By Kumar David –

Prof Kumar David

Maduluwawe Sobitha hamuduruwo has made his stand absolutely clear: “I will be a Single Issue (SI) presidential candidate for the purpose of abolishing the Executive Presidency (EP) within six months of election. Then I will quit; let the people elect their next government on the new constitutional basis which will be put in place within the six months”. The second point Hamuduruwo has emphasised is that since he has no governmental ambitions, since he has no greed for power, and since he is doing this only as public service and not for personal gain, he hopes that he can be supported by everybody. He hopes to be a National Common Candidate (NCC) exclusively for the stated SI objective, if the nation wants him to do this service.

Now I have got information from reliable sources, two of them within Hamuduruwo’s inner circle that a group of saboteurs led by an ex-JVP person has infiltrated and is attempting to undermine all three core principles of the SI-NCC concept. First, this group is doing all it can to seduce the inner circle to give up the SI concept and instead include broad governmental programmes in the campaign. Then comes the evil part; why does Hamuduruwo need a broad governmental programme if he is going back to the pansala in six months? The evil objective of these saboteurs is to undermine the morality of the campaign and spread distrust that Hamuduruwo will try to hang on to power. This leads to the third pillar of the SI-NCC edifice that they are attempting to disrupt, the NCC part. They strategy is to sabotage the common candidate element. What is the logic of a common candidate strategy if the objective is not a Single Issue strategy to get rid of the Executive Presidency, but an underhand plot to form a government and hang on to power for six years? Why should others – the UNP, the JVP, Muslims, Tamils – lend their support to this subterfuge? If you want to enjoy the presidency for six more years, or god knows how many more terms, declare that openly and don’t hide under SI camouflage, they will say.

It is obvious that these disruptors have been inserted into Hamuduruwo’s circle to act as agents of outside forces who are desperate to discredit the now fast growing campaign. It is a long way from the days when I first started on a lonely road to clarify and develop the concepts. Now the SI movement is picking up fast, it is gaining strength and developing its own momentum, and the-powers-that-be know that they can’t stop it. So what’s the best thing to do? They reckon “get inside and discredit it by creating doubts about its moral honesty”. Sabotage it from the inside by sowing moral doubts! I have no information regarding the source of disruption hence I make no allegations. Logically it could be any state institution or political party that is supportive of the Executive Presidential system.

As the person who initiated, pushed, argued for popularise the SI-NCC strategy from two years ago I have been assailed by two types of criticism; firstly, can the candidate win by getting everybody together, and secondly, can we trust the person to do as he says, that is, make the essential constitutional changes and then abdicate? The second issue is a matter of concern to many people, no to a huge number of people, who have become cynical because of the lies of Chandrika and Mahinda. Both promised TWICE to abolish EP, both lied TWICE. I find it entirely natural that people are cynical and unwilling to be taken for fools a fifth time.

The only way this has been countered is by Hamuduruwo’s sterling reputation as a man of his word and by his unequivocal clarity about doing the job and then getting out. Hamuduruwo has made his position absolutely clear in public and never wavered. So what the saboteurs are trying to do, get in on the inside and muddy the waters. Fortunately this news has leaked out through unexpected channels. I do not know Hamuduruwo personally and am not interested in whispering warnings in his ear. Warnings have to be open and public. All of us members of the public and insightful persons, who worked quite hard to develop this campaign in the public and political domain to this take-off stage, are the real owners of the issue.

The immediate thing that Hamuduruwo has to do is clearly reiterate his stand again and again and again before the saboteurs get to work spreading poison, innuendoes and rumours. Trust me, there are media moguls by the dozen who will pounce upon, twist and distort every “leak” released by “sources”. All this must be nipped in the bud and Hamuduruwo needs to keep reiterating his stand because those who sent in the agents are not going to stop doing their dirty work.