By P.K.Balachandran
MPs belonging to the breakaway group of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the 11-party alliance, have jointly written to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa asking him to dismiss the present cabinet, form an all-party government, and appoint a “National Executive Council”which will provide necessary guidelines for the appointment of a new Prime Minister, Cabinet of Ministers and Secretaries to the ministries.
Former President Maithripala Sirisena representing the SLFP, MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara representing the 11 parties which were part of the government earlier, and MPs Anura Priyadharshana Yapa and Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe representing the SLPP had signed the letter.
The letter expressed lack of faith in the in the incumbent Cabinet of Ministers and called on its members to resign. Alternatively, the President should dismiss them. The MPs called for a fresh all-party cabinet to solve the economic crisis and hold a general election at the earliest.
Advisory Council of Experts for Ministries
The letter proposed an Advisory Council of Experts for each ministry and called for steps to curtail the privileges of ministers, rescind the 20th Amendment, which gives the President gargantuan powers, and re-enact the 19thAmendment which had given more powers to parliament vis-à-vis the President.
Earlier, the National Freedom Front Leader and MP, Wimal Weerawansa, had said: “People have no faith in this Cabinet. The Ministers in it are incompetent. They must immediately resign, or be dismissed.” He said the President must then discuss with all parties in parliament and appoint a Cabinet consisting of members of all parties to salvage the country from the economic abyss it has fallen into, according to Daily FT.
“The economy should be stabilized first, and this should be followed up with a general election” he said. The immediate need is to restore people’s faith in the government and warned that violence was inevitable if things continued as they are.
“The Government has betrayed the people’s mandate. We tried for nearly two years to put things right while in Government, but no one listened to us,” he said
Pivithuru Hela Urumaya Leader and MP Udaya Gammanpila said people have lost faith in a Government elected for five years in just one and half years. “The Government is getting ready to make debt payments, but people are without food, gas, medicine, fuel and electricity,” he pointed out.
JVP/NPP for Impeachment of President
Meanwhile, the National People’s Power/JVPMP Vijitha Herath said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa should be impeached if he does not quit.
Herath told parliament that if this political crisis was not resolved, it will not be possible to address the economic woes. He pointed out that irrespective of party politics, people have been appealing to the President to resign and added that it was absurd talking about any solution without his resignation. “We are ready to support both impeachment and No Confidence Motion,” he said.
The main opposition party, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) is collecting signatures for a motion of no confidence against the incumbent government.
The JVP/NPP, like the Lanka Sama Samaj Party (LSSP), is also against the government going to the IMF and adhering to its conditions as that would be detrimental to the country.
“We have sought IMF assistance 16 times in the past. We had to privatize state enterprises when obtaining IMF loans. What we should do is to talk to the IMF to reschedule our loans through a third party,” Herath said.
LSSP’s Stand
Writing in The Island, former Minister and Lanka Sama Samaj Party (LSSP) leader Prof.Tissa Vitarana said that the interim government should not follow the policies that have aggravated the global economic crisis to such a scale in Sri Lanka.
“We should delay the settlement of loans and interest due for the next five years through a Moratorium. As we had to pay US dollars 6 billion last year to settle our loans, such a course will probably save about 30 billion dollars. This would enable us to immediately obtain essentials that are the main cause of the suffering of the people.”
“This has been done by several countries faced with similar economic crises in the past and even the present. The main policy of the SLPP Government not to do this but to somehow other pay back the loans on time will not provide the dollars that we badly need. The required change of attitude will not discredit us to the extent that the SLPP Government fears because, as mentioned earlier, this has been done in the past and even the present.”
No to IMF
The LSSP is opposed to seeking help from the IMF. “The alternative that is proposed by the SLPP Government, UNP and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) of turning to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will only aggravate the problem. This is because the neoliberal policies that those parties favor were the main cause of the massive defeat of the Yahalapanaya Government,” he pointed out.
“The IMF insists on the door being opened for the import of any goods and article from abroad, whether they be cheaper or more expensive than what we can produce. It was the massive importation of luxury and non-essential goods over a long period of time by several Governments, that led to our Foreign Reserves dropping from the usual safe level of 7 to 8 billion US dollars to the present level of less than one billion US dollars that has aggravated the crisis to this massive level. “
“The loss of our ability to purchase essential items like oil, gas, milk powder and flour will be overcome as soon as we turn to the moratorium policy of settlement of loans for five years as mentioned above. Once the people’s needs are provided and the crisis overcome in this way there will be no need to tie up with the IMF,” he said.
“Going to the IMF would mean that we have to get more loans and get further into debt. The problem of debt and interest repayment will continue to plague us. The correct policy of developing a national economy where we become self-supporting with regard to food and also develop value added industries (both small, medium and large) that was decided on by the SLPP Government, but not implemented, could also be done. Therefore it is essential that those in the Interim Government should not insist on the tie-up with the IMF and the resultant commitment to implement their policies,” Prof.Vitarana said.
He strongly recommended the revival of the cooperative movement.
