Jayasuriya Weliamuna

Jayasuriya Weliamuna (Weli) has introduced a multifaceted and non-hostile approach to reduce corruption in Sri Lanka by fostering cooperation among ethical members of the private and public sectors.

Weli has rejected the traditional adversarial approach towards addressing corruption in Sri Lanka, and has replaced it with a systemic, positive anti-corruption strategy. He engages public sector officers perceived as highly corrupt, and offers them positive incentives to change their ways, including future recognition and affirmation. Simultaneously, Weli identifies the most upstanding officials and engages them as champions for building a system of integrity. In a country where citizens tend to blame corruption on civil servants, Weli is encouraging honest state officers to be recognized, as well as creating unique public incentives for once-corrupt civil servants to participate in the campaign to end corruption among their ranks. The Clean Hands Campaign and Integrity Award are Weli’s intertwined strategies to create a forum of high officials in government who are committed to a transparent, corruption-free delivery of government services. In support of this, Weli has developed an Integrity Pledge that provides a binding values-based framework of commitment that can be adopted by all segments of civil society. Weli has also developed the National Anti-Corruption Council and Awareness Forum as a platform for all like-minded institutions to share knowledge and build commitment. Through this forum, he has brought important new issue areas like the environment to the forefront of his campaign. The newest component of Weli’s plan is to establish a National Learning Center for Good Governance to educate the general public and create a broad movement against corruption. Currently he is affiliating the center within Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) and hopes to see it become a living public repository for anti-corruption discourse.

In Sri Lanka, corruption has permeated society to such an extent that every individual in the country is affected. With more than a hundred ministries, Sri Lanka has one of the world’s largest governments, and also one of the most unethical. Political elections have little importance because the party in power may buy off MPs and key players from other political parties, offering them ministerial or other top posts in the government. This results in a watered down democracy in which public sector corruption is not limited to high ranking officials, but rather trickles down to the administration and bureaucracy as well. Social scientists argue that corruption is both a major precursor of and factor in the nation’s economic decline and social underdevelopment.

According to a recent study by TISL, the police force of Sri Lanka is the most corrupt institution of government. It is usual practice in many police stations that people are required to pay a bribe in order to lodge a complaint. Addtionally, there have been many reports of police torture while protecting offenders who have paid handsomely to avoid prosecution. In this way, corruption is not only a commercial transaction, but can also involve criminal activity. Another sector that is highly corrupt is the education system. It is widely known in Sri Lanka that most principals, vice principals, and other key functionaries of prestigious schools take bribes when admitting students. Corruption seems to be prevalent even at the classroom level, with some teachers collecting money from the parents of students in their care.

Until recently, there was no significant civil society group that intervened in these issues. While the legislative, executive, judicial, and administrative framework of Sri Lanka provides for different safeguards against corruption, these measures have inherent weaknesses. The failure of the government is amply demonstrated by the waste of public finances, aggressive and unjust use of the executive presidency, and the prevailing culture of impunity and lawlessness.

Weli became the director of TISL in 2002 in an effort to move his anti-corruption work forward with international support and protection. In the subsequent years, TISL has formed strategic alliances with many state and public sector institutions to incorporate anti-corruption education into their training curricula. In fact, Weli and his team at TISL were the first to develop an anti-corruption training manual and tool kit in South Asia. The participation of top ranking government officials was a key aspect of his strategy. Weli has succeeded in getting the Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration to use the manual in existing training modules, as well as the Institute of Local Government, the Police Training School, and the Police Higher Education Institute.

Weli and his team have already successfully piloted their anti-corruption educational program in schools in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. His concept of an “Integrity Laboratory” is an innovative way to teach kids the importance of ethics. Weli is currently negotiating with the Ministry of Education for a formal Memorandum of Understanding with TISL to expand his anti-corruption educational programs to elementary schools.

In an effort to engage the public to end corruption in the public sector, Weli and his team have introduced a people’s platform run with the participation of the general public and government officials. This platform creates an open and productive dialogue among citizens and the public officers who are appointed to serve them.

Weli has also created a parallel and non-antagonistic system to prosecute those who participate in public sector bribery and corruption with a focus on public administration, public service, and the judiciary. He is working with established anti-corruption agencies, including the Anti Bribery Commission and the Auditor General’s Office, as well as regulatory bodies such as the Committee on Public Enterprises and Committee on Public Accounts by providing constructive input and support. At the same time, Weli has succeeded in convincing public institutions such the Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration and the Police Training Institute to consider anti-corruption education as an integral part of their career advancement training.

TISL, infused with Weli’s ideas, champions an extremely visible and vocal anti-corruption struggle. It is this successful institution building that has given Weli the confidence he needs to build the National Learning Center for Good Governance.

Weli hails from Walasmulla, a very remote, poverty stricken village in southern Sri Lanka, infamous for its gang violence. He is from a middle-class family, and is the youngest of five siblings. The person who most influenced Weli’s early life was his father, whom he describes as straightforward, tough, and very supportive. From a young age, Weli abhorred exploitation, and was often disturbed by the way workers were treated.

In school, Weli had an English teacher who shaped his political thinking greatly, and showed him how learning English could serve as a means of social learning. Weli read poetry, newspapers, fiction, and most importantly, listened to BBC News broadcasts that introduced him to the most pressing issues going on in the world around him.

While studying law, Weli experienced anti-village discrimination since the law college was primarily a place for elite and upper-class English-speaking students. This class bias disturbed him and in 1985 he organized a student movement and was elected to the student union during his first year of law school. At this time, universities were dominated by JVP (ultra-left) student unionists and in 1988, the JVP closed all the universities in the South. However, the student movement under Weli’s leadership did not allow this to happen. Angered, the JVP declined affiliation with the college.

After graduating from law school in 1990, Weli practiced under one of the country’s leading constitutional lawyers, R.K.W. Goonesekere, and pursued a law career in fundamental rights. That year marked one of the worst in Sri Lanka’s human rights history, causing many human rights lawyers to migrate abroad out of fear. Weli, however, continued to take on cases that others would not.

During this time, Weli saw human rights violations that affected him greatly, having volunteered to witness to mass-graves in the south dug up for investigation after the JVP insurgency, and the infamous Embilipitiya massacre in 1989, in which 48 schoolchildren were murdered and buried. Weli and his village friends not only lobbied for an investigation with international observation, but also continuously monitored and documented the case proceedings.

Weli is known for his work both regionally and internationally, and was recently awarded with an Eisenhower Fellowship.