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On-going mass protests seem to have knocked some sense into the government leaders who refused to heed public opinion, and sought to railroad others into doing their bidding. In a dramatic turn of events replete with irony, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is under pressure to resign together with other family members in the government, has said the 19th Amendment should be brought back with some changes. It is he who made the executive presidential powers even more draconian by introducing the 18th Amendment, which became his undoing. He would not have been humiliated in this manner, today, if he had retired after completing his second term in 2015. He should not have done away with the 17th Amendment, which is widely considered the most progressive constitutional amendment the country has ever seen.

Huge parliamentary majorities have always been a curse for this country as well as the parties that secure them. The SLFP, which together with its leftist allies obtained a two-thirds majority in 1970, was reduced to a mere eight seats at the 1977 general election, and did not fully recover for 17 years. It caused untold hardships to the public, and extended the life of Parliament by two years arbitrarily, in 1975. The UNP, which secured a five-sixths majority in 1977, and abused it in every conceivable manner after introducing the current executive presidential system, has only a single MP today! About 44 years have elapsed since the UNP introduced the presidential system, but it has not been able to secure the executive presidency for the past 28 years! In 2015, the SLFP-led UPFA government collapsed five years after obtaining a two-thirds majority in the House; President Rajapaksa, who sought a third term, suffered an ignominious defeat in the presidential race. The SLPP government, which mustered a two-thirds majority in 2020, is now struggling for survival, and offering to restore the 19th Amendment!

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa performed reasonably well between his election in November 2019 and the formation of the SLPP government in August 2020. His approval ratings began to slide after the SLPP secured a two-thirds majority and introduced the 20th Amendment, which fully restored the President’s executive powers that the 19th Amendment had curtailed. The proponents of the 20th Amendment argued that the country needed a strong President to usher in national progress, but President Rajapaksa failed to live up to people’s expectations, and the country has become bankrupt.

If the constitutional provision that prevented dual citizens from running for President or contesting parliamentary elections had not been abolished, the Basil Rajapaksa faction of the SLPP would not have emerged so powerful as to control the government parliamentary group and undermine President Rajapaksa. Prime Minister Rajapaksa was content to rest on his oars although those who voted for the SLPP expected him to be actively engaged in governing the country. The appointment of Basil as the Finance Minister became the economic version of a devastating ‘bird hit’ for the country. Parliament had debates on the economy for several months without the presence of the Finance Minister! Nobody dared tell Basil to attend Parliament and carry out his legislative duties and functions as the Finance Minister. The government became a family concern, and the ministers who demanded a course correction were hounded out of the Cabinet. Today, people are out there in the streets demanding the resignation of the President and his government.

Mahinda may not have a spring in his step, but he knows how to wriggle out of difficult situations. Protesters are demanding the ouster of the entire Rajapaksa family, and Mahinda is craftily offering to restore the 19th Amendment! He knows that it is an offer nobody who cherishes democracy could reject. If the 20th Amendment is abolished and the 19th Amendment restored, the PM will be more powerful than the President to all intents and purposes, as was the case from 2015 to 2019. Mahinda does not want to step down as the PM, and, therefore, he will be the main beneficiary of the proposed constitutional amendment, at least in the short run. It will be a case of swings and roundabouts for those who are demanding a radical change.

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The youth protesting in Colombo have shown what they are capable of. They have taken the bull by the horns. Instead of taking up arms, they gathered in large numbers peacefully and raised a great shout, and the Walls of Jericho, as it were, protecting the ruling family collapsed. The Rajapaksas who roared, refused to listen to anyone else, and bulldozed their way through, are now cooing; they are even willing to do away with the 20th Amendment, which was intended to enable them to consolidate their grip on power, but became their undoing because the draconian powers therein went to their heads, and made them take leave of their senses.

The youth uprising has not only caused many heroes in the government to go into hiding but also made the Opposition grandees walk in the scorching sun for days. One may say the Opposition politicians have had to suffer in this manner by way of penance for their contribution to the ruination of the country and their failure to be an effective countervailing force against the Rajapaksa juggernaut.

What is this world coming to when even the Opposition politicians who call themselves progressive and honest fear the youth, who are demanding the ouster of the present-day rulers, and action to recover stolen public wealth and make this country a better place for everyone? Elated as one may be to see the government leaders cringe and cower, one feels sorry for the Opposition worthies who are making a desperate effort to hitch their wagons to the youth protesting at the Galle Face Green in a bid to gain some political mileage. None of them dare go anywhere near the protesting youth.

Pity the land whose political leaders fear the progressive youth fighting for their rights!

The significance of the intelligent, educated, patriotic youth from all ethnic and religious communities, protesting opposite the Old Parliament building, which is considered the cradle of Sri Lanka’s parliamentary democracy, and demanding that all 225 MPs go home, may not have been lost on political observers. Their protest is tantamount to an indictment of all those who have ruled this country since Independence. However, it may not be fair to lump all leaders together; Sri Lankans have benefited tremendously from the altruism of great statesmen like C. W. W. Kannangara, who died penniless. The youth should not tar all politicians with the same brush; there are some good men and women in the current Parliament as well, and the baby must not be thrown out with the bathwater.

Protesters should also be pragmatic. But their call for a radical change is timely and should be heeded. A general election is the least desirable option at this juncture, given the deteriorating economic situation, the need for political stability without which the economy cannot recover, and the possibility of the next Parliament being hung in case of the country going to the polls soon. Therefore, the safest way to effect the radical change the youth seek, in our book, is the resignation of the government, followed by the appointment of a multi-party interim administration to calm down the incensed public and facilitate the work of those who are trying to save the economy.

The government has not stopped playing tricks on the protesting people. It has appointed a new Cabinet, most of whose members lack experience and expertise to tackle the present crises.

Meanwhile, protesters and politicians ought to learn from the youth who are occupying the Galle Face Green how to ratchet up pressure on the powers that be, without being a public nuisance or playing into the hands of the government, which is looking for an opportunity to unleash violence to crush protests.

One person was killed and several others were injured when the police opened fire on a group of protesters who were blocking a level crossing in Rambukkana, yesterday. The incident must be condemned unreservedly. Let the government be warned that no amount of police or military brutality will help neutralise People Power.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed a new Cabinet, at last. There are only two members of the ruling family in it, and this is perhaps the only saving grace. The country is facing the worst-ever economic crisis, and badly needs a much better ministerial team. What the President has done in his wisdom is like playing Team B together with a few senior national players in the ICC World Cup tournament.

Ideally, there should have been an all-party interim government to bring about the much-needed political stability for the economy currently on oxygen support to be revived. Unfortunately, the SLPP and its rivals are at daggers drawn, and never the twain shall meet.

President Rajapaksa may have thought that the appointment of some young MPs to the Cabinet would help placate the irate youth out there on the Galle Face Green, asking him to go home, but the question is whether the new ministers are equal to the uphill task of breaking the back of the current economic crisis, which has plunged the country into a mega political turmoil.

If the President thinks he will be able to hoist the country from the current politico-economic mire with the help of the new ministers he has handpicked, will he explain why he did not appoint them to the Cabinet earlier? He was expected to make a real difference in politics, where former cattle rustlers, bootleggers, chain snatchers and other such anti-social elements in the garb of ministers are going places much to the consternation of the public. But he disappointed the people, who are now demanding his ouster.

President Rajapaksa has said he did not consider seniority a criterion in selecting the members of the new Cabinet. Seniority should not be allowed to take precedence over intelligence, ability, diligence, integrity, etc., but the fact remains that experience that comes with seniority does matter in politics. The President has admitted that it was a mistake for him to impose a ban on agrochemicals. An experienced political leader would have avoided such pitfalls; he or she would have trodden cautiously, listening to farmers and heeding expert advice.

The previous Cabinet was an utter failure, but it had some capable members, who would have performed better if they had been given a free hand. What befell Dallas Alahapperuma is a case in point. The ruling family undermined him at every turn as he overshadowed one of its members in the South. He was removed as the Minister of Power because the Rajapaksas knew he was opposed to the questionable Yugadanvai power plant deal; they brought in a stooge for the job. There were several other ministers in the previous Cabinet who faced the same fate as Alahapperuma; they could not carry out their duties and functions properly to the satisfaction of the public because of the meddlesome first family, which is now on its last legs.

The country finds itself in a situation where urgent action has to be taken to straighten up the economy and ameliorate the suffering of the public. Ministers have a pivotal role to play in accomplishing this task, which reminds us of the Labours of Hercules. A steep learning curve is not desirable where the Cabinet is concerned.

It has been reported that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was conspicuous by his absence at yesterday’s swearing-in ceremony. Was he indisposed? Or, was he protesting? He is known for his partiality towards senior members of the government. Perhaps, his efforts to have them reappointed to the Cabinet came a cropper. But one cannot have faith in his judgement where the selection of ministers is concerned. When he was the President, he appointed Mervyn Silva the State Minister for Media despite the latter’s attacks on journalists and media institutions. Journalists protested vehemently against the appointment, and he gave in.

We are in trouble today because Mahinda did not care to learn from his mistakes, put the country before the family and carry out his duties and responsibilities properly as the PM. Having faced an economic crisis similar to the present one, when he was the President, in 2009, and allowed economic experts to tackle it with the help of the IMF, he should have prevailed upon the incumbent President to do likewise at the first signs of trouble. The latter now regrets that he did not seek IMF assistance earlier.

As for the success of the new Cabinet, one can only hope for a miracle.

Neither the Occupy-Galle-Face protesters nor the members of the Rajapaksa family are going home! Having dug their heels in, they are engaged in a game of chicken at the expense of much-needed political stability, upon which hinges the country’s economic recovery. A new Cabinet is to be appointed shortly in view of the government’s negotiations with the IMF in Washington, we are told. Who will be the members of the next Cabinet?

It is the moment of truth for the beleaguered government. If the same members of the previous Cabinet including the Rajapaksas are reappointed, there will be another wave of protests, which the current rulers need like a hole in the head. The rejection by the Opposition of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s offer to set up an all-party, interim administration is no excuse for the government to reappoint the same old Cabinet, which was full of misfits.

The President is in this predicament because he failed to be different from his elder brother, Mahinda, who subjugated the interests of the country to those of his family when he was the President. It was said jokingly then that the difference between Einstein and Mahinda, of all people, was that for the former everything was relative, and for the latter relatives were everything.

The 2019 regime change infused people with hope; they expected a new beginning under the leadership of Gotabaya, who, they thought, was a no-nonsense technocrat and would put the country before the family to usher in national progress. But they have seen no difference between the current administration and the Mahinda Rajapaksa government from 2010 to 2015.

Many Sri Lankan expatriates who rallied behind the SLPP, and even returned home at their own expense, in November 2019, to vote for Gotabaya and ensure his victory are now staging Gota-go-home protests overseas. Worse, they have stopped sending remittances via the Sri Lankan banks in protest against corruption and waste under the present dispensation. The Sri Lankan youth, who voluntarily turned the whole county into an art gallery of sorts with beautiful wall paintings, immediately after Gotabaya’s victory in the presidential race, are currently engaged in a continuous protest near the Presidential Secretariat to oust the President and his government.

It is heartening that the youth have chosen to stay back and fight instead of leaving the country. Their consternation is understandable, and they deserve unstinted public support. Intelligent, educated, talented young Sri Lankans are either unemployed or underemployed or troubled by the prospect of losing employment due to the economic downturn while the rulers’ progeny, who have never been employed, are living in the lap of luxury. A large number of young workers have already lost their jobs owing to the government’s economic mismanagement, and it is only natural that they have taken on political parasites, as never before.

President Rajapaksa’s approval ratings remained high for several months until the election of the SLPP government, which mistakenly thought its huge majority was carte blanche for the first family to do more of what it had been doing under the previous Rajapaksa government. The appointment of Basil Rajapaksa as the Finance Minister became the straw that broke the camel’s back.

It was a huge mistake for President Rajapaksa not to take over the SLPP. Prime Minister Rajapaksa has the whip hand but is not keen to play an active role in the affairs of the government, which is controlled by Basil to all intents and purposes. The SLPP rebel MPs have accused Basil of having leveraged his control over the SLPP to undermine the President. They also allege that Basil is engineering crossovers from the constituents of the ruling coalition; the SLFP has already lost one of its 14 MPs to the Rajapaksa camp, which is desperate to retain a working majority in Parliament. These tactics will not help the government ward off threats to its survival. Instead, they are likely to drive the SLPP dissidents to vote for the no-faith motion to be moved against it.

Pressure is mounting on PM Rajapaksa to step down. If he resigned, who would be his successor? Protests are against all the Rajapaksas, and the ongoing agitations are bound to take a turn for the worse with more people taking to the streets, in case of the first family retaining the premiership.

The least the government could do to calm down the irate public or prevent them from intensifying their protests is to appoint a small Cabinet leaving out the misfits who incurred the wrath of the people. Whether it heeds public opinion or is determined to bulldoze its way through will be seen when the new Cabinet is sworn in.

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