United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister last Thursday. His appointment comes at a time when the country is struggling to overcome its worst ever economic crisis, since gaining independence from the British in 1948 and in the midst of a soaring cost of living, severe shortage of essential commodities including medicines and medical equipment, domestic gas, petrol, diesel and kerosene.
He has taken up the challenge of rebuilding the badly bloodied, battered and bruised country when none of the other political party leaders or parliamentarians were willing or had the confidence to undertake this difficult and uphill task.
In his political career spanning over 40 years, 73-year-old Mr. Wickremesinghe has at various times and under various governments functioned as Prime Minister, Minister and Opposition Leader. Although the newly-appointed Prime Minister is well accepted among the international community, he has many detractors locally, but his political acumen and experience has helped him survive many a crises. Nevertheless, the next few days, weeks or months will unravel whether his political acumen and experience accumulated over the years will help him rescue this country from the economic and political morass it has been plunged into by the short-sighted, arrogant and utterly foolish decisions taken by the current political leadership during the past 30 months.
In his first address to the nation as Prime Minister, Mr. Wickremesinghe outlined Sri Lanka’s ‘state of the economy’, which he described as perilous and warned that the economic crisis, which has devastated this country would get worse with the next few months being the most difficult.
“In November 2019, our foreign exchange reserves stood at US$7.5 billion. However, today, it is a challenge for the Treasury to find US$1 million,” he said, adding that the country had “run out of petrol ... At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day” and warned that the power cuts, which even stretched up to eight hours a day, would likely worsen in the next two months. “We must prepare ourselves to make some sacrifices and face the challenges of this period,” Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said.
He replaced former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who stepped down a few hours after thousands of Rajapaksa supporters armed with clubs and iron rods attacked those carrying out a peaceful protest at ‘MynaGoGama’ outside Temple Trees, the Prime Minister’s official residence. Later the mob stormed the main protest site, the ‘GotaGoGama’ at Galle Face Green in the vicinity of the presidential secretariat and set about brutally attacking the peaceful protestors there as well.
In an apparent retaliation to these senseless attacks launched by the armed Rajapaksa supporters, some 75 houses and business of ruling party politicians including the ancestral home of then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family were burnt to cinders, while nine people lost their lives and more than 250 were injured.
In the aftermath of ‘Black’ Monday’s fiery mayhem across the country, the police have been quick to arrest the alleged arsonists but surprisingly though, they appear to be reluctant to arrest those who incited the thousands of gullible Rajapaksa supporters, transported them in buses from several parts of the country for a meeting at Temple Trees where they were ‘treated’ to provocative speeches by some ruling party politicians including former ministers and armed them with clubs and iron rods were let loose on the protestors.
According to eye witness reports, the police though armed with tear-gas canisters and assisted by water cannons were passive onlookers and did little or nothing to prevent the attacks on those at the two protest sites, which subsequently resulted in the retaliatory attacks countrywide.
At least 17 people, including the former president and prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, his son Namal and former ministers Johnston Fernando, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Pavithra Wanniarachchi and Santh Nishantha have been named in a magisterial court case as the instigators of the violence and their passports have been impounded while Mr. Rajapaksa and his family have found refuge off Trincomalee on Sober Island Resort managed by the Sri Lankan Navy, while the entire nation has been set ablaze because of their unquenchable greed for power.
Where do we go from here? What kind of future is in store for Sri Lanka? Will Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe be able to rescue this Island Nation from the economic and political quagmire it has been pushed into? We citizens have no other choice but help him to carry out the rescue and recovery mission he has planned for our Motherland.
