Stassen Group Chairman and business tycoon, Harry Jayawardena has blamed the current political system for rampant corruption in the country, which adversely impacts the business environment, in particular for local businesses. Jayawardena, a veteran of the business community, made these remarks during a business sector discussion forum in Colombo on Tuesday.
“The problem in this country is politics. The politics has corrupted all of us, including myself. There is no policy; no discipline and no rule of law,” he said at the Export Vision 2030 Forum organised by the National Chamber of Exporters (NCE), in Colombo, on Tuesday.
Jayawardena went on to say that as a businessman, he had become a victim of policy changes and lack of rule of law in this country.
“Democracy is very good but every five years we have different policies and the position of the goal post changes. Today, the government owes me over Rs.20 billion. If it was another man, he would have gone bankrupt by now,” Jayawardena added.
He pointed out that settling legal disputes via the current judiciary system has become a nightmare for businesses in the country.
The forum held under the theme “Focusing on the future of the country” highlighted the issues faced by exporters and discussed the changes that are required to meet with the Export Vision 2030.
Jayawardena added, “We have to go back and learn from history – the mistakes we have made, where did we go for 70 years. We gained independence in the 40s. There was a great leader during that time – Mr. D.S.Senanayake – who had a vision for agriculture. I think he was right. First you have to read your people before you talk anything else.
What is the problem in this country right now is politics. Politics has corrupted all of us including myself.”“Look at our dairy industry. We spend billions of dollars to import milk powder and milk products and then the government imported cows spending more money – they are all sick cows.
This is where we go wrong. We have everything here – what are we doing?,” he said adding that ‘it was not necessary to bring everything from abroad.’
Courtesy: Daily News
