By Asoka S. Seneviratne –

Prof. Asoka.S. Seneviratne

Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW) has been with the parliament for about 47 years. Without support from the voters, he became president in 2022 because of his luck. He wants to stay in power, but his leadership is questioned by many, given his performance, particularly over the last two years. Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) has been in the parliament for about 20 years and was a minister and the Chief Opposition Whip from 2015 to 2018. Both RW and AKD are presidential candidates. This article is a committed inquiry into the leadership qualities of RW and AKD so that voters can decide who to support to be the next president of Sri Lanka.   

Vision of RW 

One leadership quality is having a crystal-clear vision. A vision for a country means defining the situation we want to live in in a future time that is significantly better in various spheres of everyday life than the situation we live in today. Ranil Wickremesinghe became president in July 2022. Given the country’s unprecedented economic and social problems, the president’s leadership was crucial if he managed to have a vision and the ability to imagine and think of the future with insight for the country. In other words, if the president had suggested a homegrown solution, it would have been ideal because such a solution would have been grassroots-oriented. However, the president failed to go for a homegrown solution, so he highly depended on the IMF, which was unfortunate. The outcome was the Economic Transformation Bill (ETB) that looked for an advanced status for Sri Lanka in 2048. The Economic Transformation Bill identifies several national economic targets, such as the country’s GDP needing to grow at a rate of five percent until 2027, after which an eight percent economic growth rate is mandated for at least 15 years. Other targets include unemployment in the country being reduced to five percent by 2025; establishing a highly competitive, export-driven economy by 2040; keeping the central government’s annual gross financing needs to GDP ratio below 13 percent by 2032, reducing the central government’s annual debt service in foreign currency to GDP ratio below 4.5 percent by 2027 and achieving female labor force participation of not less than 40 percent and 50 percent by 2030 and 2040 respectively.

One state minister categorically stated that ETB showcased the vision of the president, which is not true at all because the targets of the ETB are the foundation of the Debt Sustainability analysis (DSA) of the IMF and the subsequent restructured debt sustainability program in Sri Lanka, which resulted in the unprecedented burden on the people due to tax increases along with price increases of gas and petrol, and utilities like power and water. However, there is no income increase for households, and it is the agony of the people. The only difference between the ETB and IMF- Sri Lanka Country Report No. 23/116 is that ETB has the Sri Lanka official Logo while the IMF country report has its own Logo; none can argue. Because of the above, some felt there should be an alternative or homegrown program to deal with the debt crisis and, hence, ensure a stable economy based on macroeconomic fundamentals such as stable price level, stability in exchange, and interest rate, low-level unemployment paving the way for sustainable economic growth and development in the medium-long run.

The above means that if Sri Lanka had formulated ETB or another document with the purpose in mind, it would have provided a home-grown solution to the economic crisis that was people and country-friendly.  As the IMF formulated ETB, it is not people-friendly or country-friendly; the mounting suffering for the people is the outcome. The point is that a homegrown vision and program would have the power to galvanize support from the people and the country.  Once there is support and high expectations from the broader public, there will be more pressure on the leadership to achieve the goals set in the vision. President RW states that a single word of the IMF agreement cannot be changed, which means no country ownership of the program or support from the people. In other words, as the vision and the ETB are from IMF, the president cannot do anything; he accepted it to obtain a US$ 3 billion loan, which is the naked truth. If so, what is the purpose of having a president? In other words, the leadership of RW is in question; only the vision of the IMF has become President RW, even though he has been in parliament for nearly 50 years and has been the country’s prime minister five times.

As indicated above, a vision for a country means defining the situation we want to live in in a future time that is significantly better in various spheres of everyday life than the situation we live in today. Given the above, it is pertinent to mention the Sri Lankan government’s economic program for poverty reduction and employment creation, the burning issues in the country along with the required 10 percent economic growth in the long run, 2002, “Regaining Sri Lanka: Vision and Strategy for Accelerated Development.” This 222-page document, which had RW’s signature, became visionless as it was not a strategic long-term vision. In 2002, RW, as the PM, would have formulated an Economic Development Plan with a long-term vision to be on par with developed countries in 2020, with the agreement of all in the parliament that could not change who would come to power until 2020, which would have been great. A country with a strategic long-term vision will know its priorities and how to achieve them. In other words, without a strategic long-term vision, listing priorities such as poverty reduction and employment creation is insufficient. As indicated above, strategic long-term vision requires significant Investments that take time to show their full benefits.  ETB has a long-term vision, but its strategies and targets are not homegrown or not people and country-friendly. The prime minister’s 2002 vision document did not have a long-term strategic vision, even though it was somewhat homegrown for a short period. On both occasions, RW failed to provide the leadership in the right direction with a long-term vision and a homegrown program to work with the support of the public and the country.

The Trust Placed In RW

Generally, uncompromised by doubt is the meaning of trust. I quote, “to inspire trust from others, leaders must also show trust in them. The research underscores the need for trust in organizations. In high-trust environments, people show up and do their best work. They gain productive energy, creativity, speed, and better results. They align around a common purpose, take risks, support each other, and communicate openly and honestly. Effective leadership requires knowing how to build and keep trust, whether with individuals, on teams, or across the organization”.

“Our divisions are now over,” RW told parliament in a short acceptance speech after being elected by his 137 fellow MPs. It’s a perfect start for trust-building. He urged his opponents to work with him for the country’s future, strengthening his commitment to trust-building. He was the sole MP of the party or UNP, and he owed his election to the top office to members of the SLPP, the truth. In short, when he stated the above, it was trusted that he would work with all in the parliament for the next two years, strictly following the constitution, democratic principles, law and order, sound governance principles, and mainly respecting the judiciary. But later on, the way they responded to the holding of local elections, his criticisms to the judiciary over the general equality bill, not following the court determination of the IGP appointment, violating the constitution more than ten times, various methods to adopted to postpone his office term beyond two years and many such examples destroyed trust place on him by the parliament and the country. He strategically divided SLPP, which was another unpleasant experience for many, along with his influence to divide SJB.  RW’s one close and faithful friend, the UNP general secretary Range Bandara, was sacked, which was harsh. Generally, he let down everyone in the Rajapaksa family, while Mahinda Rajapaksa was the most hurt. Typically, how he behaves and responds may make someone wonder whether RW is trusted by himself. Given the above and many more, “Leaders establish trust with condor, transparency, and credit,” RW will no doubt rank very low. The stage of RW is flooded with promises under the sun and talks so that 2048 can be reached next week. In short, voters can easily understand RW’s behavior and reaction, so voters do not trust RW anymore. In other words, what makes one leader trustworthy and another not? Trustworthiness is built upon integrity and character. Who would you choose if you were given two leaders to choose from, one you trust and one you do not? A definite choice would be the one whom you trust.

Quality, Integrity, And Good Governance Of RW

In my previous article, “Among Manifestos: Māimāwa Is the Only Choice,” I gave a list of people who have close association with RW; among them, some are related to blatantly violating the rule of law in the country, and about 95 political cronies attached to the president’s office no doubt questions the quality, integrity, and good governance of RW. Birds of a feather flock together, but RW is indeed the country’s president. Regarding the political cronies attached to the president’s office, it is that one-third of the population is under the poverty line, one-third of the children are malnourished, 60 % of the population does not have access to clean water, unemployment is rising, more than 5000 patients are queuing for heart surgery,  the president has a refugee camp not acceptable at all. It is an utter waste of public funds, of which opportunity cost exists.  On the other hand, the president’s office employs about 1000 government employees with skills, expertise, and knowledge; the purpose of having about 95 experts or professionals is highly unruinable. It may reflect that the president does not have common sense or a basic understanding of his responsibilities. As the president is not immune to the suffering of the poor throughout, RW seems to be a curse to the people and the nation.

Power greed does not mean all because he is well educated and one of the most senior politicians in the country; the rest of the world watches what he does. Just imagine a gold smuggler MP who pays a Rs 7 million fine, comes to the parliament the next day and supports RW. Suppose RW is a leader of high quality and integrity. In that case, he must have initiated action to keep such a smuggler out of the parliament to maintain the August institution’s respect and dignity.

The Election Commission has been complaining of a high degree of misuse of state resources by RW and on behalf of Prez while breaking the election rules of RW’s supporters. Given the above and many other reasons and causes, If President RW is ranked based on quality, integrity, and good governance, his score will be less than zero.

Leaders Should Inspire, Empower, Motivate, And Encourage

At the end of the undue influence to extend his office after two years, RW declared that they wanted to contest the presidency as an independent candidate. It is his wish to be away from UNP.  Whether or not government parliamentarians should support RW is up to those parliamentarians. It is also their wish, and RW must respect them more than otherwise. Those four state ministers sacked by the president on 5^th September, among 137 who supported RW in July 2022 to be elected president, were excellent. But RW forgot everything and got revenge on them because they are supporters of SLPP. Even though a statement from the president’s office said that the decision was made under the authority granted to RW by Article 47 (3) of the constitution, he acted childishly. It was not worthy of a president or a leader. In other words, a leader should inspire, empower, motivate, and encourage instead of acting according to the constitutional provision harshly. He did not stop as now he is on a sacking spree; another five state ministers were sacked on 10^th September 2024. It warns others about the future if they do not support RW. The president may think he lost only the support of 9 MPs, which is wrong because the MPs have voters who supported them. Lack of foresight contains disastrous consequences for RW. He may go sacking all who do not support him. Finally, voters will sack him on 21 September, which is the best lesson he could learn from his almost 50 years of political life.

Recently, the president met with youth at the Galle Face Hotel for a Q&A session, an excellent opportunity for youth to learn from the president as the nation’s leader. One question was why he should be the next president, and the answer was, “I like power.” Also, RW said that “without being cunning, it is challenging to be a politician”. It was good that the audience did not question the president about the honesty of the president. The purpose of a leader is to inspire, empower, motivate, and encourage others, particularly the youth who will be the future caretakers of the country. Youth learned nothing from RW except for greed for power and cunningness throughout. Indeed, none is there on the political stage compared with RW based on cunningness, an utter disgrace for all.

Credibility And Integrity Of The Master Storyteller

One writer named RW is the Master storyteller, which is correct; it affects his credibility and integrity of RW. Once, RW acted like Mr. Bean in the parliament: “No money. No Election. Even money is there no election.” His response and behavior were on the previous such mischievous behavior in the parliament, “Kauada Hora, Mahinda Hora”. Also, once he lied publicly by stating, “I managed to reduce some debt after taking to the creditors,” which was well before DSA. At any encounter with the public, it is his habit to repeat, “We gave gas, We gave food, We gave power, We gave petrol, We gave Aswasuma, We gave Urumaya,” and many more. In short, given the above, the mounting hardship faced by the people and the country, the reality on the ground is different; the patient was on the sickbed (i, e, Sri Lanka), and RW boasts he gave the correct dose of medicine. As a result, the patient’s recovery is not correct; the truth is that because of his medicines, the patient’s bowels cleared, but the patient died. Power increased by 365%, but the concession was only 22%. At the same time, he warns the public, “If you do not support me on 21 September, no gas, no medicines, no food, and no employment”, and many more.

The president is inflicting undue influence, insulting, and harassing the public because he cannot sack the voters. However, he is convinced that his childish behavior and response are not worth it to be the country’s next president. It is worth indicating that “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader,” says John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the USA.

It is election time, and PW’s stage is flooded with making stories. For RW, a secret pact exists between Sajith Premadas (SP) and Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD), but he does not reveal the content. The truth is that SJB MPs turned down an invitation to join the president on his Uganda tour extended to them by officials of the Presidential Secretariat. I faced the challenge when the country was bankrupt while SP and AKP ran away, another repeated story by RW. However, RW has failed to prove that Gotabaya Rajapaksa approached AKD to have the presidency. Another story is that RW repeated that he rescued the bankruptcy, which is incorrect. If I quote, “Bankruptcy means a state in which a country does not have sufficient assets to meet the loans from foreign sources. Sri Lanka was not in this state. Its problem was a liquidity issue; it did not have enough foreign exchange reserves or quick borrowing facilities to meet the loan repayment obligations.” The truth is that, as per the Central Bank, it is “the deepest economic downturn in its post-independence history”.Given RW’s above, voters believe they need a change along with Aragalaya, so they do not vote for Ranil.

Leadership Qualities Of AKD

AKD has a homegrown long-term vision for a beautiful life united in Sri Lanka for all based on law and order, which applies to all equally. All have trusted AKD, and he is committed to inspiring, motivating, and encouraging others; unless he follows the constitution, he has no intention of taking revenge or hurting anyone in the country. He will not make any decisions that hurt the people or the country. No one can question his integrity, credibility, trustworthiness, and accountability. His honesty is outstanding. In the past, he has performed his responsibilities graciously. He has an unprecedented good governance record and has not robbed or misused public resources. He is corrupt-free and does not tolerate any misdeed. He is not a storyteller at all. He has not promised anything that cannot be delivered and always lives with the people. He always walks the talk. Given the above, there is no doubt that voters can trust him to be the next president of Sri Lanka.

Conclusion

Even though RW has been with the parliament for about 47 years, he has yet to have a homegrown vision and program for the country. He is not committed to inspiring, motivating, and encouraging others. He is power-hungry and not honest, and he admits publicly that he is a cunning politician. He is a storyteller and cannot be trusted with his promises. His behavior and response are harsh, and all the above makes RW unsuitable to be the next president. Contrary to the above, AKD has a long-term vision with a homegrown, well-formulated, and results-oriented program. Consequently, AKD is the only choice for voters regarding the next president in Sri Lanka. 

*The writer, among many, 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