Ven. Dr. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera yesterday appealed to political party leaders and Members of Parliament to work together to resolve the country’s deepening economic crisis. He said that making the proposed 21st Amendment law could alleviate social unrest in the country and melt down Go-home protests at the Galle Face to a great extent.
Ven. Dr. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera told the Sunday Observer on Friday that the only way to overcome the economic crisis by all Parliamentarians pulling in the same direction.
“Therefore, they must act quickly and decisively, without waffling on their political interests and demands, to achieve the much-needed political stability in the country by participating in a proper multi-party interim Government,” he said. The country faces extraordinary economic challenges. They seem to be worsening rapidly as a result of political dithering by MPs even now,” he said. When asked, if he meant to say that now that former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has resigned, all political parties and MPs should unconditionally support President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Dr. Sobhitha Thera said that if Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had resigned at the time he was advised to do so by them and the Mahanayaka Theras, and if President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had not appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister, he would not have said anything of the sort.
When asked if it was not worthy of MP Ranil Wickremesinghe to accept the challenge of restoring the economy as Prime Minister on the President’s call, at a time when the Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya led by MP Sajith Premadasa and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna led by Anura Kumara Dissanayaka were pulling back from nominating their members to the interim Government as they remained committed to laying many political conditions to the President, the Thera said, “If President Gotabaya Rajapaksa made the right choice in appointing Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister, long queues at fuel stations and gas delivery business establishments should be disappearing by now.”
When it was pointed out that even some learned bhikkhus agreed, and that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s international connections and friendship with other countries could help more than anyone else, the Thera said, “In that case, they can see for themselves now how they all got overly excited and exaggerated things.”
“Some Parliamentarians are playing the role of political soothsayers, “he said, adding “They have gone on to predict the country’s future under the current Prime Minister at a time when not just PM Wickremesinghe, but all of them need to act to get any macroeconomic support from the IMF or World Bank.”
“What I am now saying is that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the current administration must first abolish the powers vested in the President and transfer it to the Cabinet of Ministers through the 21st Amendment to give the people confidence that they have a President who is responsible for his actions in the future,” he said.
If MPs, as usual, chose to show their loyalty to some persons for petty personal political advantage, they will have to face dire consequences given the current political situation, he added.