The political deadlock has continued with no end in sight. The President who has ignored the peoples call for his own resignation, has been attempting to push Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa out of office instead. During a hurriedly convened cabinet meeting at the end of last week, the President is reported to have asked the Prime Minister to resign. The Prime Minister’s official statement through his Media Secretary Rohan Welivita was that the President had not asked him to resign although insiders have denied this and confirmed that the President did indeed call for the Prime Minister’s resignation.
Fuelling speculation that the Prime Minister will resign on Monday is a meeting he had at Temple Trees with some of his party MPs who had bescheed him not to leave and his visit to the Sri Mahabodhi and Ruwanwelisaya in Anuradhapura. Some 15, 000 supporters of the Prime Minister are reportedly planning to come to Colombo on Monday as a show of support for him. Following the success of the hartal last week which saw the closure of shops and offices and deserted streets in Colombo’s commercial areas of Fort and Pettah, Monday will also be the start of an indefinite hartal or general strike called by the trade unions until the Rajapaksas leave government.
Last week a delegation of Buddhist clergy including the Venerable Omalpe Sobitha met with the Prime Minister to convey a message from the Chief Prelates that the Prime Minister must leave. By doing this, the Chief Prelates opened a door for the Prime Minister to make a dignified exit on the ground that he is resigning on their request. The Prime Minister has remarked about the insults and humiliation to his family these days.
The President’s proposition to the Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa to assume the premiership and form a government has already met with a brick wall. The opposition leader ‘s position has been that his party will not be in government with the Rajapaksas and that they should resign. The President also gave the Opposition Leader the option of him signing a resolution to dissolve parliament if he can collect a simple majority of 113 signatures of the MP’s in parliament for which there has been no response from the opposition so far. The opposition’s concern appears to be the road ahead following a hand over in particular the functioning of ministry secretaries and other senior public servants. The opposition however has said it will cooperate with a national plan to restore political and economic stability to the country which has been floated by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL).
On Sunday the management committee of the BASL had a series of meetings during the day with the President, Prime Minister , the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the Independent group of ministers to discuss a 13 -point plan of proposals for political and economic recovery.
In a media statement which was issued after the meetings the BASL said they had drawn the attention of the president and prime minister to the urgency of bringing political stability to the country and also about the declaration of the state of emergency. The general consensus is that the emergency, condemned widely by domestic civil society and rights activists but also by the international community including the EU, the USA, Norway, Canada and New Zealand, cannot be justified .
‘The BASL explained the framework of its proposals and answered questions about how they can be implemented’, the statement said. ‘Parties also shared their concerns and presented their own proposals which have been submitted either to parliament or to the president’.
The 13- point plan which the BASL put forward revolves around the introduction of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution by repealing the provisions of the 20th Amendment and restoring the 19th Amendment. Among their proposals for the 21st Amendment is the establishment of an interim government of national unity with a cabinet of 15 ministers which will prepare a common minimum program and the unity government to appoint an Independent Advisory Council consisting of 15 qualified professionals from disciplines corresponding to the 15 ministries or relevant to the national economy. The proposals also stipulate that the unity government will for a maximum period of 18 months and a further six weeks as a caretaker government to oversee elections. At the conclusion of the 18 months parliament will be dissolved and a general election will be held at the expiry of six weeks. The Government of National Unity will cease to exist at the conclusion of the general election. The other key proposals are abolishing the executive presidency in 15 months, appointing the Governor of the Central Bank and the Monetary Board to be done with the approval of the Constitutional Council, appointing secretaries to the ministries, governors, ambassadors and heads of missions to be done on the advice of the prime minister in consultation with the cabinet of ministers, presidential pardons to be done according to the recommendations of a body established by law appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. The proposals also say that the president must not hold any portfolios.
The 12- point common minimum program includes debt restructuring, negotiating an IMF program and obtaining of bridging finance from bi-lateral partners pending the IMF Program, immediate resolution of the shortages of essential goods and services and strengthening the Consultative Committees of Parliament and Sectoral Oversight Committees and invite professional organisations and trade associations to attend such meetings.
These proposals which have been put forward by the BASL have been endorsed by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. Together, they have presented the proposals to the Joint Chambers of Commerce, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, the Organization of Professional Associations and the Sri Lanka Medical Association.
In addition to the President and Prime Minister, the BASL management committee had also met with SJB MP’s Sajith Premadasa, Ranjith Maddumabandara, Lakshman Kiriella, Rauf Hakeem, Mano Ganeshan, Kabir Hashim, Eran Wickremeratne, Thalatha Atukorala and former MP Ajith Perera accompanied by President’s Counsel Thisath Wijegunewardene, Farman Cassim and attorneys- at-law Ravi Jayewardene, Suren Fernando and Kamal Wijesiri.
Leaders of several political parties and groups in parliament had been present during the meeting the BASL management committee had with the President. Minister for Foreign Affairs GL Peiris and MPs Pavithra Wanniarachchi, CB Ratnayake and Premanath Dolawatte had been present at the meeting with the Prime Minister. Among the members of the Independent group whom they met were Maithripala Sirisena, Nimal Siripala De Silva, Mahinda Amaraweera, Dayasiri Jayasekera, Udaya Gammanpila and Gevindu Kumaratunge.
Meanwhile, the SJB has handed over to the Speaker, two no confidence motions against the President and Prime Minister. The acceptance of the BASL’s proposals could preclude the need for the no confidence motion against the Prime Minister. More specifically since this is something the opposition will be uncertain of after the debacle of the appointment of the Deputy Speaker Ranjith Siyabalapitiya which was a litmus test for the no confidence motion. Siyabalapitiya who was the nominee of the group of Independents in the election for the appointment of a Deputy Speaker and whom the opposition had also pledged their support to, became a face saving pawn of the government after it made a last minute announcement that it too will also support him. The opposition then nominated Imthiaz Bakeer Markar and Siyambalapitiya, without withdrawing from the race, went ahead and got the higher number of votes in a secret ballot to become Deputy Speaker amidst the wrath of the people.
On the other hand, the sight of protesters mobbing a group of SJB MPs who were leaving parliament may well have prompted the Independents to pledge their support to the no confidence motion.
