From economic accountability to war-time accountability

The people's mandate at the general election seven months ago was for "system change".

- BY JEHAN PERERA

The main hope of those who voted overwhelmingly for the NPP was to improve the economic situation. Those who live in the north and east of the country, where the long civil war took place, voted along with their fellow citizens in other parts of the country for an improvement in their economic circumstances and a break from the decades of exclusion they have experienced. One way they thought this would happen was through the reduction of corruption that took resources away from economic development. The NPP's central promise was to govern cleanly, hold the corrupt accountable, and recover the billions of dollars allegedly looted and hidden abroad. A common and growing criticism of the government, however, is that this recovery has yet to materialise in any significant form.

In recent weeks there has been a spate of arrests of politicians who were members of former governments and who are believed to have been corrupt. Some of them have been charged for offences that are much smaller than what they are believed to have engaged in. Some of them have been taken in for purchasing vehicles without paying the necessary taxes, and others for having used government funds to purchase things outside of the prescribed budget. In some cases, the offences for which they have been indicted appear minor compared to the larger, more systemic corruption they are suspected of. Yet, the judiciary has handed down unexpectedly severe sentences, suggesting a shift in the legal and political climate.