Maithripala throws the baton back to the people

All these statements coupled with the many comedowns so far made by President Sirisena do not serve to strengthen or inspire confidence in his ability to stick to his guns.

True, Maithripala Sirisena as the Executive President has the absolute power to choose a Member of Parliament who, in his opinion, commands the confidence of the House. But what does it mean in practical terms especially when one is against an opponent who plays the player and not the game?

What would be the position in the event of a UPFA victory if the UPFA members refuse to accept any Cabinet portfolio unless Mahinda Rajapaksa is appointed Prime Minister? Even in the case a few do and Maithripala Sirisena is able to form a national government with UNP support, for how long will it last if the majority of members of the UPFA, returned as the biggest political entity, stay loyal to Rajapaksa and defeat every parliamentary bill? Back to square one, isn't it and goodbye to January's spring of hope?

Furthermore Maithripala Sirisena himself has accepted that despite his avowed refusal to appoint Rajapaksa as Prime Minister, it is still possible for him to become premier. In his speech he says that he dissolved Parliament because "the underlying hope of the no- confidence motion on the Prime Minister, if it was brought forward to the Parliament, was for someone from the UPFA National List to resign and give that position to Mahinda Rajapaksa. When Mahinda Rajapaksa was able to come to Parliament, the plan was to defeat Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe through a noconfidence motion and for the Rajapaksa faction to form their own government with Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister. If that indeed were possible without the president's explicit consent, why cannot the same scenario be reenacted in the future?

The fact of the matter is that Maithripala Sirisena has been reduced to a mere figurehead in the party of which he is supposed to be chairman; and the reins of party power have shifted swiftly and smoothly to Rajapaksa's grasping hands. The danger must now loom more menacingly than ever before whether, in the days to come in the event of a UPFA victory, an isolated Maithripala Sirisena will be rendered impotent and reduced to a figurehead president for all practical purposes.

And the question must arise whether then Maithripala's promised aim, as he said in his speech, "to completely abolish or cut down the executive powers of the presidency", to make the holder of the office nothing more than a neutered mascot to be brought out and put on display at ceremonious functions, through long drawn constitutional means, would have been achieved ironically without the two third hassle to amend the constitution further through the Rajapaksa quick fire method?

The President has stated that he was against Mahinda Rajapaksa before January 8 and still is against Mahinda Rajapaksa and that he has not endorsed his nomination. 'I asked the party leaders to take a majority decision without splitting the party. I must state very clearly that in the upcoming election I have no association with Mahinda Rajapaksa' he said in his speech. Obviously he thinks Mahinda is no good to come forward even as a candidate. But that has not stopped him from standing idly by and let events pass him by, events he believes his enormous and varied powers as executive president are unable to influence. So be it then.

Maithripala's neutrality in the hustings has resulted in the baton being thrown back to the people once again to light freedom's flame and turn January's spring into an August summer where hopes' flowers may finally blossom in sunshine's sweet lea or perish prematurely in winter's barren cold sans a chance to bloom.