The SLPP coalition is now in disarray, and the SLFP is readying itself for a situation where it may have to go it alone at future elections. SLFP leader and former President Maithripala Sirisena is busy reinventing himself as a messiah, again, the way he did prior to the 2015 presidential election.
Speaking at a recent SLFP event in Buttala, Sirisena showed his hand. He said the time had come for the SLFP to do something about the present crises; 6.9 million people had voted for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who also mustered a two-thirds majority in the parliament, but problems were multiplying and ministers were antagonizing the public instead of solving their problems. He declared that unlike them, meaning the SLPP, the SLFP had presented a solid plan and was consulting experts. His reference was obviously to his party’s proposals presented to President Rajapaksa recently.
The SLFP’s proposals, which have not received adequate public or media attention, help understand President Sirisena’s thinking. It looks as though these proposals were prepared basically for the consumption of the public rather than that of the government, and aimed at bolstering the SLFP’s claim that it has no say in the affairs of the government, and therefore should not be held responsible for the SLPP’s commissions and omissions.
Since an English version of the SLFP’s proposals was not immediately available, Counterpoint translated them into English. They are presented below with our comments:
A SET OF PROPOSALS THE SLFP PRESENTS TO THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PEOPLE, BASED ON ITS OBSERVATIONS ON CURRENT POLITICAL INSTABILITY ARISING FROM MULTIPLE CRISES
PROPOSAL 1: The Sri Lanka Nidahas Podujana Peramuna [as opposed to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)] was formed with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) as a main constituent consequent to an agreement on the national development programme, The Vistas of Prosperity and splendour’.
COMMENT: This could hardly be considered a proposal. It is a reminder to the SLPP seniors who undermine the SLFP and even dare it to leave the government that it is a main coalition partner of the incumbent government, and should be treated as an equal. The SLFP has thus asserted itself before presenting its proposals.
The SLFP may have been waiting patiently until the time was opportune to tell the SLPP this home truth, given discrimination and humiliation it has suffered at the hands of the government leaders, except Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is trying to reconcile the warring factions of the SLPP.
PROPOSAL 2: The Vistas of Prosperity and Splendourbecame something more than a mere election manifesto. People, who saw it as a covenant aimed at strengthening the State of Sri Lanka, weakened by the debilitation of the economic, political and social spheres after 1977, are disappointed owing to the fallout of shortcomings in crisis management on the part of the government. Meanwhile, the country is drifting towards political instability due to multiple crises that worsen by the day. This is the reason for the unprecedented brain-drain.
COMMENT: The SLFP is craftily dissociating itself from the government’s shortcomings. It however finds itself in a contradiction. In what may be considered the preamble to the set of proposals, it says it is a main constituent of the government—it is also represented in the Cabinet and some of its MPs are State Ministers—but it tries to act as an independent commentator. It seems to have succeeded in its endeavour to a considerable extent, for the irate people are not berating it.
PROPOSAL 3: The current economic crisis Sri Lanka is facing did not come about solely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which only aggravated it. Although Sri Lanka was known the world over as a country with an excellent public health service, certain measures adopted in managing the health crisis did not conform to accepted scientific methods.
COMMENT: The SLFP has chosen to pick holes in the government’s pandemic control strategy without giving it credit for the successful vaccination drive, which has yielded the desired results. This may be due to the fact that the President and a few others have taken the credit for the success in the country’s battle against Covid-19 without sharing it with others in the government.
As a former Health Minister, SLFP Leader Maithripala Sirisena is apparently seeking to give the impression to the public that he would have managed the health crisis better. He is also resentful that the Mahinda Rajapaksa government slapped obstacles in his path when he was the Health Minister. He seems to be still holding the old grudge against the Rajapaksas.
PROPOSA 4: The people expected the government to promulgate a new Constitution expeditiously to accelerate development and restore democracy while overcoming issues related to social justice, and law and order. Therefore, the SLFP hopes that a new Constitution will be unveiled within one year.
COMMENT: There is more to this proposal than the SLFP’s desire to usher in social justice, restore democracy and the rule of law. It knows that the task of writing a new Constitution acceptable to everyone is an uphill one, which is likely to cost the government a sizeable chunk of its support base consisting of nationalists, who are averse to any more powers being devolved; devolution is going to be a very contentious issue with the TNA demanding more powers to the provinces, and the nationalists calling for the abolition of the Provincial Councils.
Most of all, Sirisena and other SLFP seniors have an axe to grind with Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who rides roughshod over them. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has given an assurance to the SLPP constituents that the Constitution to be made will reintroduce the constitutional provision in the 19th Amendment, which prevented dual citizens from becoming the President or entering the parliament.
President’s solemn pledge to that effect to secure the support of several SLPP constituents, especially the National Freedom Front led by Wimal Weerawansa and the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya led by Udaya Gammanpila, for the 20th Amendment, which did away with the provision that barred dual citizens from becoming MPs or the President.
If a new Constitution is introduced preventing dual citizens from becoming MPs or securing the executive presidency, that will be the end of the road of Basil in politics unless he gives up his US citizenship, which he is not willing to do for reasons best known to himself.
PROPOSAL 5: Could anyone be satisfied with transparency in governance and accountability? The SLFP proposes that stringent legal action be taken as regards instances of corruption reported from various parts of the country so as to restore people’s faith in the rule of law and improve the country’s image internationally.
COMMENT: Corruption has been the bane of Sri Lanka, and it is an issue that can be flogged very effectively to win votes. In 1994, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga successfully campaigned on an anti-corruption platform to turn the tables on the UNP and bring the SLFP to power after a lapse of 17 years. The yahapalana coalition also used anti-corruption slogans to mobilize people against the Mahinda Rajapaksa government, and dislodged it in January 2015.
One of the main reasons why the Yahapalanagovernment collapsed was also corruption.
By calling for action against corruption, the SLFP is seeking to have the public believe that it should not be held responsible for the incumbent government’s corrupt deals such as the sugar tax fraud.
PROPOSAL 6: Important as green agriculture may be, the unscientific manner in which it was implemented has given rise to practical problems and turned the farming community against it. These problems have adversely impacted the country’s food security, and decreases in yields of export crops such as tea have aggravated the economic crisis. Has the government, which admits that there has been a drop in the GDP, adopted a strategy to overcome the problem? The country needs about 3000,000 MT of rice a year, and the SLFP stresses the need for urgent action to meet the shortfall in the supply of rice due to a drop in the Maha season harvest. The SLFP proposes that compensation be paid to rice growers and the cultivators of tea, cinnamon, pepper, etc., for yield drops.
COMMENT: The SLFP has dissociated itself from the government’s disastrous green agriculture experiment. Its policy has been consistent. It has been urging the government to implement its green agriculture programme in stages, sorting out teething problems.
Farmers are not likely to forget the high-handed manner in which the government tried to implement its green agriculture policy, and untold suffering they have undergone, as a result.
SLFP leader Maithripala Sirisena drew heavy flak from some SLPP MPs loyal to Finance Minister Rajapaksa for visiting farmers who were protesting against the fertilizer shortage caused by the blanket ban on agrochemicals, and pledging solidarity with them.
In an interview with Siyatha TV, a few months ago, Sirisena said he wondered whether there was a conspiracy to drive farmers out of their fields so that big businesses could acquire their land. This is a very serious allegation, but the Opposition has not made the best use of it.
PROPOSAL 7: The present crises are not mutually exclusive. Attempts are being made in some quarters to make the public believe that the power crisis has come about because not enough thermal power plants have been built, but the problem is due to the current fuel shortage, which has caused the closure of thermal power plants. It is also a result of the economic crisis.
It is imperative that attention be paid to electricity generation from renewable sources including solar energy. We expect the government to make the process of using renewable sources for power generation efficient and expeditious by removing obstacles, institutional or technical.
COMMENT: The government has blamed its predecessor for scrapping the Sampur coal-fired power plant project, which was to be funded by India, for the present power crisis. Champika Ranawaka, who was the Minister of Power and Energy in the yahapalana government led by Sirisena as the President has also peddled an argument similar to the one in the aforesaid SLFP proposal.
In fact, the present power crisis is mainly due to the government’s inability to pay for fuel imports, but the country would have been able to manage it to some extent if there had been another coal-fired power plant, for the available coal stocks could have been utilized to generate power.
PROPOSAL 8: The SLFP expects the government to adopt proper crisis management measures without falling for the devious stratagems of the agents of Economic Hitmen to drive it to dispose of national assets for a song.
COMMENT: Dissident SLPP MPs have also levelled this allegation against the government. The SLFP has stopped short of naming names, though. But Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila and Vasudeva Nanayakkara have directly accused Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa of ruining the economy so as to make Sri Lanka heavily dependent on India and the US and thereby further the interests of those countries. This proposal is likely to be a main slogan of the SLFP in case it breaks away from the SLPP to contest future elections.
PROPOSAL 9: The current food crisis will lead to chaos. Malnutrition among the poor, especially children and pregnant women, is likely to stand in the way of the country’s development goals. Action must be taken urgently to tackle this crisis.
COMMENT: Food and politics are inextricably linked, and in Sri Lanka, governments have fallen over issues related to food. One may recall that the 1953 hartal, which almost ousted the then UNP government, was triggered by an attempt to meddle with a rice subsidy. Food scarcity also led to the defeat of the SLFP-led United Front government in 1977.
This proposal smacks of a move by the SLFP to absolve itself of the blame for the food shortages, which entail a heavy political cost.
PROPOSAL 10: Having studied the current situation, we stress that there is the danger of the country facing crises as regards food security, power and energy security, economic security and environmental security.
COMMENT: This is not a proposal as such. It is a mere statement. But it serves as the basis for the next proposal. It gives the impression that the government is not doing enough to avert these crises.
PROPOSAL 11: Anti-government sentiments throughout the country are indicative of political instability resulting from the above-mentioned crises. We believe the government should act urgently to manage the situation.
COMMENT: Again, the SLFP sounds like an independent observer giving a political commentary while being part of the incumbent government, and benefiting from it. Sirisena is adept at dissociating himself from the actions of the governments he is in, as he did in 2014 after leaving the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration. He played his cards so well that he could avoid blame for the sins of that government when he ran for President.
PROPOSAL 12: An all-party action committee should be set up to manage the aforesaid crises and tasked with solving issues such as the cost of living, setbacks besetting all businesses, foreign currency crunch, grievances of the fishing community, within a specific timeframe.
COMMENT: This proposal has been widely welcomed, and the government has taken steps to summon an all-party conference. A truly national effort is a prerequisite for resolving the present crises. But it is doubtful whether politicians will sink their differences and find common ground in the national interest. The JVP has already struck a discordant note, and has not confirmed its participation.
This proposal may be seen as a move to involve all political parties in what the government has failed to do and apportion the blame for its failure to all of them so that none of them will be able to use it to gain political mileage.
Political party leaders came together in the immediate aftermath of the 2004 tsunami disaster as well. All of them appeared in public, holding hands, and vowing to work together to rebuild the country, but their unity was short-lived, and they parted ways and started fighting, again, shortly afterwards.
PROPOSAL 13: All state institutions and grassroots political organizations should be integrated and mobilized to make available to the farming community fertilizers and other agricultural inputs. Besides, a food drive should be launched, and the cultivation of short-term crops promoted.
COMMENT: The SLFP has been traditionally supportive of farmers, and its leader Sirisena takes pride in his farming background.
This is a sensible proposal in that urgent action has to be taken to cushion the adverse impact of the yield losses caused by the fertilizer shortage. There is the possibility of the country facing a food shortage unless the agricultural production is stepped up urgently as a national priority. The SLFP can endear itself to farmers with the help of this proposal.
PROPOSAL 14: The Local Government and Provincial Council (PC) elections must be held without further delay to elect representatives to the local government institutions and the Provincial Councils.
COMMENT: Elections must not be postponed under any circumstances. The present government has put off the Local Government elections, which were scheduled to be held next month; it is not ready to face an electoral contest at this juncture. It knows that its approval ratings have dropped. They have reached 10%, according to Vertie research.
It is laughable that the SLFP is calling upon the government to hold the PC elections, which it joined forces with the UNP, the TNA, the SLMC and the JVP to postpone, during the yahapalana government, in 2017, in the most despicable manner. It introduced the Provincial Council Elections (Amendment) Act for that purpose. The yahapalana government did so because it was scared of facing an election. About five years on, the SLFP is calling for PC polls!
PROPOSAL 15: The SLFP invites everyone to support its campaign to save the country and the people from the present crises.
COMMENT: This is not a proposal but a battle cry, which shows that the SLFP is preparing the ground for its exit from the government, and it will seek to justify its pullout from the SLPP by claiming that the government leaders did not take its proposals on board.
