WHY GOTA MUST GO

By Anura Gunasekera

We are way more powerful when we turn to each other and not on each other, when we celebrate our diversity….and together tear down the mighty walls of injustice ( Cynthia Mckinney- American politician and activist)

Perhaps, by the time this is published, Sri Lanka will have a working government. As it is being written, Sri Lanka has a dysfunctional administration which has failed the country. If the lawmakers do not bury both individual and inter-party differences, elect a working parliamentary group and quickly set in motion a viable recovery strategy, very soon Sri Lanka will be classified as a failed state, because successive regimes have failed the people. As leaders, the Rajapaksa family regimes have contributed heavily, with recent assistance from the Sirisena-Wickramsinghe duo, through indecisiveness, personal conflict and condonation of colossal fraud during the period of the “Yahapalanaya” delusion, to which this writer too subscribed, briefly, for a few euphoric months.

Whilst the fabric of the nation is disintegrating on real-time TV, the lawmakers responsible for this tragic situation have been, for the last three days, trading insults and accusations across the floor of that talk- shop, once the nation’s legislature, but now a haven for the scoundrel and the thief; Apart from nauseatingly pious statements about the imperative of comforting a nation in despair a single constructive proposal is yet to emerge.

The proceedings are a mirror image of the president’s address to the nation of a few weeks ago when, despite floundering helplessly in a morass largely of his own making, he blandly declared that he had nothing to do with it. Whoever wrote that juvenile, simplistic speech with its wish list of unattainable financial goals, also needs a serious reality check; included were two ridiculously contradictory statements, hilarious if not for the desperation of the nation’s condition- ” I accept responsibility for the decisions I take……. This crisis was not created by me”. That typically robotic, emotionless delivery , carried as much credibility as a confession extracted under torture.

Moving back to the events of the day, what is the solution available to the people ? Whilst he is grappling with immediate issues, GR must also understand the why of it. 26 months after being elected president with a massive majority, a popular endorsement reflected in the parliamentary elections which followed, the same millions are now calling for his immediate ouster or resignation. Though the regime in totality features in the citizens’ animosity, it is still largely personal against GR and the Rajapaksa family. It has always been crystal clear that all crucial decisions are made by GR, his siblings, a handful of trusted courtiers and handed down to a legislature of flunkies for unquestioning approval.

Take for example the disastrous edict on organic cultivation; GR chose to go with a personal belief, reportedly urged on by Dr. A. Padeniya- a paediatrician- and Ven Athuraliya Ratana, a Buddhist priest, whilst disregarding the advice, and entreaties, of a large body of agricultural experts and scientists. Perhaps Gnana Akka, the palace sorceress, also approved of it. It will also be recalled that the same Ratana was the architect of the ruinous Glyphosate ban, imposed with such catastrophic consequences during Sirisena’s tenure. These two examples alone re-inforce the need to remove both religion and servile amateurs from governance, a poisonous mixture permanently bubbling in the Rajapaksa cauldron, along with ethno-nationalism, the bogey of minority ascendancy and other related spectres, successfully paraded before the fragile Sinhala- Buddhist mindset.

GR appears to have convinced himself that the problem is simply a shortage of essentials and the daily power outages, and that re-establishing the supply chain will appease a raging nation. There was the immediate cosmetic exercise of reassigning portfolios while dropping brothers Basil, Chamal and nephew Namal from the cabinet, obviously in the belief that a reshuffled dispensation could carry on, with himself and brother Mahinda at the helm.

The reality that Gotabaya refutes is that what the nation is seeking is not just cooking gas, vehicle fuel and assurances of power delivery but, also, a change in the administration of which he, with the power conferred on him by the 20th amendment, is the pivot. The expulsion of the Rajapaksa oligarchy from the governance of the country is a unanimous wish, cutting across race, religion and social and economic divides. The once deified family is being demonized across the country. Gotabaya, who levered himself in to power by brutally divisive politics, dismissing the minorities as being inconsequential as he had the total support of the Sinhala-Buddhist polity, has, by the countrywide chaos his incompetent rule created, finally succeeded in uniting all those divided segments in a common cause; his immediate removal.

Johnston Fernando, Chief Government Whip, hilariously declared that there is no question of the president stepping down as he carries the mandate of 6.9 mn people. When millions of people from across the country have, for weeks, been demanding the man’s resignation, braving extreme weather, serious personal discomfort and the realistic expectation of bodily harm from the police and the armed forces, in what context can one cite a citizens’ mandate ? Even to Johnston’s limited intellect It should be clear that GR’s vote base has become a mirage.

Despite this reality Gotabaya seems determined to stay and, obviously, needs to be levered out politically. The protests are now in the nature of a magnificently passionate Civic Movement and the determination of the nation and its momentum is such, that its inability to achieve the primary purpose may convert it to Civic Unrest or active civil disobedience; a situation which could be catalyzed in to violence with covert assistance from mercenaries allied to the regime. The Avant Garde hand, wielded by GR’s close ally NIssanka Senadhipathi, was linked to the Mirihana violence by Anura Kumara Dissanayake in his April 7 speech in parliament. Given GR’s known appetite for the suppression of dissent, that would be exactly what he is waiting for; the opportunity for a counter by deploying the armed forces. The second stage would be governance in which the military machine overrides civil authority. The cogs are already in place in the mechanism, in the form of former army cronies in key positions in the administration.

Any repression leading to bloodshed may result in driving the movement underground and the emergence of an insurgency, which, unlike the earlier JVP uprisings, would receive the support of people all over the country. John F Kennedy once said, “those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable”.

But no army will be able to quell the wrath of a united nation, the power of a citizens’ movement, which has no political, ethnic or religious boundaries, or any other insular reference points. The outcome of an armed repression of the movement will be an ungovernable nation, the total disintegration of the economy, and the consequent withdrawal of international financial assistance, combined with sanctions. In an earlier writing I spoke of Lebanon and that doomsday scenario is not too far off from Sri Lanka unless, as a first step, the ruler who has lost legitimacy, the moral right to govern, resigns instead of clinging on to power citing a constitutional right. But the ruler who has no moral sense and is therefore unable to understand this reality needs to be ejected.

Despite the lack of unity in the Opposition there is sense in its reluctance to participate in any new form of government with Gotabaya still at its head. But it must also be clear to them that anarchy is a likely scenario unless, within the coming days, it sinks differences and initiates a viable strategy for GR’s removal. Tabling motions without securing a majority within the House will only reinforce GR’s decision to cling on to power. He is the malignancy in the national body and its excision must take place in Parliament, before Gotabaya offers his customary brutal solution to dissent.

Prime Minister Rajapaksa addressed the nation on Monday; a self-righteous, mendacious delivery with his tired, old rhetoric given a different twist, laying the entire blame on the previous regime and the Corona pandemic whilst equating a citizens’ democratic protest to an assault on democracy itself; there was also a request not to humiliate the ” Ranaviru”, of which there was no evidence in any of the protests. Absent was an acknowledgment of the regime’s responsibility to the ongoing collapse or a reassurance to a desperate nation. Instead there was a veiled warning to the protestors, with a reference to the JVP insurrections and the then state response; the younger brother’s ethos voiced by the elder sibling. He was a menacing Don Vito Corleone, addressing the convocation of the Five Families, implying violent repression if his family position is threatened. MR has thrown down the gauntlet and made the Family intentions clear to the nation.

What is taking place is a non-political citizens’ movement. It is the agitated heartbeat of a nation in turmoil, Sri Lanka’s Bastille moment. But the incredible energy generated by the people must be harnessed, before it loses its integrity by being hitched to an engine with a specific political agenda. In the despair of a people there is also an opportunity for a new beginning for the country, to usher in a different governance in which systems work for the people; in which the regime stands accountable to the nation for its conduct, with an effective mechanism for the punishment for the dishonesty of the elected, and for the excision of the systemic corruption and the impunity of the powerful, pervasive across successive regimes. This is a turning point and may also be our finest hour since independence. Future generations should be able to reflect on the events of today and be thankful to their ancestors, for making Sri Lanka a better country for them to live in.

There is hope for a new dawn for this country but that light will not emerge unless the Rajapaksa star is first extinguished from the horizon. That is an imperative and the primary task before the legislature and the nation.