Gotabaya to stay on despite the calls to step down over failures
Economic crisis spinning out of control; food shortages continue, prices soar; food aid appeal by UN for first time Despite disputes with President, Premier Ranil makes confidence speech highlighting mismanagement and mishandling of economy 21A runs into q wishes to comp GL dropped fro 21A talks with
An economic catastrophe spinning out of control with the increasing nonavailability of essentials is clouded by a heavy fog -- the impending constitutional changes. To procure more fuel to keep vehicles running, the transport services operating and cooking gas ( LPG) for most households and restaurants, resources are dwindling. The lack of diesel has curtailed bus services. Only a few lorries are operating to Colombo with vegetables and fruits from economic centres in the provinces. The result is two-fold -- prices of what is locally available have risen and fresh produce is rotting. An example: a kilo of tomatoes costs between Rs 900 and Rs 1000. Medicinal drugs, including insulin widely used by diabetics, are not available or in short supply.
Rice is scarce in some areas, like for example Matara, and prices are skyrocketing. All varieties went up by Rs 30 yesterday. Government officials are examining whether to introduce rationing in the weeks ahead to enable a possible equitable distribution. On Thursday, the United Nations team in Sri Lanka and non-governmental organizations launched a joint Humanitarian Needs and Priorities (HNP) Plan, calling for US$47.2 million to provide life-saving assistance to 1.7 million people worst-hit by the economic crisis over a fourmonth period, from June to September. This is in response to the Government’s request. Never has Sri Lanka sought food aid from the United Nations before.
Hanna Singer-Hamdy, a senior UN diplomat and Resident Coordinator in Colombo, told the Sunday Times, “The current economic crisis threatens reversing many of the gains, including the peace dividends. The enjoyment of basic human rights (to food, to adequate health) is at stake for many and this could ultimately impact social cohesion. Therefore, we need to show solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka and support the Humanitarian Needs and Priorities Plan to provide life-saving assistance to the women, men, and children most affected by the crisis now. If we don’t act now, we will see Sri Lanka slide in front of our eyes into a humanitarian crisis.”
People who have been yearning for relief from these horrendous hardships, were either momentarily distracted or were force fed with a nonessential of humongous proportions. That is the impending introduction of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution. There has been an information overload, under different pretexts, by pundits who make Sri Lankans believe that it was the answer to all their travails.
Its author, Justice, and Constitutional Reforms Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe declared earlier that 21A would prevent former Minister and the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s chief ideologue, Basil Rajapaksa from becoming President. An abolition of the executive presidency now, he opines, will not only be an expensive process but also lead to anarchy. He does not say how the continuing shortage of essentials, unlike 21A, would sure lead to that. At least, Basil Rajapaksa has taken the wind off the sails of that misleading campaign. On Thursday he told a news conference that he had quit Parliament. Hence, the question of his becoming President from there does not arise.
For all purposes, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa also declared this week that he was not in favour of piecemeal constitutional amendments. A President must have full powers, or the executive presidency should be abolished, and the country should go for a Westminster style parliament, he told Bloomberg (online business news daily and television channel) in an interview last Monday. Much more importantly, he asserted that he would not leave office until he ended the next two years, the remainder of his five-year term. That was the first formal response to protestors demanding that he quit. Why then is 21A such high priority as against the other burning issues that threaten the survival of Sri Lankans?
No doubt some eyebrows were raised. Only early last Saturday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had a meeting with President Rajapaksa. Accompanying him were Ministers Rajapakshe and Nimal Siripala de Silva, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s senior vice president who abandoned his party to take up a ministerial portfolio. The delegation, a source familiar with the near two-hour-long talks said, came back with the “feeling that the President supported 21A.” President Rajapaksa has declared thereafter that he is not in favour. And, this week’s political developments are not only casting some doubts on the passage of 21A but also lays bare new political developments that may change the course of events.
It all began on Saturday ( June 4) evening. President Rajapaksa had a one- on- one meeting with his brother and ex Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa at the Janadipathi Mandiraya. Fuller details of what they talked is not known. However, those who are familiar with the dialogue said it centered on 21A as well as Basil’s political future including his resignation from Parliament. The latter move came in the backdrop of his summoning meetings of SLPP grassroots level organizations to re-activate the party. Most members kept away delivering the message that the SLPP support base was fast eroding. Believe it or not, in a
few areas, this has seen SLPPers now wooing the UNP’s emaciated grassroots level bodies, certainly bad news for the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB). The younger among them were rallying behind the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna ( JVP) led National People’s Force.
Whilst the meeting was under way, President Rajapaksa asked the switchboard operator to connect him on the telephone to Minister Rajapakshe. He told the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister not to take up for discussion the final draft of 21A at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on Monday (June 6). The copies, he said, could be distributed at the end of the meeting. Thereafter, he said, it could be taken up for discussion tomorrow ( Monday, June 13). Rajapaksha abided by the presidential order. Ministers received their copies almost as they finished the ministerial meeting.
The Sunday Times has seen a copy of the final 21A draft distributed among the ministers. Significant highlights of this document, based on the meetings Premier Wickremesinghe had with political party representatives ( and reported exclusively in these columns last week) appear in the later paragraphs.
The discussion then shifted to who would succeed Basil Rajapaksa in Parliament. The exFinance Minister suggested two names -Dhammika Perera, businessman cum casino owner, and Renuka Perera, a former chairman of Milco, a dairy company. He is a confidant of exPremier Mahinda Rajapaksa. President Rajapaksa picked on Dhammika Perera, who in recent months, has been coming up with proposals in the media to boost the country’s foreign exchange earnings. In fact, he had sought support for his palns that covered foreign exchange inflow to the country. Accordingly, President Rajapaksa had chosen to appoint him as Minister of Technology and Investment Promotion. Subjects already gazetted under this Ministry are: Board of Investment, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission ( TRC), Information and Communication Technology Agency ( ICTA), Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT), Colombo Port City Commission, Sri Lanka Telecom, Lotus Tower Management Company, Techno Park Development Company, IT Parks – Jaffna and Mannar, Industrial Technology Institute, Institute of Nanotechnology and the Standards Institute of Biotechnology.
A Ministry of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment has also been gazetted. Pavithra Wanniaratchchi, who last held the transport portfolio, is tipped to take over this position. At present, there is no female minister. On Wednesday, the minister-designate Dhammika Perera drove to the SLPP office at Nelum Mawatha in Battaramulla to pay his subscription and obtain membership of the party. His appointment as a national list MP was gazetted on Friday night and he is due to be sworn in before the next sitting of Parliament. One of the first assignments he has slotted is a meeting with Premier Wickremesinghe.
If President Rajapaksa, on his own volition chose Ranil Wickremesinghe, the only UNP member in Parliament, to be his Prime Minister, he was neither informed nor consulted about the proposed appointment of Dhammika Perera as a national list MP or cabinet minister thereafter. It is the view of some senior UNPers that the induction of a businessman with casino connections could lead to a conflict of interest and therefore unwelcome in the private sector. This sparked speculation, mostly among the UNP hierarchy, whether the two brothers were in an exercise to reduce the operational space of the Minister of Finance, the portfolio currently held by the Prime Minister. They argue this could lead to friction. This is notwithstanding any subjects being taken away from him. “Such moves can only stultify the Government’s own efforts and deliver a wrong message, here and abroad, that there was no stability in the present ‘interim’ government,” said a UNP senior who did not wish to be named.
His remarks dampen the enthusiastic efforts by
some Colombo- based western envoys who are keen to ensure the passage of 21A. They feel it is a right step in the direction of further democratization and proof that the new Government could deliver. The need for a stable government apart, the present composition itself has raised questions. Among those in the cabinet, particularly from the SLPP, are proven extortionists, bribe takers facing allegations in courts and others with a criminal past. Another segment, former ministers including S.M. Chandrasena, P.B. Ratnayake and S.B. Dissanayake, who missed out on the ministerial stakes are now seeking positions even as state ministers.
Disagreements between President and Premier
That frictions exist in some areas between President Rajapaksa and Premier Wickremesinghe is no secret. An example is the working of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) where Premier Wickremesinghe had expressed strong reservations over actions at the leadership level. He in fact had earmarked his own nominee for the position. As reported last week, President Rajapaksa had to assure CBSL Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe and another member of the Monetary Board that he would not allow any ‘political interference’ in the ‘excellent work’ they were doing. In fact, a stakeholder asked President Rajapaksa whether he was under pressure to relieve the Governor of his responsibilities. His reply, "I don't know about that. When the letter extending his term is on my table, I will sign it." The stakeholder reminded him that it must come from Premier Wickremesinghe as Finance Minister (the CBSL has been placed under him). There was silence.
The Basil faction has been miffed by their perception that Premier Wickremesinghe was now ‘running’ the country. An effective communication machinery has thrust Wickremesinghe to the limelight, both here and abroad. He has also seized that opportunity to identify and publicise the many defects in the current administration. Even the main opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya ( SJB) led by Sajith Premadasa has been slow or ineffective in this effort. This has led to Champika Ranawaka, a former minister in the yahapalana government and an SJB frontliner quitting the alliance to sit as an ‘ independent’ member in the opposition benches. “I will muster the support of those in Parliament and outside in a campaign to save Sri Lanka from further economic ruin,” he told the Sunday Times. Towards this end, he said, he was formulating a ‘common minimum agenda’ which his backers could agree upon.
Wickremesinghe is reaping the benefits from the new publicity wave. They come as bonus to rejuvenate the United National Party ( UNP). However, he must ensure corrupt groups under his fold, like ghouls, do not feed on the misery of the people, by resorting to corrupt practices. President Rajapaksa too had conveyed a note of caution to him through his Chief of Staff, Sagala Ratnayake in this regard. As reported last week, he named a UNP stalwart. A failure could boomerang on him again. Of course, this must also be viewed in the backdrop of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, isolating himself in a room at the Janadipathi Mandiraya with little or no contact with the outside world barring a handful of visitors, mostly diplomats. He has cut himself off even from his 6.9 million voters.
President Rajapaksa did write to Premier Wickremesinghe a letter on the contents of 21A, as revealed last week. It was drafted by Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris, who is a constitutional expert on the SLPP side. The Sunday Times learnt that it related to the allocation of ministerial subjects by the President, to remove references to the words “on the advice of the Prime Minister” when appointing cabinet ministers and replace it with the words “in consultation with” and, a new provision to remove the Prime Minister.
Foreign Minister Peiris’s moves,