Damned if you do, damned if you don’t

Readers may find the title of this article a bit intriguing so let me explain at the outset that it refers to the President’s dilemma. He has had crucial decisions to make after taking over the presidency. Most of the decisions he has taken thus far have been resounding successes. It is abundantly clear that had he not made such tough calls the country would have been damned and as a consequence, so too, the president himself.

Now, having made all the tough calls which have enabled us to see at least a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel, he is still being bashed by those who are thirsting for power and some others who also appear to have personal agendas. In other words he’s damned for getting us out of this disastrous situation or let’s say, putting us on the path to recovery.

It is sad to see some parliamentarians who were hitherto held in high esteem shouting themselves hoarse in their endeavours to throw Ranil Wickremesinghe out of the presidency on the grounds that he wasn’t elected. Don’t they realize that he didn’t get there through a military coup, or even through a constitutional coup. He was legitimately appointed/elected president in accordance with the constitution. Haven’t they heard of Gerald Ford? He too was appointed president in accordance with the US Constitution. For the record, Ford wasn’t even Nixon’s running mate at the US presidential election. He was only appointed Vice President when Spiro Agnew resigned.

When he did contest the presidency he was defeated by Jimmy Carter. Some others, too, keep clamouring for elections. Granted, elections are the right of the people but shouldn’t we look a bit further than that?! The popular belief is that those who represent the present Government will be badly defeated if an election is to be held immediately. The local government elections need to be held first but if as expected the ruling party is soundly beaten there will be additional pressure on the president to dissolve parliament and have a general election. There will even be agitation for the president himself to resign but is that what the country needs at this point of time?! There is the possibility of the Government being brought down but shouldn’t we envisage the consequences if that were to happen?!

Has the Leader of the Opposition even considered such a scenario?! Everything we have achieved thus far in the management of our debt burden will be negated. The cynic may ask “what have we achieved?” Well, those who behave like the ostrich will never understand. Those screaming themselves hoarse calling for elections, making every effort to topple the government will never understand. So let’s place on record the achievements of this government towards this end.

In May 2022, Sri Lanka defaulted on its debt for the first time in her history and faced a doomsday scenario. We were a bankrupt nation, no two words about that. Let us envision what would have followed. We don’t need to be reminded of the parlous state of the economy when Ranil took over as prime minister first and subsequently as president. There were long queues for fuel for days on end, often weeks. It was not uncommon to hear of people dying in fuel queues. LPG for cooking was in short supply. Foreign exchange was not available for our imports. We faced the possibility of extended power cuts. The farmers were one unhappy lot. Cross border transactions by banks would have come to a standstill. The list goes on …… The country was bankrupt.

We depended on the charity of friendly nations merely for survival. While China played hardball, we cannot forget the magnanimous gestures of countries like Japan and India in particular. The president with the support of two stalwart officials, the Governor of the Central Bank and Secretary, Treasury, managed to steer the economy towards a semblance of normalcy.

We should now ask ourselves who are the main protagonists, agitating for the removal of this government. Is it the man on the street? I don’t think so. People who openly blasted the Rajapaksas for bringing the country to its knees are no longer wanting Ranil out. On the contrary they now openly say that he has worked wonders to stabilize the country; a feat no other would have achieved. Personally, my garage mechanic has told me so as has another daily paid worker. My friends who travel by three-wheeler too say that the general opinion of their drivers is that life is not easy but it is far better than what it was eight to 12 months ago. I agree that this feedback may not reflect a statistically representative sample but the general feeling is that the country is now on a more stable footing.

People are not agitating for the president to be sent home. They are not cursing the regime as they did not very long ago. Then who are those who are agitating for immediate change? The main agitators are the opposition MPs who see this as a golden opportunity to gain power and enjoy the plums of office. They are not alone though in their attempts to undermine the Government. There are sections of the media too that appear to be bent on dragging Ranil down, perhaps in accordance with their own personal agendas.

By now his adversaries should have realized that Ranil is his own man. He will not be badgered by anyone into doing what he believes is not in the interests of the country. If he could have taken on the locally based diplomatic community at a time when his position was precarious, and come out on top, handling sections of the media agitating against him will be child’s play. The accusation is often made against him that he is arrogant and harsh in his interaction with people but having observed him closely, I’m convinced that it is simply that he doesn’t suffer fools gladly though that may not be a politically savvy attitude.

Getting back to the sections of the media I was referring to, it has been often reported that a certain media organization turned against him because he refused to give his party’s nominations en bloc to a slate of candidates provided by the head of that organization. He was only prepared to give nominations on merit and thus only a few on the list were successful. Another columnist taking digs at the president sits on an “Independent Commission.” If she thinks he’s doing right, shouldn’t she resign?

It is now common knowledge that others who were being considered for the post of prime minister at the time declined the offer. Not so, Ranil Wickremesinghe. He grabbed the opportunity that came his way, confident that he had the ability to save the country from economic disaster. We can only speculate as to whether it was a lack of confidence in their ability or fear of alienating the voter that made other leaders decline the offer of being appointed prime minister. It is at a time like this, that, in the interests of the country, all are expected to put party politics on the back burner, pull their weight and help put the economy of the country back on track. Have a sort of war time cabinet. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen in Sri Lanka.

Most of the opposition members look at it as an opportune time to bring down the government. Their servile followers too echo the same sentiments, baying for Ranil’s blood. They have not thought beyond that. If you tell them “OK, throw Ranil out. After that, what?” They will sheepishly scratch their heads and say “let me think about that”. It isn’t rocket science to understand that if the government collapses, the IMF will rightly say that there is no stable government in place and pull out. When the IMF does that, so will all the bilateral and multilateral creditors. All the confidence and support of the international community, earned by Ranil, not so easily, I should add, will be completely eroded and we will be back to square one with recovery a near impossibility.

While in the opposition it is easy to oppose every measure taken by the Government but once it is the turn of the opposition to govern, have they the stomach to make difficult decisions? It is laughable how they say they will negotiate terms with the IMF. We are a bankrupt nation and not in a position to dictate to the IMF what we will do and what we will not do. The IMF will not allow the tail to wag the dog.

Recently former President Kumaratunga called Sri Lanka “a failed state” 75 years after independence. Of course “failed state” is subjective in nature and the good ex-president is entitled to her opinion. It may be pertinent to remind her though, that there were times when the economy of the country was not doing too badly. The tenures of Presidents J.R. Jayewardene and R. Premadasa need to be mentioned in this context. In fact during her presidency, too, the economy of country was turning around, no thanks to her but entirely due to the government of the time under the leadership of none other than the present president who was the then prime minister.

Then what happened, the bane of petty politics once again took its toll on the country. The president could not bear to see the progress that was being achieved and in a cowardly manner waited till the prime minister was out of the country and sacked three ministers and took over three crucial ministries. On his return to the country, the support for Ranil was overwhelming. Throngs turned up at the airport to greet him and people lined up on the road from the airport to Colombo to show their support. With all that support, this was the ideal time for him to turn tables on the then president but that was not the style of Ranil Wickremasinghe, the true democrat. While the president’s actions were a manifestation of the petty politics this country has seen since Independence, it was not unconstitutional and Ranil respected the Constitution. Parliament was dissolved subsequently even though the government had a working majority.

So my appeal to political parties is that differences be cast aside and all come together in the formation of a National Government. Of course being part of a National Government doesn’t mean that one should be given the right to place stumbling blocks in the way of an already successful path to recovery.

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