Deputy Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs Dr. Harsha de Silva said politics had turned into a ‘disgusting’ event in which each person blamed the other of wrongdoing and no one concerned themselves with policies or taking the country forward.

Addressing the ‘Balaya’ programme yesterday the Deputy Minister said that as an economist he had involved himself in politics with the intention of doing something for the country – “but this disgusting politics is talking away from policy building,” the Deputy Minister said.

“How much of this time,” he asked of fellow participants in the ‘Balaya’ programme, “ have we spent discussing policies, or the way forward? This has become all about accusations – “this one is a thief, the other one is the thief and so on and so forth,” he said.

He said the entire country was corrupt – “This country is corrupt,” he said, “ There is no sense in pointing fingers and saying ‘a robbery occurred here, and a robbery occurred there’; the entire country runs on robbery,” the Deputy Minister charged.

“Robbery occurs at the municipal councils, robbery occurs when you go to pass a plan, robbery occurs at the hospital when you pay a bribe to jump the line,” the Deputy Minister said, adding that he was now ‘sick of it all”.