Is bypassing regulatory oversight, including evaluation, the answer to solving medicines shortages that were caused by not only dollar shortages but sheer inefficiency, lethargy, lack of coordination and procrastination? Are walk-in offers by unregistered pharma companies ok?
Here’s a medical supplies issue I’ve covered for weeks but was too tired to tweet about. It’s related to drugs shortages, procurement and Indian credit. Specialists are repeatedly warning it poses a significant danger to public health.
Ask yourselves one thing, though: If you had the gas, electricity, fuel, the imports, all your fun...would your eyes ever have opened to everything you are railing against now? They existed for decades, across many governments. Is this change permanent?
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis
All you protesters, understand one thing, if NOTHING else: There are deep vested interests among you that incite violence. They make you storm houses and offices, target people, damage property. When that call starts, use your heads. Say NO.
#SriLankaCrisis
#SriLanka
This is Jubilee Post Junction, expanded after
@GotabayaR
won power so he can travel to work from home. The crowd is huge, angry, spotaneous.
#EconomicCrisisLK
Karunatilaka said as he accepted his prize: "My hope is that in the not too distant future...
#SriLanka
has understood that these ideas of corruption and race-baiting and cronyism have not worked and will never work.
The main reason
@RajapaksaNamal
is at every event is clearly to make him seem indisepnsible/future presidential candidate. But what has he achieved compared to how much public funds have been spent on blowing up his image? Why must
#SriLanka
pay? Who asked for him?
NEVER forget what this country's systems did to Dr Shafi. NEVER forget how a malicious, fantastical story was conjured out of thin air and how 'medical experts' lined up to give it credence. If it happened to him, it will happen to anyone. (1)
Remember how you thought Gota'd be a great leader because he prettified cities, built walking tracks and put the poor away where you couldn't see them? Is Colombo looking pretty now as you line up with the poor in interminable queues and walk to and from work?
#SriLankaCrisis
A Four Corners investigation, in collaboration with Colombo's
@TimesOnlineLK
also established that Aspen Medical has been embroiled in an international criminal probe into corruption and money laundering. Airing tonight.
#SriLanka
The health sector investigation is the single longest one I've done in a while, starting December 2022. Had we kept silent, or given up, many more innocent users of government hospitals would have died or suffered. That is now blatantly clear.
#SriLanka
spent nearly Rs 95 million on the National Independence Day celebrations held this year, a Right to Information (RTI) request revealed. It's the highest amount spent on this event in the last 5 years. Superb RTI story.
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis
I have investigated
#corruption
for years. And I have learned that if a politician opposes a deal, it's usually because it's not the deal he/she is backing.
#SriLanka
#LNG
No offence to the rest, but THANK YOU to the doctors who studied from state funds (or otherwise) that are choosing to stay back and serve. It's hard for most right now and I know so many people who need good medical/healthcare that are struggling.
#SriLanka
While we are all raging against past corruption and, hopefully, blaming ourselves over why we did nothing about it, why don't you also read about a real-time case that's happening as we watch? Central Expressway Project Section III or
#CEPIII
#corruption
#SriLanka
Remember post-war
#SriLanka
, when
@PresRajapaksa
was in charge and triumphalism ruled? Do you know how much money was quietly being poured into Hambantota at the time? We tried to track it and got nowhere near the complete figure. But here's what we found (1)
#PowerCutLK
I'm among 13 new members of International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (
@ICIJorg
), just announced. It's the pinnacle of my journalistic aspirations. There are two members now from
#SriLanka
, both from
@TimesOnlineLK
. The other is Iqbal Athas.
If there's no stability NOW, expect economic suffering of epic proportions. There are NO reserves. None. No credit lines. This means no fuel, electricity, money for rice, dhal, anything. Chaos is delaying talks on the economy.
#SriLankaCrisis
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis
#SriLanka
We routinely blame MPs and Ministers for corruption. But I'm shifting my focus now to the corporate sector and public administration: people who know EXACTLY what is going on and allow it to happen, PARTICIPATE, often for personal gain.
#SriLanka
#corruption
#SriLanka
's public sector speaks up, by Damith Wickramasekara via
@TimesOnlineLK
. Ministry secretaries have proposed to Govt that it should cut down number of ministers, reduce their perks, drastically curb the number of state ministers or scrap the positions...
Did you know there is a replica of the
#Alaqsa
mosque in the eastern
#SriLanka
city of Kattankudy, Batticaloa? It welcomes people of all faiths to visit, take photographs and even watch prayers. It was one of the loveliest experiences of my life.
President will resign. If PM also resigns, there will be no cabinet and ministry secretaries will cease to function. Who will replace them? Who will be the unity government? Who will be PM and President to sign papers, run the government? What is the plan?
#SriLanka
Not sure you'll read this as I'm not simpering at your "good looks" but
@kanchana_wij
you seriously need to float a solution to kill the fuel black market. If there isn't enough expertise within the government, please look for it outside.
#SriLanka
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis
Main weakness of broader "aragalaya" is that it's a protest against shortages, not against nature of govt or governance in
#SriLanka
. If that's so, there's no call for real and deep change. Rajapaksas and all politicians know that. So they'll just wait it out.
#SriLankaCrisis
Amidst the protests, please remember that what makes it SO hard to dislodge a deeply and widely unpopular president are the provisions of the constitution that will shield and empower similar leaders in future. Tackle this at the root, if/once this one leaves.
#SriLanka
Possible Rajapaksa administration thinking: The rains come, electricity will be back. Continued short-term solutions to fuel/gas issue will reduce/solve scarcities. Economic team will successfully navigate the other issues. President/same cabinet will continue...
#SriLanka
.
@TRCSL
Chairman, why did you lie? Whose money pays your wages? Suppressing information is one thing. Lying is another. Telco sources also confirmed the letter was sent. If the head of the REGULATORY AUTHORITY lies, what governance?
#SriLanka
No policy. No plan beyond begging. No change. No foresight. No preparedness. No empathy. No understanding. No sacrifices from the heads of this bizarre administration. Not ONE hint that they care for how people are suffering.
#SriLanka
#SriLanka
's National Audit Office confirms one pvt company exceedingly benefited from the sugar tax cut in Oct 2020-Feb 2021. Pyramid Wilmar (Pvt) Ltd imported 1,222 percent more sugar than usual but did not pass on the advantage.
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis
I will never condone the blocking of social media. The availability of VPN, just like I’m using now, makes such bans completely useless. I urge the authorities to think more progressively and reconsider this decision.
#SocialMediaBanLK
#SriLanka
#lka
Why do we pay for his SUVs, his fuel, his air fare, his chopper rides, his entertainment when he attends events that are nowhere connected to his portfolio? Why is an entire nation forced to mollycoddle an over-indulged child even in times of unbearable hardship?
The whistleblowers, the CID investigators, the AG's department, the judge, the medical associations that spoke up, others behind the scenes, and the fact that the immunoglobulin caused adverse reactions or nobody would ever have known. That contract would have been pure profit.
Here is the
@TimesOnlineLK
teaser on today's 'Four Corners' investigation by ABC.
#Aspen
’s first transaction in Sri Lanka was a payment of 1.3mn euros to a British-Virgin Islands company called Sabre Vision Holdings, owned by businessman Nimal Perera.
Why do schools have sports meets, including practices, during the absolute HOTTEST time of the year when even experts say to keep out of the sun? Kids are really exposed.
#SriLanka
#heatwave
The video gives clear insight into how
@GotabayaR
's administration still thinks--along political lines, them vs opposition, electoral number crunching, no real grasp of just how angry people are.
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis
#SriLanka
The
#PandoraPapers
: AWAIT
@icij
story on how Nirupama Rajapaksa and Thirukumar Nadesan are documented as being actual economic beneficiaries of an offshore company managed by a Singapore trust firm used to purchase luxury residences in London and Sydney, Australia.
#SriLanka
.
@kanchana_wij
Could you also investigate reports that the police are causing tensions at sheds by getting favoured access to fuel over people who have been waiting in line for hours and hours? If this continues, given the current mood, are you not afraid of widespread violence?
License of 3 Fuel trucks have been suspended immediately by CEYPETCO and LIOC pending further investigations in to the 3 Incidents reported on social media on fuel transport trucks illegally unloading fuel. I Thank everyone who brought the illegal activities to our notice.
By regulations made under the Public Security Ordinance (Chapter 40), the Govt has sought to impose criminal penalties on citizens who make certain posts on social media. Possible that this is
#SriLanka
's first attempt to criminalise communication over social media.
@samarajiva
Here’s a medical supplies issue I’ve covered for weeks but was too tired to tweet about. It’s related to drugs shortages, procurement and Indian credit. Specialists are repeatedly warning it poses a significant danger to public health.
Asking
@namalrajapaksa
whether he chartered aircraft from
@flysrilankan
is pertinent, relevant and NECESSARY, considering past history.
@TimesOnlineLK
investigated the abuse of the national airline during the presidency of his father and found that...(1)
Please don't leave the tap running while you brush your teeth. It's my tap in my house, but water is a shared resource and belongs to everyone. It's costly to purify water and to get it to our houses. When you waste it, you deprive someone else of it.
#SriLanka
There's not enough public outrage about the fact that
@Keheliya_R
and
#SriLanka
's health ministry paid for and distributed among hospitals a human blood-based intravenous medication that we don't know the origin of. Where the hell did the immunoglobulin come from?
Wouldn't it be awesome if people actually read what we journalists spend time and effort producing?
@TimesOnlineLK
reported
@Keheliya_R
's partial bill payment three weeks ago. 🤦
@yoshithaperera
Bang on all you want about
#SriLanka
's superb
#vaccination
drive but please don't add to the false sense of security that everything is fine because of it. People are planning/having parties and trips, acting like there's no
#COVID19
. KIDS ARE'NT VACCINATED. REMEMBER THAT.
What are you SAYING
@alisabrypc
? That Cabinet wasn't told? Cabinet was misled? Nobody read Cabinet papers? Or, for that matter, anything economists were saying since 2020 and before? Didn't even HEAR them? This is a hell of an admission.
#SriLanka
A president need not "instruct relevant authorities" to carry out "impartial investigations". That's what relevant authorities are supposed to do. This, right here, is what's wrong. Our systems are so politicized that impartial investigations have to be requested like favours.
Taxing food, school supplies (including shoes and uniforms) and books is not "debt sustainability" when tens of thousands of people are struggling. It's robbing
#SriLanka
of its future. The past and present are already stolen. Kids are not attending school.
What is happening now is no different to what happened for the last one year: Nothing. That is what got
#SriLanka
here; that
@GotabayaR
@PresRajapaksa
and
@RealBRajapaksa
did nothing even when they were advised/warned. Beyond April, there's no money for fuel or essentials.
//The company was secretly owned by a middleman, Nimal Perera, notorious for his links to the Rajapaksa family which has dominated Sri Lankan politics for decades.//
Read how
#SriLanka
messed up longstanding
#Japan
relations and the inside story of the LRT cancellation. Unanswered phones, unaddressed questions and just plain bad manners.
#SriLanka
's criminal investigation department (CID) has an awful lot of time on its hands to be going after, not just 'fake' news--of which there is plenty--but doctors who speak the truth. THREAD.
It's exhausting to keep hearing "you're just a journalist", "you're just a pattara karaya", "who are you, an unknown journalist" so many years down the line. But the common thread is that this always comes from people in authority who depend on patronage/votes for relevance.
Shafi Shihabdeen speaks for the first time to media via
@TimesOnlineLK
: "I was completely isolated. Will they keep me or let me go? I didn’t know the system and had no one to ask. I felt helpless.”
Good, but also observe the irony in this. The police are meant to be independent. It is years of politicization and subservience that have led to a situation where they have to be TOLD to investigate. That's their JOB. They shouldn't need a prod from attorney general.
#SriLanka
The Attorney General has advised the IGP to expedite the investigation into the Galle Face attack. Meanwhile, the CID has been instructed to probe the incident
#SriLanka
#lka
#GalleFaceProtest
#CrisisLK
The CEB's "cost-reflective pricing":
An independent power producer (IPP) selling electricity to the national grid since the early 2000s had by March 2021 made a net profit of Rs 14.8bn amounting to 855 percent of its initial investment, a Government audit has found.
Remember how
#SriLanka
canceled the light rail transit system funded by
#Japan
International Cooperation Agency because PB Jayasundera said it was "too expensive"? Read the story by
@TimesOnlineLK
colleague Bandula Sirimanna.
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis
This is what your government is doing behind closed doors, despite this project being horrendously over-priced and non-essential. While Johnston Fernando is personally pushing it at ministry level, it has high backers.
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis
#SriLanka
We will write more articles on the many facets of this problem in coming weeks:
More and more foreigners on tourist visas are setting up unauthorised businesses on
#SriLanka
’s Southern and Eastern coasts, operating freely outside of the tax net.
There is an eerie disconnect between the dire financial crisis we are in and how life goes on as usual for many in Colombo. Like it will blow in our faces at any moment.
I urge those who cared so much about the country last year to read investigations professional journalists do. When you shout "hora, hora" you also need to know HOW they defraud you. This is one of the worst cases I've come across in my career because it was about public health.
It was Dr Shihabdeen that delivered former Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) President Anuruddha Padeniya’s second baby via C-section. “Although I am a member of the GMOA, I stood strongly against them when it came to strikes...
I see we've forgotten appointments Ranil Wickremesinghe made as Prime Minister that contributed towards governance--in addition to his bad relations with Maithripala Sirisena--being an irretrievable mess. Short example: His Cabinet Committee on Economic Management...
So tired of exam postponements in
#SriLanka
. The deep frustration my nearly 17-year-old daughter feels at having her O/Ls postponed multiple times (now they are scheduled for May 2024) is heartbreaking. Kids here have suffered since the 2019 Easter bombings, then COVID...
The decision to discontinue granting free tourist visas to Russians and Ukrainians who have been living in Sri Lanka since Feb 2022 (when the Russia-Ukraine war broke out) was taken after monthslong discussions between ministries and was not a knee-jerk reaction, documents show.