As evident from his comments to an overseas news agency, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is now in no mood to resign, nor is he amenable to a peaceful transfer of his presidential powers through a robust 21st Amendment and Wickremesinghe carries no clout to compel him to do so. Therefore, any 21st Amendment enacted now will be a feeble, watered-down version of what was originally envisaged.
Where does Basil Rajapaksa fit in all this, now that he has left Parliament? His chosen replacement, business tycoon Dhammika Perera offers a clue. Perera does not enjoy a reputation as a paragon of virtue in business circles but he does have one attribute: absolute loyalty to the Rajapaksas.
The government’s propaganda machine will say that Perera, arguably the country’s most successful businessman in recent times, has been entrusted with the task of resurrecting the economy. That sounds like a reasonable proposition. What they will not say is that Perera will do only what the Rajapaksas wants him to do.
The disgraced former Finance Minister will also spend his time rejuvenating the SLPP’s party machine which is now in disarray. If elections are held now, the SLPP will be decimated given the level of public anger against the government and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. However, major national elections are not due until late 2024, giving Basil Rajapaksa ample time to prepare.
What exactly does the departure of Basil Rajapaksa mean in the current political context was the question on the minds of many as the beleaguered former Finance Minister exited Parliament last week.
Rajapaksa holds the dubious honour of presiding, in his capacity as Finance Minister, over the worst economic debacle Sri Lanka has experienced since independence from Britain in 1948. Not even during a thirty-year war on terrorism, when billions of dollars were being spent on arms ammunition, has the country plunged to such depths.
It is true that over a month ago, on April 3, Basil Rajapaksa had already resigned as Finance Minister. He was also not seen publicly since then, probably because he feared a backlash from those who were leading the protests against the government. However, it was evident that Basil Rajapaksa was not in hibernation: he was very much involved in mobilising the parliamentary group of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).
This fact came to the fore in the farcical elections conducted to elect a Deputy Speaker in Parliament. It is known that Basil Rajapaksa was the brains behind endorsing the SLPP’s support for Ranjith Siyambalapitiya in the first election and then nominating Ajith Rajapaksa for the second election, stifling Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) nominees in both instances, Imtiaz Bakeer Markar and Rohini Kaviratne respectively.
Then when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was attempting to push the 21st Amendment through the parliamentary process, it was again Basil Rajapaksa who instigated some SLPP parliamentarians to make representations to the President saying that economic redress rather than constitutional amendments should be the priority.
Basil Rajapaksa was particularly peeved by the proposed 21st Amendment which contains provisions that would prevent dual citizens from holding elected office. Being a citizen also of the United States of America and, unlike Gotabaya Rajapaksa, unwilling to give that up, Basil Rajapaksa’s parliamentary career would effectively be over if the 21st Amendment is enacted in its current form and remains operative. Hence the resistance, particularly from the SLPP backbench, most of whom have been handpicked by Basil Rajapaksa.
Why then, did Basil Rajapaksa suddenly depart from Parliament? In his ‘farewell’ media briefing, Rajapaksa did not provide a clear answer. He said, somewhat cryptically, that he would quit Parliament but remain in politics.
A few days prior Basil Rajapaksa had been exonerated in the case related to the Malwana mansion. He attended the court hearing triumphantly and told reporters that he is being insulted because he was being ‘productive’. In his farewell media briefing, Rajapaksa again alluded to this, saying one of the objectives he had when he returned to politics was to clear his name regarding all the charges levelled against him.
Rajapaksa also denied he was responsible for the current economic crisis. ‘Don’t pass the ball to me’, he said and denied that he presided over the elimination of the country’s foreign reserves. He even went to the extent of engaging in banter with the media, saying he enjoyed the song ‘kaputu kaak kaak kaak’ that is being used to mock him, because it has his name.
That a man who was in hiding barely a month ago for fear of reprisals from the public was able to hold a media briefing and make bold and defiant statements speaks volumes for the changes in the political landscape of the country during that period.
All the Rajapaksas will owe and enormous debt of gratitude to Ranil Wickremesinghe for this. It was Wickremesinghe who stepped in to the prime ministerial when Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned and no one was willing to accept the job. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was on the brink of resigning when Wickremesinghe intervened. It was the ultimate betrayal of the opposition’s cause.
Wickremesinghe did not attach any conditions to accepting the Premiership. In the time that he has been in office he has not achieved anything spectacular either. All that he has done is to dilute the protest campaign against the President by offering a distraction in the form of a supposedly ‘new’ government.
As evident from his comments to an overseas news agency, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is now in no mood to resign, nor is he amenable to a peaceful transfer of his presidential powers through a robust 21st Amendment and Wickremesinghe carries no clout to compel him to do so. Therefore, any 21st Amendment enacted now will be a feeble, watered-down version of what was originally envisaged.
Where does Basil Rajapaksa fit in all this, now that he has left Parliament? His chosen replacement, business tycoon Dhammika Perera offers a clue. Perera does not enjoy a reputation as a paragon of virtue in business circles but he does have one attribute: absolute loyalty to the Rajapaksas.
The government’s propaganda machine will say that Perera, arguably the country’s most successful businessman in recent times, has been entrusted with the task of resurrecting the economy. That sounds like a reasonable proposition. What they will not say is that Perera will do only what the Rajapaksas wants him to do.
The disgraced former Finance Minister will also spend his time rejuvenating the SLPP’s party machine which is now in disarray. If elections are held now, the SLPP will be decimated given the level of public anger against the government and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. However, major national elections are not due until late 2024, giving Basil Rajapaksa ample time to prepare.
That is Basil Rajapaksa’s brief for now: restore the credibility of the Rajapaksa brand name in Sri Lankan politics. Within a short span of a few weeks, it has upgraded itself from having to be in hiding to holding media briefings. With an opposition in disarray and pulling in different directions, surely Basil Rajapaksa must still be fancying the family’s chances, come 2024.
Given the vast resources Basil Rajapaksa will have access to courtesy of Dhammika Perera, nothing will be impossible. In the past we have seen how filthy lucre has changed hands and the loyalty of parliamentarians have changed at the same time.
The Rajapaksas are experts at this game and none more so than Basil Rajapaksa. That is why he has left Parliament and returned to the drawing board: to map out the ‘pohottuwa’ party’s strategy for 2024, to ensure that it will still be a Rajapaksa sitting on the presidential chair after that election is held.
