Ranil seeks executive Presidency to execute his recovery plan
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has secured the resignation of his Cabinet Ministers, barring his brother and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and has appointed a five-member interim Cabinet before a full-fledged all-party government is formed in a bid to tackle the country’s burgeoning economic problems.
The new Ministers are Mahinda Rajapaksa Prime Minister, Ali Sabry Finance Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena, Education Minister, Prof. G. L Peiris Foreign Affairs Minister, Johnston Fernando Minister of Highways.
Other portfolios will be distributed when MPs from other parties accept the President’s invitation to join the intended all-party government.
However, enthusiasm to join the discredited government of President of Gotabaya Rajapaksa is palpably lacking. In fact, the main opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), is chanting “Gota Go Home” in scores of demonstrations organized throughout the island on a daily basis. The Sri Lankan Diaspora spread across the Western world is also demonstrating in front of Sri Lankan missions and even in front of the residence of the President’s son in the US. They demonstrated in front of the ancestral house of the Rajapaksas in Medamulala in south Sri Lanka.
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya does not want to be part of any government that smacks of the Rajapaksas, however diluted the latter’s presence may be. This reflects the mood of Sri Lankans right across the social classes, regions and ethnicities. All feel that their salvation lies only in the exit of the Rajapaksas, particularly, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. His inconsiderate and insensitive attitude is believed to be at the root of the nation’s troubles marked by shortages of food, fuel and forex. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is of the same opinion.
Sacked Minister of Energy and Pivithru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila said that the new four-man cabinet is “old wine in a new bottle” and that people should choose their next leaders. This should not be decided by anyone else, but the people of Sri Lanka, he said, hinting at a mid-term election.
“Our demand is for an all-party interim government to restore essential services and to hold a parliamentary election. People should decide their next leaders, not by anybody else,” he tweeted.
Some opposition leaders say that the new cabinet will be an eyewash. Real power will continue to be in the hands of the Rajapaksas. For example, though Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa has been dropped, his successor Ali Sabry in that post is a confirmed Rajapaksa loyalist who will probably do the bidding of Basil Rajapaksa. That the Rajapaksas will continue to rule is indicated by the fact that the interim cabinet comprises only staunch loyalists.
Meanwhile, a further crack appeared in the Gotabaya Rajapaksa council of ministers when the State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics and COVID Disease Control, Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle tendered her resignation to President Rajapaksa. In her letter, Dr. Fernandopulle said that she cannot continue to work in the ministry at a time when people are suffering from many issues due to the prevailing economic crisis in the country.”
The United National Party (UNP) leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the President that he would join an all-party government only if he was made President. UNP sources say that Wickremesinghe feels that he can implement his recovery plan only if he has the powers of the Executive President.
UNP sources further said that Gotabaya Rajapaksa should resign from the Presidency, hand over the office to the Prime Minister, who will then allow parliament to elect an interim President to serve till the end of the original five year term of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
However, the Rajapaksas are unlikely to accept a demand for abject surrender. As a long-standing political family, with politics as their main business, they would not quit under duress or threats. Therefore, what is expected is a no-holds barred fight between the Rajapaksas and the rest of the political spectrum. In this confrontation, both the carrot and the stick will be used.
The Rajapaksas will offer opposition MPs cabinet and other ministerial portfolios as well as the chairmanship of government and para-state bodies. But given the state of the parlous economy and the onerous task of reviving it, few parties or leaders will join the government and be part of a sinking ship.
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by former President Maithripala Sirisena, and a coalition partner, has said that all SLFP central committee members have unanimously voiced their displeasure on continuing to be in the government. However, the central committee decided to let the party leader, Maithripala Sirisena, to take a decision in this regard.
State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara said SLFP members would be compelled to step down from their ministerial portfolios if the government fails to take necessary action to solve the economic problem.
Knee jerk reactions like the clamping of a country-wide curfew and blocking the social media just because there was a demonstration near the President’s private residence and a police or an army bus was torched in a fracas, have elicited sharp comments from the Western diplomatic community in Colombo.
US Ambassador Julie Chung joined several other heads of missions in Colombo to call on the Government to respect the people’s right to peaceful protests.
“Sri Lankans have a right to protest peacefully – essentially for democratic expression. I am watching the situation closely, and hope the coming days bring restraint from all sides, as well as much-needed economic stability and relief for those suffering,” Ambassador Chung said on Twitter.
The Office of the European Union expressed concern over the state of emergency and strongly urged Sri Lankan authorities to safeguard democratic rights of all citizens, including the right to free assembly and dissent, which has to be peaceful. “Challenging times for Sri Lankan people – EU continues to follow situation closely,” the EU office in Colombo said.
The German Ambassador in Colombo Holger Seubert associated himself with the sentiments of the EU and added that people demonstrating for their rights is no emergency. “It’s the emergency that brings them to the streets,” he said.
The Canadian High Commissioner in Colombo David McKinnon said that the freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest are fundamental to the success of any democracy, including Sri Lanka’s. “The free exchange of ideas is also how solutions to challenges will be found,” he said on Twitter.
