President, PM need to make cohabitation work

Like any employee who has been sacked from employment and reinstated by a labour tribunal, the Ministers of the Cabinet – and the State and Deputy Ministers -- have got their jobs back following the October 26 misadventure of President Maithripala Sirisena. On Thursday, thanks to the 19th Amendment, the Cabinet was mercifully limited to a stipulated maximum. Sri Lanka with a population of just over 20 million and a fourth the size of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, had a Cabinet that put bigger democracies to shame. But in fact it was a shame for this country to have what has been commonly referred to as a “jumbo Cabinet” milking the taxpayers’ purse in the process.

It is the apex of political power that set the standard for an over-sized public sector as well; something that has for long become a “jobs for the boys and girls”; an open house for those related to, or supporting, the ruling party members, to find employment. This overgrown public sector badly needed “a haircut” - to use the new parlance for trimming excess weight and correcting an unhealthy trend.

By and large, the portfolios have been allotted to the same Parliamentarians who headed those ministries prior to October 26. It has also given the Prime Minister an opportunity to finetune the appointments. Still, it has not been without the pressures he has been subjected to and the IOUs he would have had to encash from those he had to rely on for his Parliamentary majority. That is a political reality and he must surely be thanking his lucky stars that at least he did not have to find portfolios for the TNA and JVP MPs who also supported him. On the other hand, if they had formally joined the UNF in a national government, there could have been that “jumbo Cabinet”.

It was wise for the reinstated Government to ditch the suggestion made by some to go for a national government with the solitary SLMC MP (though other SLMC MPs contested from the UNF ticket) for the sole purpose of going above the limit of 30 in the Cabinet. That would have been a total farce and would have glaringly exposed the UNF Government’s “pro-Democracy” cry of recent weeks during the Constitutional crisis.

The near-two months between October 26 and December 20 should have given the Cabinet of Ministers time to reflect. They would have also got a taste of being “jobless”, with cars, security and other perks withdrawn, and no work to do, other than mass mobilisation. It ought to, therefore, reinvigorate them to serve the nation for the balance period of their term, which goes on till August 2020 unless otherwise Constitutionally brought forward; mindful too, that in all likelihood a Presidential election could precede Parliamentary elections.

That is ample time therefore, for the Government to re-calibrate its policies and map out its strategies. While democracy faced the red line because of the President’s adventurism, and the two pillars of Government, viz., the Legislature and the Judiciary, stood firm, Government members will only be pulling wool over their eyes if they were to believe that throughout the country, the people are now with them, fully. Rural Sri Lanka realised the President had done something wrong. That does not translate to endorsing the wrongs of this Government since 2015.

The Prime Minister, a keen observer of Indian politics, would have studied the recent mid-term elections in five states and the setback faced by the hitherto high- riding BJP Government at the Centre. Anti- incumbency has been put down as one of the root causes for the Government’s defeat. The invincibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been severely tested as the electorate resented being taken for granted. “It was a good lesson for us and time to reflect and do some course correction,” a BJP leader said.

Such a lesson is appropriate for the Government in Sri Lanka too as it faces the anti-incumbency dilemma. While the Government will justifiably enjoy the fruits of victory from challenging the President’s anti-Constitutional expedition, that victory will be Pyrrhic unless tempered with the sobering reality of comprehending the volatility of the electorate which the government politicians will at some time or other, have to go before.

The Opposition Rajapaksa brigade, having made a major political blunder in partnering the President’s October 26 faux pas, will clearly lick their wounds, wipe the egg off their face, bide their time, though not for very long, and bounce back with a vengeance into where they believe, and rightly so, their strength is – the southern electorate.

The challenge for the Government is, however, not merely to think of how to win the next set of elections, but more, how to put the country on the right track. The one and a half month Rajapaksa “Government” once in power and place, immediately took populist measures. Reducing the price of fuel seems to be the all-time favourite of new Governments. While it does give temporary relief to the people, it only makes life difficult for Governments in the long run and is no guarantee for electoral success unless other factors fall into place.

The public will stomach tough measures and tightening of belts only if the political leadership shows they are “one with the people” rather than serving themselves first before serving the nation and the people. That is when discontent rises and the anti-incumbency factor kicks in.

The ‘new’ cohabitation Government got off to the worst possible ‘new beginning’ when President Sirisena gave a schoolmaster-like lecture to the Prime Minister and UNF leaders as he was left with no option but to work with them.

But he could not remain sulking that he couldn’t get his way. He came into a cohabitation Government with his eyes wide open in 2015 and there is a great responsibility on his part to head such a Government till the end of its term. Clearly, the rapport between him and his Prime Minister and Ministers is crucial, especially now when none of his own party men is in the Cabinet. He might not want to remain passive as President D.B. Wijetunga was from 1993-94, but equally, he cannot play an obstructionist role disposing what is proposed.

It is said that the President comes from Mars and the Prime Minister from Venus insofar as their political philosophies and perspectives are concerned. We have said before that the President lives in the 1970s and the Prime Minister in 2050. Broadly put, one is a socialist at heart, and the other a capitalist.

Many advanced democracies are moving towards ‘social democracy’ where the public is taxed, but the tax is used to provide services to the public equitably with a safety net for the vulnerable. If the President and the Prime Minister can make that combination work, they will make a winning team. Otherwise, the country can continue further down the slippery road to disaster.