Hated leader refusing to quit
COLOMbO: Sri Lanka’s embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has pledged to give up most of his executive powers, but he stopped short of yielding to demands for his resignation over the country’s crippling economic crisis.
The 72-year-old, in his first address to the nation since the start of a month-long protest calling on him to quit, said he would announce a unity government in the coming days.
“I will name a prime minister who will command a majority in parliament and the confidence of the people,” Mr Rajapaksa said in a TV speech.
He did not name the successor of his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who stepped
down as PM on Monday to clear the way for a new cabinet.
“I will work to give more powers to parliament and activate the key elements of the 19th amendment to the constitution,” he said, referring to democratic reforms which he overturned soon after his 2019 election.
Mr Rajapaksa’s pledge to reinstate the amendment would deprive him of the ability to control senior appointments to the public service, police, elections office and judiciary.
Sri Lanka has suffered through months of lengthy blackouts and chronic shortages of food, fuel and other vital goods after the nation ran out of foreign exchange to pay for imported goods. The nation’s central bank chief warned the economy will “collapse” unless a new government was urgently appointed.