The cat is out of the bag!

Over the past few years, several academics had been promoting themselves as "Independent" economists and professionals without any political bias, and had been freely giving their views in the public fora. One has been described as a "lead economist"; another as a "respected human resource consultant"; another as an "outstanding independent accountant", and some others as "independent banking consultants". The public were repeatedly bombarded with their views which were supposed to be impartial and independent,Last week, however, that well-constructed facade was shattered and the true nature and bias of these so-called independent professionals was exposed.

This happened when five of them represented the United National Party at the meeting that the Standard and Poors' Rating Agency Team had with the Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Standard & Poors Rating Agency Team was in town to undertake a review of Sri Lanka's Credit Rating, and as a part of their review process, had met with the Leader of the Opposition.

At that meeting which was held at the Cambridge Terrace office of the Leader of the UNP, two such supposed to be independent experts, Harsha de Silva and Ranil Wijesinghe made detailed presentations about the shortcomings in the economy while the other "impartial" professionals, Dinesh Weerakkody, Mangala Boyagoda and Sarath Rajapathirana, chipped in.

It was also said that Ranil Wickremesinghe, who came late for the meeting had given a lot of recognition to Ranil Wijesinghe, which recognition, insiders say, had not been to the liking of the others.

There now seems to be some intense jostling for positions within the UNP's economic hierarchy and the five "independent" experts seem to be actively competing with each other to gain the eye of the leader, even it means that they have to sacrifice their "independent" status.