President convenes emergency meetings to discuss ongoing crisis

Discussions centre on full-fledged new Cabinet, fuel crisis and measures to end queues Govt. prepares itself to face SJB's no-faith motion; Gammanpila wary about the move

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa last evening chaired an emergency high level Government meeting of former Cabinet ministers at the heavily guarded President’s House in the Fort to discuss the prevailing crisis and ways to move forward.

Among the issues discussed were the appointment of a fullfledged Cabinet of Ministers. The new Cabinet is to be sworn in today or tomorrow.

All Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna members of the previous Cabinet had been invited to the meeting, but some did not attend as they were in their home constituencies away from Colombo owing to the National New Year.

The meeting was mainly called to discuss the present crisis in view of the protest that has been going on since last week outside the Presidential Secretariat overlooking Colombo's popular Galle Face promenade. The protest calling for the resignation of the President and his Government enters its ninth day today.

The appointment of a new Cabinet was one of the main topics that were discussed, sources told the Sunday Times. The present Cabinet which was sworn- in on April 4 has only four ministers, besides Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa who did not step down from his post when the ministers submitted their resignations.

A former senior minister who attended the meeting said that with a Sri Lankan delegation- led by new Finance Minister Ali Sabry due to hold talks in Washington with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tomorrow, it was imperative that the Government appointed a new Cabinet to show a measure of stability to allay concerns the IMF might have over the political stability of the Government.

With several partners of the ruling SLPP-led coalition and those in the Opposition rejecting the President’s invitation to take up Cabinet posts in an interim government, the new Cabinet will likely comprise mostly MPs who held posts in the previous Cabinet. Nevertheless, several younger State Ministers may be elevated to Cabinet rank to replace some senior MPs who had come in for harsh public criticism over their performances during the past few months, these sources added.

Former Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told the Sunday Times last night that the focus of the meeting was on the upcoming IMF talks. He said almost all former ministers were present at the meeting.

Finance Minister Ali Sabry and the delegation were due to leave for Washington last night for talks with the IMF. The delegation includes Central Bank GovernorNandalal Weerasinghe and Finance Ministry Secretary Mahinda Siriwardena.

The meeting with former Cabinet Ministers followed several rounds of discussions the President held earlier yesterday with Finance Minister Ali Sabry, Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe, State Minister Shehan Semasinghe, Presidential Secretary Gamini Senarath, the President’s Principal Advisor Lalith Weeratunga and Finance Ministry Secretary K.M.M. Siriwardene, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said.

Another discussion was held later in the day with officials from the Ministries of Finance, Energy and Health. Discussions with officials from the Energy Ministry centred on the utilisation of funds from the Indian credit line and plans for importing fuel over the next three months.

The Sunday Times learns that the President had also directed officials to resume operations at the Sapugaskanda oil refinery and take urgent measures to reduce the lengthy queues outside filling stations.

The Government is also preparing itself to face a no-confidence motion in Parliament, with the main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) collecting signatures from MPs. The party expects to submit the motion to the Speaker “when the time is right,” Party General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara said.

He claimed that the SJB had already initiated discussions with other opposition parties and Government MPs who have decided to sit as independents in Parliament. Only the two MPs from the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) have so far signed the motion besides the SJB MPs.

The SJB has so far not initiated any discussions on the matter with Government’s coalition parties which are now sitting independently in Parliament, Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Leader Udaya Gammanpila stated. “We need to first see the content of the draft before deciding whether to support it. There is no question that this Government must be toppled, but it must also come with the installation of an interim all-party administration that will take steps to alleviate the sufferings of the people by bringing down the cost of living and restoring essential services which have broken down,” Mr Gammanpila said.

Coalition parties were still willing to discuss the motion with the SJB provided there was a concrete plan for what happens next, he added.

The PHU Leader also said it was essential to ensure that the motion had the support of 113 MPs before it was submitted. “This Government is in a very defeatist mindset. The last thing we want to do is give it a morale boost by submitting such a no-faith motion that will be defeated. There have been 17 such motions in the history of our Parliament and none of them has succeeded. That is something to bear in mind,” he remarked.