‘Friend of people’ prexy warns troublemakers
Sri Lanka’s new president doesn’t want distractions from protesters
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lanka’s six-time prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in Thursday as president of the crisis-hit South Asian nation and warned “troublemakers” against trying to topple the government.
“If you try to topple the government, occupy the president’s office and the prime minister’s office, that is not democracy, it is against the law,” Wickremesinghe said on Wednesday after parliament elected him as president in secret balloting.
“We will deal with them firmly according to the law. We will not allow a minority of protesters to suppress the aspirations of the silent majority clamoring for a change in the political system,” Wickremesinghe said.
Protesters who stormed former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s palace and toppled him earlier this month have accused Wickremesinghe of being a proxy of the once-powerful family.
“I am not a friend of the Rajapaksas,” he told reporters at the Gangaramaya temple. “I am a friend of the people.”
Wickremesinghe, as acting president, had already declared a state of emergency that gives sweeping powers to the military to arrest and detain suspects.
The 73-year-old veteran politician, who was overwhelmingly elected as head of state in a parliamentary vote Wednesday, took his oath of office before Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, his office said.
‘We will deal with them firmly according to the law.’
Official sources said he was expected to shortly form a cabinet not exceeding 30 ministers to steer the country out of its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain.
A foreign exchange crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and exacerbated by mismanagement has left Sri Lanka suffering lengthy power blackouts and the country’s 22 million people enduring shortages of fuel, food and medicines for months.
Public anger over the hardships boiled over when tens of thousands of protesters stormed the home of Rajapaksa, forcing him to step down and clearing the way for Wickremesinghe’s election.