Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s address to the nation over television on Monday is likely to bring political tempers down and motivate political parties in parliament to sink their differences and cooperate with the legitimately established government to find solutions to the country’s grave economic problems.
The Prime Minister’s speech was marked by empathy for the masses, an understanding of their plight. Though he mentioned the opposition’s disdainful rejection of the President’s invitation to establish an all-party government, Mahinda Rajapaksa refrained from indulging in confrontational rhetoric.
However, he emphatically said that the government will carry out its responsibilities as mandated by the people. “As the party in power, we will take all steps to resolve this crisis,” he said.
Although the government was able to protect the lives of people from Covid-19, it could not prevent the country from falling into an economic abyss, the Prime Minister admitted. He also acknowledged that the people have had to face various problems due to a shortage of US dollars. Oil tankers that had already reached the country’s waters, could not off load much needed fuel because of a shortage of dollars to pay for it.
“I understand the exhaustion of the people who have had to spend days standing in fuel lines. I can understand the pain of the women who had to suffer in queues to buy gas,” Mahinda Rajapaksa said. The government could also sense the trouble faced by people owing to the skyrocketing prices of goods, he added.
“At this moment it is the responsibility of all parties to strengthen the country’s economy instead of thinking about their political narrow political interests,” Rajapaksa said.
“But no matter who refuses to accept the responsibility, as the party in power, we accept that responsibility. We will provide solutions to issue,” he added.
The Prime Minister recalled that the government had ended the three decade-long war in the country and added that it was not done with the intention of making people go through such a predicament and face such pain. “We constructed highways and new roads not to keep the people in queues on those roads,” he said.
The Prime Minister admitted that this is not the best time to switch over entirely to organic fertilizer from chemical fertilizer, and added that the government has decided to re-introduce the fertilizer subsidy. That had been an election winner for Mahinda Rajapaksa in the past.
The Prime Minister cautioned that all problems cannot be resolved in a day or two. In that context he called upon the people of Sri Lanka to end the agitations taking place daily. “Each moment spent on protests will only lessen the opportunities for dollars to flow into the country,” he pointed out.
The Prime Minister said that the government has the mandate to take decisions but only within the democratic framework. “We will always work with that in mind,” he assured.
Earlier, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had said that he would not entertain the demand for his resignation nor would he entertain any suggestion that is not within the bounds of the country’s constitution. He said so in response to the opposition’s demand that he should step down or he should form a National Executive Council above the cabinet to advice him. There is no provision in the constitution for that kind of arrangement. It was also said in parliament on the President’s behalf, the he would not resign because he has the mandate to rule for five years given by 6.9 million Sri Lankans who had voted for him in the last election.
It was just as well that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa spoke to the nation instead of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa because the latter tends to be combative. Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s style will have further alienated people, who are daily chanting the slogan is “Gota Go Home” in demonstrations all over the island.
The last time Gotabaya Rajapaksa spoke to the people, his line was that he did no wrong, and if anything went wrong, it was because of the inability of officials to understand and carry out his orders. No wonder that speech was not well received by the people.
Fortunately from the government, the overall situation in Sri Lanka is improving with massive Indian inputs in the form fuel. The promised medicines and other essentials are also expected to be delivered without undue delay.
And the weather God has also become benign. Searing heat has now given way to thunder showers, which are not only bringing the atmospheric temperature down but are also filling reservoirs used for generating electricity. The daily power cuts have come down from a punishing 13 hours to more manageable levels. Government has said that there will be no power cut during the Sinhala and Tamil year celebrations from April 13 to 15. This has brought much relief to the people.
