The morning after

The past weekend witnessed unprecedented events when angry protestors, gathering from across the country, stormed the Presidential Secretariat and President’s House, marking the end of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Presidency. 

These events would not have been an inevitability had the President heeded calls for his resignation months earlier. Having singlehandedly crashed Sri Lanka’s economy, resulting in its first sovereign default and fiscal bankruptcy, there was no alternative for President Rajapaksa other than resignation. 

However, he clung on to power, emboldened by the stupendous powers bestowed in the Executive Presidency which he augmented through the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, that makes impeachment of an incumbent President near impossible.

Yet President Rajapaksa had one democratic option available; resignation according to Article 38 (1) (b) of the Constitution. Had he taken it, this would have left him with some shred of dignity.

But just as it looked like all options for clinging to the Presidency appeared to be exhausted for Gotabaya Rajapaksa following the 9 May incidents, Ranil Wickremesinghe offered the beleaguered President a lifeline by agreeing to accept the premiership. The appointment pacified the Colombo-centric upper classes involved in the Aragalaya, who believed the six-time Prime Minister would usher in “stability” and be a credible interlocutor with international lending agencies. 

In short, their fuel and gas problems would be resolved and life would carry on. The appointment resulted in a serious loss of heart and momentum and the numbers in attendance began to dwindle. All the while, the food shortages, soaring prices and gas and fuel shortages got worse. President Gotabaya made it clear that his new Prime Minister would not be calling the shots, and continued to exercise his formidable Executive power.

In the end game, all Wickremesinghe’s gamesmanship did was prolong the inevitable. He was doomed the day he decided to accept the premiership under Gotabaya Rajapaksa which set in stone his association with the most despised and reviled political regime in Sri Lanka’s post-independence history. His fate is now inextricably linked to Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s and whether the two leaders resign today or in a few days, history is already written and it will not be kind to them.

It is the country however that must survive this uncertainty and turmoil of the coming days and weeks, if we are to channel the power of the Aragalaya and move forward towards genuine systemic change, economic reform and reconciliation.

Neither Gotabaya Rajapaksa nor Wickremesinghe can play any role in the caretaker arrangements that follow their resignations. Rajapaksa’s resignation must not pave the way for Wickremesinghe – with a solitary seat in Parliament and no popular mandate – to achieve his presidential dreams. The Prime Minister must resign first, followed by the President in order to truly turn the page on this horrendous spell of governance and pave the way for smooth interim arrangements. The interim administration must win the confidence of all parties and especially the protest movement. It simply must not be a repetition of 2015 when the good governance platform championed and built by civil society led by the late Sobitha Thero was hijacked by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe political agenda.

The fundamental goal of any interim administration must be to ensure a smooth transition back to democratic governance, the ouster of the military from civilian administration and putting the country on track for a difficult but necessary economic reform. 

As an immediate measure to build public confidence, Parliament must agree to enact the 21st Amendment to the Constitution as tabled by the Opposition rather than the diluted version introduced by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration in recent weeks. It is imperative that Parliament enacts a constitutional amendment that at the very least restores the 19th Amendment, restores the independence of key institutions and additional safeguards on the limits of presidential power. Soon after this, fresh elections are paramount to allow people to elect a new crop of leaders who can usher Sri Lanka out of this colossal mess. The people have spoken loud and clear. It is time for the politicians to reach a consensus on how to transform that message into concrete action for change.