‘I took all steps to resolve crisis’
RAJAPAKSA CLAIMS SRI LANKA’S RESERVES WERE ALREADY LOW WHEN HE TOOK OFFICE
SRI LANKA’S ousted president, who fled overseas last week to escape a popular uprising against his government, has said he took “all possible steps” to avert the economic crisis that has engulfed the island nation.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation was accepted by parliament last Friday (15). He flew to the Maldives and then Singapore after hundreds of thousands of antigovernment protesters came out onto the streets of Colombo a week ago, and occupied his official residence and offices.
Sri Lanka’s parliament met last Saturday (16) to begin the process of electing a new president, and a shipment of fuel arrived to provide some relief to the crisis-hit nation.
Dhammika Dasanayake, the secretary general of Sri Lanka’s parliament, formally read out Rajapaksa’s resignation letter, the contents of which had not previously been made public.
In the letter, Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka’s financial crisis was rooted in years of economic mismanagement that pre-dated his presidency and in the Covid-19 pandemic that drastically reduced Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals and remittances from foreign workers. “It is my personal belief that I took all possible steps to address this crisis, including inviting parliamentarians to form an all-party or unity government,” the letter said. “I have contributed my utmost for the country and in the future too, I will contribute for the country,” Rajapaksa said in the letter.
It was not clear whether he was signalling an intention to remain involved in politics from exile. “It is a matter of personal satisfaction for me that I was able to protect our people from the pandemic despite the economic crisis we were already facing,” Rajapaksa insisted.
The virus claimed more than 16,500 lives and infected over 660,000 in the nation of 22 million, where Rajapaksa refused to institute a lockdown in the initial wave and told doctors: “Don’t panic.”
One of his cabinet ministers said Sri Lanka did not require foreign vaccines and that local remedies from shamans were more than adequate.
Rajapaksa claimed Sri Lanka’s reserves were already low when he took office in November 2019 and the subsequent pandemic devastated the economy.
But critics say the government’s mismanagement was a crucial factor.
Official figures show Sri Lanka had $7.5 billion (£6.24bn) in foreign exchange reserves when he took over, dropping to just $1 million by the time he quit. The country is officially bankrupt.
Rajapaksa, 73, came to power in 2019 as a strongman leader but was forced out of his official residence a week ago when it was stormed by thousands of protesters. He, his wife Ioma and their two bodyguards arrived in Singapore from the Maldives. As president, Rajapaksa enjoyed immunity from arrest, and he is understood to have wanted to go abroad before stepping down to avoid the possibility of being detained.
The former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed is believed to have played a behind-the-scenes role in getting him out of the country, and said Rajapaksa feared he would be killed if he remained. “I believe the president would not have resigned if he were still in Sri Lanka, and fearful of losing his life,” Nasheed tweeted.
Singapore’s foreign ministry confirmed Rajapaksa had been allowed to enter the city-state for a “private visit”, adding: “He has not asked for asylum and neither has he been granted any asylum.”
He is expected to look to stay in Singapore for some time, according to Sri Lankan security sources, before potentially moving to the United Arab Emirates.
Parliament was due to elect his permanent successor on Wednesday (20), after prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe – also an object of the protesters’ scorn – was sworn in as an interim replacement.
There was no debate on Rajapaksa’s letter and the formal session ended after just 13 minutes, but political sources said horse-trading was already underway with no candidate having a guaranteed power bloc. Wickremesinghe, 73, is a key contender and has the backing of Rajapaksa’s SLPP party, but some of its members have said they will not vote for him.
Senior SLPP dissident and former media minister Dullas Alahapperuma, 63, said he was also staking a claim, while opposition leader Sajith Premadasa announced his candidacy last Friday (15) night. Former army chief Sarath Fonseka, 71, also wants to run.