By Asoka S. Seneviratne –

Prof. Asoka.S. Seneviratne

Sri Lanka has become a crisis-infected country, and Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe (Prez RW) has been their cause and source. Among many, being 75 years old, a well-educated individual with a political life spanning 50 years, opposition leader, six-time prime minister, and now President, the country and the people expect Prez RW’s response, feedback, behaviours, actions, deeds, etc. to be rational and an excellent example to others, particularly the youth, the new generation related to the Aragalaya. Prez RW sometimes talks about the context of some issues, particularly the country’s constitution, which shows his ignorance, arrogance, and desire to confuse for nothing. On the other hand, watching and listening to Prez RW, the youth express dismay at what to learn from him and follow him. Many may think that Prez RW  is a ‘Strategic and visionary leader”. But it is only a poor judgment at face value. If we carefully analyze it, it reveals that he is a king of crises- making for power greediness, or just existence without essence. The above is counterproductive in the context of economic growth, sustainable development, and welfare improvement of the people.  More importantly, in many ways, Sri Lanka reflects negatively on the rest of the world. Given the above, I want to indicate occasions when the country and people have been unhappy because of Prez RW, such as when he violated their democratic and constitutional rights and suppressed freedoms, creating crises. Furthermore, a future NPP government must address and resolve all crises created by Prez RW to deliver the expected results by the people.  The purpose of this article is to analyse and indicate the above.

Before becoming president of the nation

In my previous article, “IGP Controversy & President RW’s Failure To Break Up NPP”, I explained some aspects of how Prez RW created the crises.  As Prez RW has been with Sri Lanka politics since 1977 (well over 50 years), it is not intended to look into the long history of the subject matter.  In the background, RW was defeated by Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1999, and Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005, and under the United National Front for Good Governance in 2015, President Maiththripala Sirisena appointed RW as the Prime Minister. However, the differences between RW and President Maiththripala Sirisena paved the way for a constitutional crisis with the appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister in 2018. RW refused to accept the above. As a result, the crisis ended with Maiththripala Sirisena reappointing RW as Prime Minister on 16 December 2018. The above was when RW was involved in a constitutional crisis six years ago, the pros and cons of which are not inquired now.   

The habit of parties and organizations is broken up by Prez RW

Well before the Election Commission declared the details of the Presidential Election, Namal Rajapaksa made an unexpected and surprising statement about Prez RW, accusing Prez RW of attempting to cause a rift within SLPP. He said Wickremesinghe has a habit of causing divisions within political parties and organizations. “He is attempting to dismantle our party”. Furthermore, Namal Rajapaksa said, “He has a history of dismantling parties and organizations, including the United National Party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the Good Governance Government, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, and even the LTTE”.  The above assertion by Namal Rajapaksa vividly indicates the utmost cunning capability of Prez RW to create crises and to break up political parties and organizations along with his sole ambition to stay in control as most of the MPs of SLPP are now with the “Titanic”, either way, it is their coffin. With “Titanic,” opportunistic politicians such as Mahindananda Aluthgamage, S.M Chandrasena, Prasanna Ranatunga, etc., are committed to asset accumulation and political survival at the cost of the country’s progress and welfare. Perez RW had the support of 134 MPs, which reduced to 90s. However, voters with 134 MPs or  90s  are not with Prez RW because the majority will lose their seats during the next parliamentary election. This crisis created by Prez RW is deep, so SLPP cannot address and resolve it. Prez RW secretly intensified his habit of causing divisions within political parties since Prime Minister RW became President.

The crisis created by Prez RW caught SLPP, so it failed to nominate a candidate for the presidential election until 31 July 2024. In short, SLPP is totally out of the scene of the Presidential Election whether it will contest or not. Basil Rajapaksa failed to change Prez RW’s mind about going for parliamentary elections first. Basil wanted Prez RW to agree to his suggestion of having a premiership for SLPP if SLPP supported Prez RW. Mahinda does not have at least Welpaalama to reach the crown with Namal as Prez RW destroyed it too. In the end, given the priority accorded to political survival and personal gains, Mahinda and Basil failed to protect and secure the Medamulna political dynasty, so there is no SLPP or Pohottuwa anymore.  However, I wonder if Mahinda Rajapaksa has given up his expectations for secured survival, provided Prez RW would win. In the end, they are best friends forever. But, NPP does not have such a friendship with anyone. This is the beauty of NPP.

No money. No Election-Postponement of Local Elections.

By stating “ No Mony. No Election” at the parliament, Prez RW refused to fund local elections in March 2023, a constitutional right of the people. This paved the way for a crisis. Accordingly, the National Election Commission informed the Supreme Court that local elections would be held because funds were unavailable. The decision by the Prez RW to postpone the local election was a bad example because it was a dangerous moment for Sri Lankan democracy. The local polls loomed as a significant test for Prez RW’s government, so he feared to face the voters with the truth.  It is worth noting that the local election was supposed to be held in 2018 but postponed until 2023. People were forced to protest in the streets, but they were welcomed with teargas and water cannon. Many were injured. The government informed District Secretaries, ordering them not to accept deposits for the poll. All actions were abrupt and hasty. Indeed, this was not the first time Wickremesinghe attempted to delay the vote. 

The point is that financial or “No money” has been the reason. There is a systematic and strategic way to inform and convince the parliament, Election Commission, people, and the country rather than Prez RW acting like Mr. Bean in the parliament. Most importantly, Prez RW informed the Election Commission first, which would have been better because the process starts with the Election Commission. Such action vividly indicates integrity, honesty, genuineness, and foresight RW as President.  But it was so unfortunate he did not do the right thing at the right time with the right people—the poor leadership quality of Prez RW.

The Gender Equality Bill and Judicial Cannibalism

Among many excellent examples are Prez RW’s remarks about “Judicial Cannibalism” against the Supreme Court’s determination on the Gender Equality Bill. He said it violates the powers of the Parliament under Article 4 of the Constitution. Prez RW decided to appoint a Select Committee to investigate the matter.

According to some experts on the subject matter, the drafting of the Bill was not sound. Prez RW was confused due to many things. Given the above, I want to quote from an expert on the subject (Ref . Colombo Telegraph, June 25, 2024 President’s ‘Cannibalism’ Against The Judiciary by Laksiri Fernando) “ ….Let me first quote what the President exactly claimed about the matter. “I like to say first and foremost that the ‘bill [!] asks ‘what the national policy on gender equality and empowerment of women is in this bill? At least, it is hard to find out. It is not specific, and the bill has no reference to it.  As usual, the President was confused about the whole matter, the bill, and the determination of the Supreme Court! It was a question of determination and not of the bill. Online full sessions can be watched”.

President argued that the “Supreme Court cannot rule. They can only advise us.” This statement is controversial. It is well known that Ranil Wickremesinghe loves jokes and witticisms. To me, even he looks like Mr. Beans! He said the Supreme Court is ‘transgender.’ He also said this is a ‘perverse’ determination. Among his other crack points during the debate, he said today is favorable day for the Leader of the Opposition, Sajith Premadasa, because Anura Kumara Dissanayake is in London!”. The above indicates that Prez RW’s confused mind is creating a crisis.

Creating purely Constitutional Crisis

The controversy about Dhesabandu Thennekon preventing him from functioning in his capacity as IGP was totally and entirely created as a crisis by Prez RW. Prez RW knew all about Dhesabandu Thennekon and that he was not suitable to be appointed as Acting IGP and later IGP. Given the above, the cause and source are with Prez RW about the controversy. That appointment was political but not for the sake of the people and country. Instead, the Speaker followed, respected, accepted, and honored the Constitution; he wanted to please Prez RW, which is political. It’s not a good governance practice at all. The Prime Minister did the same, stating that the Constitutional Council (CC)  is part of the legislature but not with the executive. The opposition leader and the NPP leader challenged the Prime Minister to state what he stated in Parliament publicly. At the same time, the NPP leader challenged Deadband Tennakoon to act as usual if he is still the IGP, as the Prime Minister alleged.

Furthermore, Prez RW states that the Prime Minister and Chief Justice get together to address and resolve the issue. The above is the first time the people and county have heard that the Speaker and Chief Justice are expected to work on a Supreme Court determination for which I wonder if a constitutional provision exists.

Finally, people watched Prez RW address the school kids and explain the constitutional controversy with Dhesabandu Thenenkoon!. However, in the end, Prez RW tried to confuse the people and the country by paving the way for a conflict or crisis between the legislature and the judiciary. The people and the county face a presidential election without an IGP, which is a massive vacuum in good governance created by Prez RW. However, Prez RW wants to wash his hands and fully commits to the election campaign without elephant and green after creating an array of crises. The point is that after many desperate attempts failed based on the term of Prez RW and to postpone the presidential election, his candidacy for the presidential election does not represent the will of the people because they named him Ranil-Rajapaksa, so people and the country viewed him as a Rajapaksa stooge. Now we know well where we are Rajapaksas.

An array of crises for existence with no essence

At face value, we could easily conclude that Prez RW created only a constitutional crisis based on the prominence of postponing the local elections, working on the terms of the president, and the controversy about Dhesabandu Thennekoon, etc. This conclusion is incorrect because he has also been part and parcel of the related economic and good governance crises.

Under the United National Front for Good Governance in 2015, Prez RW was Prime Minister. In 2015, Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt was US$43.93 billion. From 2015 to 2019, Sri Lanka borrowed US$12.05 billion. Accordingly, its total foreign debt in 2019 was US$56.11 billion. There is no doubt that the background of the impact of the Covid 19 was that the above-mentioned foreign borrowing of US$12 billion paved the way for the economic crisis. Currently, the total foreign debt is 55. 38 billion that should be paid by the next generation or unborn. Along with the IMF, financial problems are the same or are further aggregated as one-third of the population has been trapped in various forms of property.  In short, borrowing money and investing in wasteful projects with no returns to repay loans paved the way to borrowing cyclically, along with financial frauds and mishandling, leading to bankruptcy. Given the above, Prez RW stated his goal to bring prosperity to the country in 2048. He changed the above goal two weeks ago and said he could develop the country to the level of Singapore in 10 years. IMF forced Sri Lanka to restructure its debt, which is insufficient for stable growth and sustainable development. The county desperately needs to restructure both debt and the economy simultaneously. Prez RW recently stated that his only plan is IMF—poor foresight and judgment of Prez RW.

Prez RW, quoting the development of Qatar and Dubai, questioned what happened to Sri Lanka. Given the above, we are forced to ask what the politicians did to Sri Lanka because, except by paying increasing taxes, the public did not contribute to the economy’s collapse, or they did not borrow and invest in wasteful projects. Innocent people are listening to the “Baila” of the politicians.

It was reported that the infamous “bond scam” of 2015, Prez RW, was directly or untiredly related to nearly Rs. 10 billion (Rs. 9,826 million) in losses to the EPF due to irregular bond market transactions from 2002 to 2015. It is with impunity or gone under the red carpet even after nine years today. The latest is that COPF revealed that VFS Global was selected without bids being called. The Opposition states that the loss to the government may be more times higher than the Central Bank’s infamous bond scam in 2015. Regarding the Minister of Health’s fraudulent activities, Prez RW cannot wash his hands because it was under his leadership. Regarding good governance, one MP was involved in an incident at the prison, and another was at the airport. Impunity is the punishment. One MP escaped prison sentence and was engaged in a massive amount of gold and mobile phone smuggling. Indeed, an array of incidents did not come under the radar of good governance under the leadership of Prez RW.   It is worth noting Singapore’s Transport Minister, S. Iswaran, resigned after being charged with corruption this year because of having a squeaky-clean government.

The Role of Future NPP Government

The Election Commission declared the presidential election along rolling crises or crossroads of economics, governance, and constitution crises created by Prez RW. Given the above, people and the country need result-oriented concrete policies of a party and a patriotic leader with a vision and utmost commitment to translating the above to meet the people’s expectations. He should be a leader with clean hands, not involved with misgovernance practices, and must have respected and protected the constitution. The leader should be transparent and accountable. He should be a leader who puts the country and people first and foremost throughout. He must be committed to communal harmony and unite Sri Lanka with one country and one law, where people live peacefully. He should be a leader who will not seek the perks and privileges of being a president at the cost of the people and the country. He should be a leader well-known to the rest of the world, not corrupted and having two or many faces. Given the above, the leader is Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) of NPP, who can pass the test quickly and conveniently.

*The writer worked as the Special Advisor to the Office of the President of Namibia and was a Senior Consultant with UNDP for 16 years.  He worked as a Senior Economist with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (1972-1993) before he migrated to New Zealand. The writer can be contacted  at asoka.seneviratne@gmail.com