Institutional credibility 

Since the passage of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, the appointment of persons to key positions in ‘independent’ commissions and State institutions is the sole prerogative of the President. The checks and balances that were incorporated, even nominally, through the 19th Amendment were retracted by the 20th. In this situation, it is critical for the President to make the right choices, and ensure that what his critics feared from an all-powerful, unaccountable presidency does not come to pass. 

Recent appointments to the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) and the Office for Reparations (OfR) raise several questions about the credibility of these institutions set up to deal with Sri Lanka’s lingering legacy of war, and their capacity to serve victims. 

The OMP was established by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government and tasked with investigating the fate of tens of thousands of missing and forcibly disappeared persons in the country. The first Chairman of the OMP was the current Bar Association President and renowned President’s Counsel, Saliya Peiris. 

Sri Lanka, this tiny island in the Indian Ocean, has the second largest caseload of disappearances before the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, a painful and unending legacy of two youth insurrections and a protracted civil war in the island. The Office of Reparations was another step towards transitional justice advanced by the Yahapalanaya Administration – a means of acknowledging war wounds and finding ways to redress the losses, through material and other means, including memorialization and public apology. 

The Gotabaya Rajapaksa Administration’s decision to keep the OMP and the OfR at least nominally operational was touted widely at the recently concluded UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva. It was the Sri Lankan delegation’s evidence of its commitment to the basic notions of transitional justice post-war. 

These institutions were showcased as a ‘credible’ alternative to international jurisdiction for human rights abuses committed in the island, and the government argued that they had the capacity and the expertise to offer redress to many thousands of victims who had placed their faith in the mechanisms. However, last month, the Government made the bizarre decision to appoint a former IGP as a member of the OMP. 

As a war-time Police Chief, Jayantha Wickramaratne was at the helm when thousands of people disappeared during the final phase of the war. The former Police Chief has also been implicated in derailing the Lasantha Wickrematunge murder investigation, by the daughter of the slain journalist. The appointment of a retired Major General as head of the Office for Reparations has eroded the credibility of an institution established to focus on recognizing and repairing past abuses, most of which occurred in a vicious war between the Sri Lankan military and the LTTE. These appointments reflect similar positions granted to loyalists, former judges with dubious records and politically compromised individuals into the OMP, OfR and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.  From the Government’s own perspective, it desperately needs to present these institutions to the world as viable options capable of delivering justice to the victims of war. It is extremely likely that such appointments will be highlighted in upcoming sessions of the Human Rights Council in Geneva as evidence of the GoSL’s lack of commitment to address its human rights record in Sri Lanka. 

There is no doubt that the Government is creating a huge credibility gap with these and other appointments. Questions have been raised about the members of the Port City Commission, with at least two officials on the Commission previously linked to corruption charges. The official tasked with handling the purchase of vaccinations for COVID-19 was convicted by Sri Lanka’s High Court for fraud and misappropriation of State funds. The appointment of individuals with chequered pasts to these positions erodes public trust and creates scepticism and resentment against the ruling administration. 

Individuals matter. Individuals with integrity bring credibility to the institutions they serve and inspire confidence in their decisions. After the Treasury bond scandal in 2015, the appointment of Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy as Governor of Central Bank restored much confidence in the financial regulator. When it is facing a multitude of challenges, Sri Lanka cannot afford to lose credibility in its most vital institutions.  With the powers vested in him by the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, going forward, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa must do everything in his power to bridge the credibility gap with his appointments.