It’s hard for a country when a man who belongs in jail ends up becoming a senior leader like its president or prime minister. Sri Lanka is finding this out the hard way, thanks to Mahinda Rajapaksa and his extended family. He has been one of the most incompetent leaders ever to emerge out of Asia, but no one appears to have cottoned on to that fact because he hasn’t allowed people to broadcast it. Until now, that is.

The residents of Sri Lanka have been protesting on the streets for weeks, camping out outside Parliament, denouncing their government. They want President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother Mahinda to resign not just for economic mismanagement, but for unprecedented corruption that has brought their country to its knees. They are running out of food and medical supplies, and are on the verge of being locked out of international markets. There have been no press conferences because, like all cowards, Rajapaksa is afraid of tough questions from journalists.