Wickremesinghe is still not one of ‘them’. He will not be able to dictate terms to the Rajapaksas or alter their plan of action. This was evident in Parliament on Tuesday. Wickremesinghe proposed that the election of a Deputy Speaker be unanimous and that it be allocated to a female MP. The SJB proposed Rohini Kaviratne. Even the SLPP’s potential nominee, Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle graciously withdrew, when she heard of Ms. Kaviratne’s nomination. However, the SLPP would have none of it. Wickremesinghe’s request was ignored and they nominated Ajith Rajapaksa who was eventually elected
Just when you thought it was safe to think of Sri Lankan politics without Ranil Wickremesinghe taking centre stage, he is back!
Seventy-three years of age and having spent twenty-five years of it presiding over the virtual extinction of the United National Party (UNP), reducing its vote from nearly fifty per cent to a mere two per cent, one could have been pardoned for thinking that Wickremesinghe’s last chance had come and gone.
Not so. Desperate to save his own Presidency and facing the wrath of an entire nation against Rajapaksa family rule, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to look elsewhere. To be fair, he did ask Opposition and Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa first.
Premadasa declined. Many have criticised him for this arguing that politics is about seizing opportunities that come your way. However, Premadasa’s decision was based on principle- that of not being part and parcel of a Rajapaksa regime. He even asked for an assurance of a time frame for the Executive Presidency to be abolished, which Rajapaksa wasn’t conceding.
So, what does Ranil Wickremesinghe’s last hurrah on the political stage mean for Sri Lanka, as it goes through the worst economic crisis in its history? Will he be the Messiah that saves the masses from hardship and starvation? Or will this, his sixth attempt at the premiership end like the other five- with tasks undone, promises not kept and ending in a miserable failure in general?
We pose this question because there seems to be a segment of the population that believes that, with Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister, ‘something’ will happen. It is as if Wickremesinghe is the panacea for all ills and that he would deliver this time, no matter what his past record is.
In all his previous premierships bar one, Wickremesinghe was backed by a parliamentary majority. In the single stint that he wasn’t, from January to August 2015, the UNP was a minority in Parliament but he had the backing of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) whose leader Maithripala Sirisena had been elected President with Wickremesinghe’s UNP votes.
Today though Wickremesinghe is the lone MP for the UNP. The ruling party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) does not support him. They have only grudgingly conceded the premiership to him because of the public uproar caused by Mahinda Rajapaksa’s recent actions.
It is not that the Rajapaksas want Wickremesinghe at the helm. They have no choice. The public is baying for their blood because of the shortages of essential items such as fuel, gas and electricity and the rising cost of living. To extricate themselves out of this mess, what better choice than Wickremesinghe?
Wickremesinghe himself has nothing to lose. He has ruined his party. His own political career was as good as over. When the next elections are due, he will be seventy-five years of age. So, what better farewell than an encore performance. If he can work an economic miracle, he will be forgiven all his past sins and hailed as a saviour. If he doesn’t, he can still retire which he would have had to do anyway.
The Rajapaksas are promoting Wickremesinghe, touting his credential as a man with experience and being acceptable to western donor nations, knowing well that he has another invaluable asset, his penchant to protect the Rajapaksas from prosecution as he did during the ‘yahapaalanaya’ era. They are killing two birds with one stone: they are getting a man who will front up and take the flak, if his plans for an economic recovery fall apart; they are also virtually getting immunity from prosecution.
However, Wickremesinghe is still not one of ‘them’. He will not be able to dictate terms to the Rajapaksas or alter their plan of action. This was evident in Parliament on Tuesday. Wickremesinghe proposed that the election of a Deputy Speaker be unanimous and that it be allocated to a female MP. The SJB proposed Rohini Kaviratne. Even the SLPP’s potential nominee, Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle graciously withdrew, when she heard of Ms. Kaviratne’s nomination. However, the SLPP would have none of it. Wickremesinghe’s request was ignored and they nominated Ajith Rajapaksa who was eventually elected.
Another example was when the Attorney General ordered the arrest of nearly two dozen persons responsible for the attacks on non-violent protestors at Galle Face. That list included minister Johnston Fernando and other parliamentarians but not Mahinda Rajapaksa or Namal Rajapaksa. It was blatantly obvious that justice was being meted out on a selective basis. Wickremesinghe however could do nothing about it except grin and bear it- if he wanted to do anything about it in the first instance!
If further proof was in fact needed about Wickremesinghe’s servility towards the Rajapaksas, it was on display when he voted against a motion to suspend Standing orders in Parliament to debate a No Confidence Motion against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. As Tamil National Alliance MP, M.A. Sumanthiran pointed out, Wickremesinghe had reviewed the Motion, made suggestions about it and indicated he would support it, just a few days prior!
This will be the pattern of things to come. The SLPP dominated Parliament will make majority decisions based on their priorities, not on Wickremesinghe’s agenda. They will allow Wickremesinghe to tinker with the economy because that is where he could bring some relief and that is where he will be a convenient scapegoat if he fails. As for the rest of the changes that are being demanded by the public, the SLPP will carry on regardless and Wickremesinghe will be an incompetent bystander in that exercise.
The priority of the Rajapaksas after the Galle Face protest erupted was to secure a stable parliamentary majority. Suddenly, that seemed to be in jeopardy with the SLFP, a faction of the SLPP and the Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila group playing truant. Now, all of them have been appeased because Wickremesinghe, and not Mahinda Rajapaksa, is the Prime Minister. It is a cosmetic exercise, but it serves its purpose.
What Ranil Wickremesinghe will get from the Rajapaksas is the ‘karapincha’ treatment: use and then discard. Wickremesinghe may have grand visions of restoring economic stability to Sri Lanka and becoming a hero but the reality is that he is being used as a pawn by the Rajapaksa to ensure immunity from prosecution and a safe exit if necessary. Guaranteeing that may well be Ranil Wickremesinghe’s lasting and most noxious contribution to his motherland.
