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President, the sands of time are running out

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17 January 2018 12:18 am - 0     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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President Maithripala Sirisena by seeking a Supreme Court determination has confused the country as to what really his motive was. Firstly, he had made this request to the Supreme Court in the run-up to an election and therefore some leaders of the joint opposition on the premise that he had expected the Court to rule that his term of office would be six years had interpreted it as an attempt to demoralize the opposition voters at the forthcoming local government elections.

Many others including some of those who supported the Maithripala Sirisena as the Opposition’s common candidate at the January 2015 presidential election claimed that he wanted to stay in office for six years in spite of his promise during the presidential election to abolish the Executive Presidency and hold office only for four years.  

President Sirisena’s question referred to the Supreme Court was not whether his term of office was five or six years, rather he had asked the apex court as to whether there were any impediments for him to hold office for six years. Whatever his real motive might have been the very question gives the impression that he wanted to stay in office for six years.   

Explaining the reason for seeking SC determination, the President had said that he wanted to know the correct position on his tenure so as to plan his future activities. Well, that sounds in order, but should the Presidents and the governments plan development and other activities only for their tenure? Does it mean that the President is of the view that the government he leads now, irrespective of the majority of members of the Cabinet being from the UNP, would not carry forward his plans after his term expired? Or does he expect his UNP-dominated government would be routed out at the next Parliamental election?  

If he wants to plan his activities for the rest of his term, it would be appropriate for him to take stock of the achievements and failures of his government during the past three years. One has to admit that the government has fared well on the international front as we did not see any confrontation during the past three years between Sri Lanka and international players including the UNHRC that had always been issuing warnings to the country during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime. However, in the domestic front, the government’s record has been unsatisfactory, if not disappointing.   

The focus of the forces that defeated former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his loyalists during the 2015 presidential and parliamentary elections was mainly on achieving democratic rights for the people and cleaning and ridding society, especially the State machinery of corruption. Thus the government formed after the presidential election held on January 8, 2015 was called “Yahapalana Aanduwa” or government of good governance and the UNP-led coalition that won the subsequent parliamentary election in August 2015 was named the United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG).   

Government ministers have been boasting that there was an atmosphere free of fear of white vans and the media enjoyed freedom even to criticize the President and the Prime Minister. True, there is an improvement relative to the situation prevailed during the former regime. But also a deterioration of the situation can be seen lately, with the media being verbally threatened by the politicians and even some ministers lamenting over their personal security. One website has recently been blocked and a minister had threatened on Sunday at Kandy that some media groups would be taught an unforgettable lesson after the local government elections. Minister Mano Ganesan had sought STF protection claiming that his life was under threat.   

The government’s failure has been well manifested in the field of its so-called anti-corruption drive.The degree of failure in this field is such that the leaders of the former regime who had been accused of plundering the country’s wealth worth billions of rupees are seen on the offensive while government leaders are on the defensive.   

This is a short summery of the government’s record of performance for the past three years and the Supreme Court ruling has given President Sirisena only two years to rectify the situation.Yes, Mr. President, the sands of time are running out. 


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