on transporting attendees, reflecting the extraordinary efforts made to ensure a large public turnout.
The RTI-based breakdown shows a massive pavilion and stage arrangement costing 52 Lakhs 37 Thousand Rupees, food and refreshments totaling 31 Lakhs 13 Thousand Rupees, and 23 Lakhs 43 Thousand Rupees paid to the Sri Lanka Transport Board to hire 75 buses. Additional costs included 51 Thousand 700 Rupees for banners, 23 Thousand 375 Rupees for guest reception, 36 Thousand Rupees for drinking water and toilets, 1 Lakh 18 Thousand Rupees for ground preparation, and 1 Lakh 54 Thousand Rupees for miscellaneous expenses.
The event was organized by the Jaffna District Secretariat in coordination with the Ministry of Defence to launch the national drug eradication program, “The Whole Country Together.” It followed President Dissanayake’s previous engagements during the Thai Pongal season, including inaugurating wind power projects in Mannar and attending Pongal celebrations at the Manipai Maruthady Temple.
A similar expenditure pattern was noted for a separate event on January 16th at the Meesalai Veerasingam School, where 11 private buses were hired at a cost of 2 Lakhs 23 Thousand Rupees to transport attendees for the “Resettlement Housing Assistance” program for displaced families.
This is textbook example of biased, cherry-picked journalism.
The use of RTI data to make Rs. 1.10 Crore sound ‘lavish’ for a national-scale event involving thousands of people and 75 buses, yoy conveniently fail to provide any historical context. Where were these ‘investigative’ reports when previous administrations were spending ten times this amount on private jets and massive luxury convoys?
By focusing on the logistics of a public drug-eradication program while ignoring the massive overall budget cuts AKD has made to his own office, you are clearly manufacturing a scandal rather than reporting the full truth.
This isn’t ‘watchdog’ journalism; it’s a desperate attempt to frame routine state functions as a failure of austerity. If you only report the costs that fit your narrative and ignore the savings that don’t, you aren’t a news site but a PR firm for the opposition!
As intellectuals and journalists have joined to question accountability, is great however we need to focus on
Income generating topics and get individuals to post such topics in your Website.,and organise forums to discuss them to be implemented by the government’s in power. Keep up the good work.