Ranil with the president, the people or both? – The Island

Friday, May 13, 2022

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe should consider having “Houdini” as a middle name, given his aptitude for political escapism. His critics thought it was curtains for him when he and his party suffered an ignominious defeat in the 2020 general election, but a few months later he appeared in parliament grinning from ear to ear as if nothing had happened. Now he’s back in Temple Trees!

Wickremesinghe’s appointment as Prime Minister is indicative of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s desperation vis à vis widespread protests calling for his ouster. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, elected MP, representing the SLPP, who won 145 seats, resigned under duress, and Wickremesinghe, defeated candidate, who entered Parliament via the national list, succeeded him!

Wickremesinghe’s appointment would be constitutional. What’s constitutional isn’t necessarily ethical or moral, but that’s how the cookie breaks down in politics.

The country was left without a government for a few days due to the resignation of Prime Minister Rajapaksa on Monday, and a new prime minister and cabinet had to be appointed. The SJB initially refused President Rajapaksa’s invitation to join an interim administration. He insisted that the president resign. The JVP also said it would agree to form an interim government on the condition that the president resign immediately and the president be appointed president. The Electoral Commission (EC) stressed that no elections should be held at this stage, and the formation of an interim government to resolve the economic crisis and restore social order is the need of the hour. The Central Bank has warned that unless political stability is restored quickly, economic recovery will be impossible. The president chose to appoint Wickremesinghe PM, and this decision, in our book, could be considered a political rabona.

It is doubtful that the SJB’s strategists anticipated such a maneuver from a beleaguered president. Yesterday, opposition and SJB leader Sajith Premadasa softened his stance and expressed his willingness to accept the post of prime minister. He may have sought to prevent some of his MPs from defecting. But it was too late.

Wickremesinghe’s appointment will have a devastating impact on the SJB, which will lose some of its MPs to the UNP. Power acts as a magnet for politicians – especially for those of easy virtue, so to speak – and Parliament is full of defectors. Politicians do not hesitate to change their allegiance and are even ready to sell their souls to the devil. Premadasa will have his work cut out to avoid defections from his party.

Curiously, while demanding the resignation of President Rajapaksa as a condition of his support for the proposed interim administration, the SJB called for the reinstatement of the 19th Amendment (19A). If 19A is reintroduced in the form of proposed Amendment 21, the President will be reduced to a figurehead overnight for all intents and purposes; he will not be able to occupy any ministerial position and the Prime Minister will become the de facto Head of State, as we saw from 2015 to 2019, although transitional arrangements allowed President Maithripala Sirisena to retain some executive powers and be a member of the Cabinet. So the question is whether anyone will have to worry about the executive presidency if 19A is reinstated.

The biggest challenge for Prime Minister Wickremesinghe is proving a local aphorism wrong –thyankota mole ne ball, thiyanakota mole ne ball, or “when you have a brain you don’t have power, and vice versa”. He is one of the few MPs who speaks sensibly and acts sensibly in the current Parliament. Whether he will continue to do so, as prime minister, and refute the aforementioned adage remains to be seen.

Resistance has already emerged, in some quarters, to Wickremesinghe’s appointment. What the belligerents must not lose sight of is the rapid economic decline. They must listen to experts from the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, who are fighting to save the economy, and call for urgent measures to bring political stability. Rupee tumble continues. Yesterday it hit a historic low of 380 per US dollar. This means more stress on the economy and more suffering for the public; the prices of all goods, especially imports, including fuel, are set to rise further. The situation will worsen if political stability is not restored quickly.

All those, politicians, trade unionists and others, who are in a state of perpetual turmoil be urged to accept a truce and help revive the economy.