In reshuffle, Gotabaya drops brother as finance minister
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dropped his brother as finance minister on Monday after calling for a unity government, as protests against a deep economic crisis in the country focused on the leadership of the powerful family.
The debt-laden country, run by Rajapaksa and several members of his family since 2019, is struggling to pay for imports of fuel and other goods due to a scarcity of foreign exchange, leading to hours-long power cuts and a shortage of essentials.
Street protests against the government continued on Monday with crowds gathering in several towns, including in southern Tangalle where people holding posters and the national flag broke through police barricades, media reported.
Many protesters have demanded a total ouster of the Rajapaksas. The president’s elder brother is the prime minister, while his younger brother was the finance minister and the nephew the sports minister in the government that got disbanded.
“Four ministers were appointed to ensure parliament and other tasks can be conducted in a lawful manner until a full Cabinet can be sworn in,” the president’s media office said in a statement, after cabinet ministers resigned and the central bank governor offered to quit in a bid to resolve the crisis.
The presidential media office said justice minister Ali Sabry would be the new finance minister, replacing Basil Rajapaksa, who was due to visit Washington this month for talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan programme.
Previous ministers of foreign affairs, education and highways will keep their positions.
“The president invites all political parties representing in the parliament to come together to accept ministerial portfolios in order to find solutions to this national crisis,” the president’s media office said, calling for a unity government.
The largest opposition political party, the United People’s Force, or SJB, rejected the president’s proposal of a unity government. “The people of this country want Gotabaya and the entire Rajapaksa family to go and we can’t go against the people’s will and we can’t work alongside the corrupt,” top SJB official Ranjth Madduma Banadara told The Associated Press.
SJB has 54 lawmakers in the 225-member parliament.
The developments come after the president declared a state of emergency on Friday, following spiralling street protests in the island nation of 22 million.