PCCSL assures inquiry into media receiving training to the tune of USD 7.9 mn

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa yesterday (09) renewed his call for a thorough investigation into US intervention in the 2022 so-called Aragalaya project that forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa out of office.

The former Cabinet Minister said the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led Jathika Jana Balawegaya couldn’t side-step the issue against the backdrop of new US administration’s decision to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID) over squandering of US taxpayers’ money on overseas projects.

The crux of the matter was whether the US through USAID and other agencies funded Aragalaya, the former parliamentarian said, pointing out the recent revelation of funding to the tune of USD 7.9 mn made available to teach Sri Lankan journalists how to avoid “binary-gendered language” underscored the urgent need for a comprehensive investigation.

Responding to another query, the former JVPer said that though that funding had been categorized so, the actual purpose could be political as clandestine US interventions here were no secret.

The NFF backed Dilith Jayaweera’s candidature at the last presidential election held in Sept. 2024 but pulled out of that coalition ahead of the general election in Nov. of the same year.

Press Commissioner Niroshan Thambawita said that the Press Council couldn’t inquire into such a matter.

“We could intervene in case of violation of the media code of ethics or some aggravated party making a complaint regarding a news item published in a newspaper or a magazine. The Press Council does not have a mandate to inquire into funding made by a foreign agency to the media here,” Thambawita said. The official said so in response to The Island query.

Asked for the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL) response, its Chief Executive Sukumar Rockwood said that he would initiate an inquiry if it received a complaint. Rockwood said that PCCSL couldn’t initiate an inquiry on its own.

Ex-minister Weerawansa emphasized that successive governments never bothered to take precautionary measures even after the State Department declared that the US funded regime change projects in Myanmar, Nigeria and Sri Lanka during 2014/2015. No less a person than Secretary of State John Kerry is on record as having said that they spent $585 mn in promoting democracy across the globe in 2015, including Sri Lanka, the former minister pointed out. Weerawansa emphasized that USAID was among those outfits that dispensed funds here.

The NFF leader said that perhaps the Editor’s Guild of Sri Lanka should inquire into this matter without delay. All political parties represented in the current Parliament should be seriously concerned as Parliament, too, was a recipient of US funding through USAID and other agencies, the outspoken politician said. Perhaps one of the most important aspects is the need to examine US funding meant for the judiciary, the former Minister said.

Pointing out that in ‘09: The Hidden Story’ he had comprehensively dealt with the US role in the project to oust Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the NFF chief said that those who had been critical of compensation paid to the then lawmakers for destruction of their property were silent on people responsible for the organized attacks.

Sena Thoradeniya, too, intensely examined Aragalaya in ‘Galle Face Protest: System Change or Anarchy? launched soon after Weerawansa’s work.

Weerawansa said that repeated interventions made by the US on behalf of the Aragalaya project weren’t secret. There was a need to examine external interventions as the country couldn’t afford to turn a blind eye to such manipulations, he said.

The Island asked SLPP National List MP and its national organizer Nasal Rajapaksa as to why he was silent on Parliament and Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), too receiving US funding. The former minister said that he would take up it if the newspaper could provide required information.

MP Rajapaksa recently called for US funded projects here. The SLPPer identified the recipients of USAID funding as NGOs, journalists and politicians.

Former UPFA parliamentarian and one-time head of the Peace Secretariat Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha said that examination of USAID funding would be a good idea, for we know that aid over the last quarter of a century has been aimed at fulfilment of political goals. Prof. Wijesinha explained: “But the fault lies in us for not having a proper system of accountability, and mechanisms to assess impact. I tried, when I headed the Peace Secretariat, along with the then Secretary to the Planning Ministry to set up a system, and then again when asked to help monitor activity, but after I failed to vote to impeach Shirani Bandaranayake in January 2013, the late Lakshman Hulugalle, who was in charge, avoided me and work did not proceed. I should add that such monitoring requires staff proficient in English, but they are hard to find at this level given the failure to move on good universal English Language Teaching.”

Prof. Wijesinha said that Sri Lanka in spite of being a major recipient of foreign funding was yet to establish an efficient mechanism to monitor funding. The Parliament should take the initiative in this regard, the academic said.

Former minister Weerawansa said that former Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena acknowledged external intervention in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ouster but the government didn’t inquire into it. Weerawansa noted that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) declined to investigate it.

The US Embassy in Colombo directed The Island to contact ‘The Office of Press Operations’ of the State Department when we submitted the following questions: “[1] What is the status of current USAID projects, including Parliament and BASL [2] Is there a likelihood of cancellation of all USAID funded projects here?

The US embassy directed us to get in touch with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)- a federal law enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding our query on deportation of illegal Sri Lankan immigrants against the backdrop of repatriation of illegal Indians.