SPECIAL REPORT : Part 414
Calamity for the once record-breaking and promising SLPP !
By Shamindra Ferdinando
A massive public riot, at the approach to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s private residence at Pangiriwatte Road, Mirihana, could have been avoided if the top ruling SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna) leadership swiftly responded to the growing public disenchantment with the government, though it was by then almost an impossibility due to the bankrupt situation the country was facing, foreign exchange wise. Last Thursday’s (March 31) protest and subsequent clashes therein sent shock waves through the government ranks as the genuinely exasperated public, and well organised rabble rousers taking advantage of the situation, targeted the Rajapaksa family, with the police having to use tear gas and water cannon on Monday (04) to prevent storming of the Rajapaksa family home, ‘Carlton,’ in Tangalle.
The police had to save Chamal Rajapaksa’s home in the Deep South as angry crowds on the same day targeted Kandy residence of Health Minister Kelehiya Rambukwella, the Piliyandala home of Energy Minister Gamini Lokuge, and State Minister Roshan Ranasinghe’s Polonnaruwa residence. The police had to use tear gas at Kandy, Piliyandala and Polonnaruwa.
The police lacked sufficient water cannons for countrywide deployment. The law enforcement authorities are finding it difficult to contain multiple situations, where organised gangs, operating among protesters, caused mayhem.
The police lacked sufficient water cannons for countrywide deployment. The law enforcement authorities are finding it difficult to contain multiple situations, where organised gangs, operating among protesters, caused mayhem.Within a few days after the Mirihana protest, the situation has deteriorated to such an extent none of the ministers/former ministers are in a position to visit their homes. The government has learnt a bitter lesson for turning a blind eye to the suffering of the people due to the growing worldwide economic fallout, amidst massive waste, corruption, irregularities and mismanagement that have weakened the national economy.
The government steadfastly refused to recognize the rapidly changing situation. Obviously, the SLPP, to their peril, arrogantly felt invincible, both in and outside the Parliament. Having bagged the lion’s share of the Local Government Polls at the Feb 2018 polls, Office of the President and the Parliament at 2019 and 2020, the SLPP responded haughtily even to their erstwhile comrades who spared no pains to bring them into power. The overnight changing of the political environment has dealt a devastating blow to the SLPP. It’ll never be the same for the SLPP. Sri Lanka’s strongest political party has been debilitated. The plight of the SLPP should be examined taking into consideration how the once powerful UNP has been reduced to just one National List seat in the 225-member Parliament. What can be said to both is the old adage that pride goes before a fall. Of course some Western elements could be behind the present crisis, stage managing everything with the help of their fellow travellers and some in the UN, as happened without anyone’s knowledge in the 2015 regime change here and elsewhere as was publicly boasted about later on by then American Secretary of State John Kerry.
State Minister’s warning ignored
One of those who had quite clearly asked for far reaching changes was unceremoniously stripped of his State Ministry portfolio in the first week of January, this year. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa sacked Education Reforms, Open Universities and Distance Learning Promotion State Minister Susil Premjayanth in the wake of his public criticism of the government. Premjayanth flayed the government during his regular visit to the Delkanda public market.
The SLPP never bothered to ask for an explanation from the lawmaker. Attorney-at-Law Premjayanth was stripped of his portfolio for warning the government of dire consequences unless remedial measures were promptly taken. The former Bank of Ceylon employee, Premjayanth had been especially harsh on the government’s ill-fated agriculture and trade policy implemented rather hastily, though good in principle.
Premjayanth faulted the decision-making process at the highest levels. Basically, he targeted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Mahindananda Aluthgamage over the disastrous decision to do away with fertiliser and agro chemicals, overnight, and Bandula Gunawardena over trade matters.
It would be pertinent to mention that Premajyanath received the portfolio, originally offered to Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC. One-time President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), lawmaker Rajapakse, who had served the Cabinet of Ministers of Maithripala Sirisena (2015-2019) refused to accept the offered State Ministry. Instead, the controversial lawmaker wanted a place in the 30-member Cabinet.
The SLPP disregarded Wijeyadasa Rajapakse’s concerns. Dr. Rajapakse has refrained from joining any faction. Instead, Wijeyadasa Rajapakse carried out a solo campaign, targeting President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the SLPP. His latest salvo was directed at the President. Of course, the writer is referring to the former Justice Minister’s proposal to introduce the 21st Amendment to the Constitution.
The lawmaker has called for the transferring of executive powers of the President to the Cabinet of Ministers by way of an urgent constitutional reform to make the President answerable to Parliament and the people. The SLPP MP appealed to party leaders, Ministers, State Ministers and members of Parliament to back his proposal to introduce the 21st Amendment to the Constitution.
Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, in his capacity as a lawmaker, audaciously wrote to Chinese President Xi Jinping, through the Chinese Ambassador here, that the current dispensation would be overthrown in a democratic manner in the first chance the people get. The MP made what can be called an unprecedented intervention in the first week of January this year. Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse informed the Chinese that all the agreements that were reached with foreign countries in the last 15 years would be scrutinised once again and all the agreements that are found to be corrupt and finalised through fraudulent means will be abolished.
Yugadanavi divides govt.
In fact, a couple of months before lawmaker Premjayanth’s outburst, three Cabinet Ministers, namely Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila, delivered a stark warning over the controversial arrangement with the US-based New Fortress Energy as regards the Yugadanavi power plant and other connected deals without any transparent procedures. The deal that had been finalised, at midnight on Sept 17, 2021, ripped apart the powerful SLPP parliamentary group. Alleging that the Yugadanavi agreement, worked out in secrecy by Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, was nothing but a sellout, the trio took an unprecedented step. They threw their weight behind those who had moved the Supreme Court against the Yugadanavi arrangement. On behalf of the government, Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam, PC, advised the dissidents to quit the Cabinet of Ministers if they were unable to follow Cabinet decisions. The government dismissed the dissidents’ concerns.
In fact, a couple of months before lawmaker Premjayanth’s outburst, three Cabinet Ministers, namely Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila, delivered a stark warning over the controversial arrangement with the US-based New Fortress Energy as regards the Yugadanavi power plant and other connected deals without any transparent procedures. The deal that had been finalised, at midnight on Sept 17, 2021, ripped apart the powerful SLPP parliamentary group. Alleging that the Yugadanavi agreement, worked out in secrecy by Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, was nothing but a sellout, the trio took an unprecedented step. They threw their weight behind those who had moved the Supreme Court against the Yugadanavi arrangement. On behalf of the government, Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam, PC, advised the dissidents to quit the Cabinet of Ministers if they were unable to follow Cabinet decisions. The government dismissed the dissidents’ concerns.Though the Supreme Court mysteriously dismissed the fundamental rights petitions, filed against the Yugadanavi deal, without giving reasons, it in a way intensified the internal crisis and the deterioration of the SLPP administration.
The dissidents’ campaign expanded further when they presented an action plan on March 02, this year at an event ironically attended by the much-tarnished former President and the leader of the SLFP, Maithripala Sirisena. The rebel group presented an alternative plan. Instead of initiating a dialogue, the SLPP again rejected the dissidents’ concerns. The rebel group comprises Democratic Left Front, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, the National Freedom Front, the National Congress, the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya, the Vijaya Dharani Jathika Sabhawa, the Eksath Mahajana Pakshaya and the Yuthukama civil society organisation.
Instead of offering to thrash out the differences, Weerawansa and Gammanpila were kicked out of the Cabinet though Nanayakkara was allowed to continue, probably because the grand old man had always been somewhat of a firebrand throughout his leftist political career that has won him respect all-round. The SLPP also failed to take into consideration the fact that the dissident group comprised 30 lawmakers.
As usual, Chief Government Whip Johnston Fernando declared that the government could engineer a sufficient number of crossovers from the Opposition. The Kurunegala District lawmaker, who has been a staunch defender of the government, said that the SLPP could comfortably retain its 2/3 majority with the backing of Opposition lawmakers. Not to be outdone but not knowing the brewing storm, less than a week before the Mirihana violent eruption, Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage claimed in Parliament that several Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) members were on the verge of switching sides.
Big-mouthed Aluthgamage foolishly went to the extent of revealing the first letters of the names of a selected group of SJB members scheduled to switch sides. Both Fernando and Aluthgamage have ended up with egg on their face.
Weerawansa’s proposal upsets SLPP
The top SLPP leadership cannot absolve itself of responsibility for the situation. Several months before the clash over the Yugadanavi deal, Weerawansa earned the wrath of the SLPP for suggesting President Gotabaya Rajapaksa should be given a top party slot. Weerawansa was blunt in his assessment that the President couldn’t succeed in his tasks unless he was suitably accommodated in the SLPP hierarchy. In spite of fielding wartime Defence Secretary as its candidate at the 2019 presidential election, the SLPP never accommodated him in the party. The status quo remains. A section of the SLPP parliamentary group demanded that Weerawansa quit the government.
Some pointed the finger at the SLPP founder for repeated attacks on Weerawansa over his call for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to be given political authority. Basil Rajapaksa’s re-entry into Parliament in July last year in terms of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution enacted in Oct 2020 led to the breaking up of the Cabinet a year later over the Yugadanavi deal.
Basil Rajapaksa succeeded Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Finance Minister in July last year amidst scurrilous SLPP attacks on the then Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila for announcing a fuel price hike in the second week of June 2021. The then State Minister Nimal Lanza declared had Basil Rajapaksa been in Colombo, the SLPP founder wouldn’t have allowed the increase in fuel prices. Gampaha District lawmaker Lanza recently gave up his State Ministry. Gammanpila was mercilessly flayed possibly with the instigation of interested parties. The SLPP conveniently ignored the fact that the decision to increase fuel prices had been taken at a meeting chaired by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Among those present at the meeting of the Cost of Living Committee had been Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa and the then Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa. But, the SLPP hadn’t been in a mode to engage in a sensible dialogue. Interestingly, those who had joined hands to oppose the Yugadanavi deal after having initially taken a common stand as regards the government move to transfer shares of the East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo harbour.
Actually, a section of the government parliamentary group revolted against a Cabinet decision as regards ECT. That had been the first serious issue within the ruling coalition in early last year. Thereafter, that group gradually consolidated its position within the government parliamentary group. The Yugadanavi sellout and the subsequent developments, particularly the unprecedented legal challenge, gave a tremendous boost to the dissidents now dubbed the 11-party rebel alliance. The developing crisis has given the grouping an opportunity to advance its course of action. Saturday’s meeting Nanayakkara, Weerawansa, Gammanpila along with SLPP National List MP Tiran Alles had with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa underscored the eroding of the ruling party’s power. Weerawansa is on record as having said that they received an invitation to re-join the government.
Repeated warnings ignored
Gevindu Cumaratunga and Prof. Charitha Herath, both National List members of the SLPP, should earn the respect of the public for speaking the truth. They had the backbone to take a stand on contentious issues. One-time Media Secretary and civil society activist Herath in his capacity as the Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) spearheaded a high profile campaign against waste, corruption, irregularities and mismanagement. In fact, all members of the COPE as well as the Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Prof Tissa Vitharana and the Committee on Public Finance (COPF), too, should earn the appreciation of the public for revealing the ugly truth.
The COPE revealed a spate of shocking decisions by those at the helm of many state owned enterprises. Perhaps one of the most controversial disclosures was the Litro Gas hiring President’s Counsels Romesh de Silva and Sanjeeva Jayawardena to block the Auditor General from examining the accounts of the state enterprise. Prof. Herath dealt with this issue both in and out of Parliament. The COPE Chief questioned the circumstances under which Litro, owned by SLIC (Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation), sought to evade state auditing and how over Rs 20 mn of company funds was spent on law firms to defend their highhanded act.
Litro was just one case among many that shocked the country but the government was determined not to act. COPF Chief Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, perhaps made a far more shocking accusation pertaining to the Finance Ministry. COPF declared the public didn’t benefit at all as a result of the Finance Ministry move to reduce the commodity levy of Rs 50 to 25 cents on Oct 13, 2020 on the import of sugar. It was a very serious indictment of the government against the backdrop of revelation the Treasury suffered revenue losses running into billions of rupees.
Unfortunately, the Parliament, the government and the Opposition conveniently turned a blind eye to revelations made by parliamentary watchdog committees. They did nothing. They continue to do so. Lawmaker Cumaratunga angered the Rajapaksas for taking a stand on a number of contentious issues, including the appointment of Ven. Galadodaatte Gnanasara as the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on ‘One Country, One Law’ concept. The leader of the Yuthukama civil society organisation also took a courageous stand on the failure on the part of the government to present the Draft Constitution by the second week of Nov, 2021 as promised, within two years after the last presidential election. MP Cumaratunga warned of dire consequences as the government continued to move on a wrong path contrary to the assurances given to the people. Perhaps, no other government MP took an interest in promised constitution as Cumaratunga who continuously pushed for a new Constitution that reflected Sri Lanka’s triumph over separatist Tamil terrorism in May 2009.
Unlike those UNP lawmakers who shielded colleagues accused of Treasury bond scams perpetrated in Feb 2015 and March 2016, some SLPP members took a courageous stand. Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila gave an unprecedented example by spearheading the campaign against the highly controversial Yugadanavi deal. Their actions proved the Cabinet of Ministers can be challenged in court though the rejection of the fundamental rights petition against the Yugadanavi deal should be examined with the Supreme Court directive in respect of former President Maithripala Sirisena given the Paget Road/Mahagamasekera Mawatha residence he occupied during his troubled presidency (2015-2019).
The Supreme Court on March 29 issued an interim order suspending the controversial Cabinet decision taken with Sirisena chairing it in October 2019 to allow him to continue using the official residence even after retiring from the presidency. Having accused the Rajapaksas of planning to assassinate him, Sirisena ended up as an SLPP MP!
The apex court also said that another interim order would be issued to the respondents not to comply with the said Cabinet decision.
The Supreme Court stated that the restraining order will come into effect four weeks from today and will remain in effect until the conclusion of the hearing of the petition filed against that Cabinet decision. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) moved the SC against the decision taken by the yahapalana administration.
