The people should be allowed to express their opinion at the earliest opportunity – CBEOU

The people should be allowed to express their opinion with regard to the political future of the country at the earliest possible opportunity, the Central Bank Executive Officers Union (CBEOU) said in a press release.

The release:’ The primary demand of the people’s movement held on July 9, 2022 was to compel the then President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to step down. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed to fill the vacant position due to the resignation of the President who left the country in the face of intense public pressure and the Parliament is expected to elect a new President on July 20, 2022.

‘We are of the opinion that there is no need for a detailed explanation about the current economic crisis faced by the country thus we believe that the House of Representatives also understand the gravity of the catastrophe. The most practical solution at the moment to get out of the crisis is to get involved in a program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as soon as possible, which even the outgoing regime had recognized though was too late.

‘Even though it has been more than two months since a new Cabinet was appointed after the political upheaval that happened on May 9, 2022, the continued delay in the implementation of the necessary reforms in the fiscal sector is not at all beneficial to the aforementioned program. On the other hand, the “Central Bank Act” drafted in 2019 for a more independent Central Bank which will support the stability of the country is yet to be passed in the Parliament and the IMF too has insisted that the Central Bank should be made more independent.

‘Political stability is essential to achieve economic stability, and there should be a guiding economic and political program that can be agreed upon by all political parties in the existing Parliament. For that, it is necessary to appoint a President and a Prime Minister who would have public recognition. Therefore, we insist that all political parties representing the Parliament actively engage to find a viable solution to the existing problem deprioritizing party politics and personal agendas.

‘We are of the view that the opinion of the general public is not reflected through the existing Parliament majority, as a result of the wrong and ill-timed decisions taken by the ruling party especially during the past two and half years. In this background, it is doubtful that an Executive President who will be elected by the current Parliament will have the social acceptance to stay in power for a longer period of time. In such a situation, it would be prudent to give an opportunity for the people to express their opinion at the very first instance when the basic level of stability of the country is fulfilled, and we hope that the incoming President and Prime Minister will attend to this matter with due consideration.’