AFP :
Sri Lanka’s leftist president marked the anniversary of independence from Britain on Tuesday with a pledge to change the impoverished island nation’s image as a “corrupt” country.
Self-avowed Marxist Anura Kumara Dissanayake dispensed with the usual elaborate military pageantry of jet flyovers and horse parades to mark the 1948 handover of power.
His government instead staged a scaled-down military march in keeping with his pledge to pare lavish spending on government officialdom.
“We are committed to transforming Sri Lanka’s global image from a country known for corrupt governance,” he said in a message to the nation.
