Sri Lanka is now on the cusp of a major political transition, following the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa which was announced officially by Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena on Friday. This is an unprecedented event in Sri Lankan history that once again proved the country’s democratic credentials.
After all, nothing could be more democratic than a President elected with 6.9 million votes bowing down to public pressure and leaving office.
Even before the resignation of the President himself, many changes took place within the local political landscape as a result of the Aragalaya and other public protests.
Political scientists and historians will analyse these events for decades to come, but life has to go on in the meantime.
As per the Constitution, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe assumed the role of Acting President, which provided a sense of continuity and prevented a power vacuum. Acting President Wickremesinghe has since taken many decisions to quell the incessant protests and restore law and order. Parliament was due to meet yesterday to take further steps within the framework of the Constitution to ensure a stable governance mechanism.
In fact, stability is the keyword in the present context. Sri Lanka was politically and economically unstable for the past few months, which affected its standing on the world stage.
Even though we were desperately in need of dollars to import essential goods, no country or international lending agency was willing to negotiate with us under such circumstances. Only India came forward with a substantial aid package.
The time has now come to establish political stability and the proposed All Party Government (APG) is a pragmatic solution. Discord among political parties was one major reason for our downfall. If one Government initiated a beneficial project, the next one would cancel it purely out of political expediency.
If the party in power proposed a solution for the ethnic crisis, the Opposition would oppose it just for the sake of opposing, without even studying the documents.
This has been going on for the past 74 years since Independence. Hence the Aragalaya slogan of the “74 year curse”.
The only recent occasion that two major parties joined hands in a common quest was the formation of the Yahapalanaya Government in 2015, but before long it descended into a cauldron of division and hatred.
But the scenario today is totally different. The country’s very survival depends on unity among different political parties at this perilous stage. Sri Lanka is now known as a bankrupt country and we need all hands on deck to extricate ourselves from this quagmire.
It is, therefore, imperative that all political parties and politicians shed their petty differences and get together for the common cause of uplifting the nation. It would be advisable for the proposed APG to include a few professionals and academics brought in via the National List to give them some responsible positions and assignments.
This has also been a demand of the Aragalaya youth and many other sections of society. There is also no doubt that the people should be given an opportunity to elect a new Government of their choice in due course.
Political stability is also essential to achieve economic stability. In an interview with the BBC, Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe has warned that the entire country would have to be shut down for some time if a stable interim Government is not formed immediately and economic issues addressed.
Dr. Weerasinghe said that a stable Government is also needed to continue the crucial negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), other multilateral lending agencies and donor countries at a time when the country’s foreign reserves needed for vital imports are at an all-time low.
The onus is therefore on the APG or any other proposed governing mechanism to fast track economic recovery through such negotiations with international partners and other tangible measures. The country not only has an economic problem, it also has a social problem arising out of the former.
The people have been suffering for months as a result of acute shortages of fuel, medicines, milk powder, LP Gas and many other essentials. This was, of course, due to the lack of foreign exchange needed to secure these vital supplies.
With the exception of certain medicines and milk powder, none of these items could be manufactured locally and even in the case of milk powder local production is simply not sufficient to meet the demand.
However, there are signs that these shortages are being addressed at least in the short term with around four fuel ships and two LP Gas ships due to reach Colombo Port this month. Nevertheless, we need a long term plan to bring down these goods on a regular basis to end the queues and the resulting social unrest.
The Sapugaskanda Refinery should also be reactivated so that the country can save some forex used to buy finished petroleum products such as petrol and diesel.
The APG or a new Government that comes to power must take immediate steps to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. Only electric cars and buses should be permitted to be imported hereafter and renewable energy projects must be expedited and expanded. Bicycle lanes should be constructed where possible.
Public transport options must be expanded, with a possible revival of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project in Colombo. Any resistance to such moves at any level must be addressed head on. Bold, sometimes unpopular decisions will have to be taken without any hesitation to bring the country back to the correct track.