• New Cabinet appointments after IMF, says RW; SLPP doubtful of appointments
• Sampanthan details grievances of Tamil people, seeks action on the missing
• Douglas seeks release of detained ex-LTTEers, Wijeyadasa says process ongoing
• Sumanthiran pushes LG Polls; Naseer notes economic challenges to hold polls 
• RW says will attend to national issues, Parliament asked to address political issues
• Attending SJB convention causes rift in SLPP defectors’ group – Nidahasa Council
• GL, Dullas, Nalaka, and Dilan invited; GL and Nalaka avoid SJB convention
• Basil says SLPP will support Govt., but won’t take responsibility for its actions
• MR visits former office at Presidential Secretariat, now converted to a lounge
• SLPPers tell Basil future SLPP-UNP alliance should contest under ‘flower bud’

The pressure on the Ranil Wickremesinghe Government to resolve the continuing economic crisis as well as on holding the delayed Local Government (LG) Elections continues while the general public are showing signs of restlessness over their continued suffering, especially during the festive season.

While a majority of the people are gearing for what seems like a bleak Christmas, the Cabinet of Ministers will hold its last meeting for this year tomorrow (19), where several key financial sector reforms legislations, including the new legislation that will govern the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), are tipped to be taken up. 

The Wickremesinghe Government undoubtedly has its work cut out despite the holiday season since the economic crisis continues to burden the already-overburdened masses with new taxes, tariff hikes, and the overall escalation in costs.

State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe last week noted that the financial assistance package sought by Sri Lanka from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had been delayed due to the delay in finalising the debt restructuring plan with the country’s creditors.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg last week reported that Sri Lanka is considering using a special clause to expedite its debt restructuring negotiations, according to people familiar with the matter, as prolonged talks risk delaying a crucial bailout from the IMF.

According to the report, Sri Lanka is looking at introducing a ‘Most Favoured Creditor’ (MFC) clause to assuage doubts among other creditors that China – which holds 52% of Sri Lanka’s bilateral debt – could be offered better terms. “Such a clause would ensure the same terms are extended to all creditors even if an agreement with them has been sealed before a deal is reached with China,” the Bloomberg report further noted.

In reference to the MFC clause, Semasinghe has maintained: “We will continue with our fair, comparable, and transparent policy with all official and private bilateral creditors.”

IMF Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer has told Bloomberg that Board approval for Sri Lanka’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) requires “assurances from official bilateral creditors to restore debt sustainability and a good faith effort to reach a collaborative agreement with private creditors”.

Meanwhile, Reuters has quoted IMF Chief Kristalina Georgieva as saying that the Chinese officials have agreed to participate in a global sovereign debt “roundtable” that would include a wide variety of stakeholders, including private sector creditors.

Georgieva has said at a recent event that she was “a bit more optimistic” about the prospects for dealing with major debt issues facing low- and middle-income countries.

New cabinet after IMF

The appointment of the new cabinet of ministers, which has been postponed on several previous occasions by President Wickremesinghe, has once again been postponed till January next year. Wickremesinghe this month told the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) members that the Cabinet appointments would take place soon after the conclusion of the 2023 Budget on 8 December.

However, the President has now indicated that the Cabinet appointments will be delayed until the Government reaches a Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) with the IMF on the EFF sought by Sri Lanka. According to Government sources, the SLA is expected to be finalised around next month (January) with the final approval from the fund’s Executive Board expected to take place around March 2023.

Wickremesinghe has told several of his confidants that he is unable to appoint members to a new cabinet when the Government is yet to finalise a deal with the IMF. He had also explained that he had to be very mindful of the new appointments made to the Cabinet since the individuals who would be included would play a key role in the public’s perception of the Government. 

Through this statement, Wickremesinghe had hinted that he had not changed his stance on the four names in the SLPP list for new Cabinet appointments. The President had informed the SLPP seniors that he would not appoint four of the individuals in the SLPP list who were ministers under the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Government.

It is also learnt that the SLPP’s Basil Rajapaksa had informed his loyalists that the SLPP should not put pressure on Wickremesinghe to appoint a new cabinet and that the President would do it as soon as he was able to do so.

The SLPPers had questioned Basil on whether the President was genuine in his statement about appointing a new cabinet given Wickremesinghe’s continuous postponement of the appointment of one. They had further asked whether Wickremesinghe would now make the IMF deal an excuse to further delay the appointments and whether the President would eventually say that the new appointments could only take place around March after the final approval for the deal was reached. 

It is also learnt that Basil’s response to the delay in appointing the new cabinet had surprised several SLPP MPs, who believe that there seems to be some form of agreement reached between Basil and Wickremesinghe. Basil had recently commended Wickremesinghe for his actions as President while stating that the SLPP had made the correct choice by deciding to back Wickremesinghe.

However, Basil made a public statement last week that while the SLPP had decided to support the incumbent Government, it would not take responsibility for the actions of the administration. He said during a media interview last week that the current administration was not an SLPP government. According to Basil, the previous Government would have resolved the economic crisis if the public had not protested and ousted it. 

Meeting the parties

Amidst talks of delaying the holding of Local Government Polls, President Wickremesinghe convened a meeting of all parties represented in Parliament on Tuesday (13) at the Presidential Secretariat.

Prior to attending the meeting, parties in the Opposition had reached a decision that they would all oppose any moves to postpone the holding of Local Government Elections and demand the polls without further delay.

The all-party meeting was convened with the aim of discussing the current situation in the country as well as discussing the longstanding issues of the Tamil people and finding permanent solutions to them with the agreement of all parties.

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR), Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Opposition and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Leader Sajith Premadasa, and party leaders representing Parliament were present at the conference. Representatives of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), and the Tamil National People’s Alliance (TNPA) also joined this meeting to discuss peaceful resolutions to the longstanding issues of the Tamil community.

However, one glaring absence was the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP), which had chosen to boycott the meeting. 

Speaker of Parliament Abeywardena outlined the aim of the meeting. The President stated that the meeting would focus on addressing the most pressing issues faced by the minority communities in the country. 

When the floor was opened up for comments, it was unsurprisingly TNA Leader R. Sampanthan who chose to speak first. Seated in a wheelchair and straining to be heard by the participants, the former Opposition Leader spoke in detail of the grievances faced by the Tamil community in the north and east, including the delay in releasing the private lands held by the military. 

Sampanthan went on to admit that he believed that the Tamil citizens who had been classified as missing persons following the end of the war were in fact dead. He demanded that the Government officially recognise this and take steps to compensate the families of those individuals.

Having spoken at length about the hardships and efforts taken by the TNA to resolve the crisis, Sampanthan went on to extend his party’s full support to the Government’s efforts with regard to reconciliation, provided they were genuine.

These calls were echoed by several other Tamil MPs. However, it was clear that the unity between the members ended there.

Douglas Devananda, when speaking, took the opportunity to remind those in attendance that he too represented the Tamil people. Commenting further, the Minister of Fisheries stated that despite being the target of several assassination attempts by the LTTE, he called upon the Government to release the members of the LTTE who remained in detention. 

It was at this point that Minister of Justice Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe spoke up and explained that the Government was in the process of releasing the LTTE cadres who had not been charged, while further explaining that the cases of those who had been charged would require further examination.

While the parties appeared to be in agreement over the matters related to land and prisoners, a division was clear with regard to the 13th Amendment. The Tamil parties called for the full implementation of the amendment, while several Sinhalese MPs claimed that the 13th Amendment had failed to address the issues and that it should be abandoned.

Of course, the elephant in the room was the topic of Local Government Elections. 

TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran urged the Government to hold the Local Government Elections, stating that its delay would erode the people’s confidence in the system. However, his calls for an election were not echoed by the other participants, with Minister of Environment Naseer Ahamed claiming that with the economy still facing numerous challenges it was not the right time for an election.

With the meeting having lasted nearly two hours, the President announced that with the main issues having been identified with regard to reconciliation, the conference would meet again.

He further stated that he wished to report back to Cabinet and Parliament in the new year on the progress of the efforts, while also identifying key measures that could be completed ahead of Independence Day celebrations on 4 February. Stating that if necessary, the conference would sit on a daily basis, the President reiterated that the goals agreed upon by the party leaders and representatives would have to be achieved within the set timeframe.

The President further suggested that the Parliament should address the political issues that were raised at the meeting, while the President would address the national issues. This was backed up by Premadasa, who spoke shortly afterwards.

Reiterating much of what was said, Premadasa took the opportunity to call upon the participants to adopt a unified approach to the issues and work in the manner the people were demanding. Several SJB members who were in attendance were seen afterwards asking each other whether their Party Leader had indicated what his stance was on any of the issues.

TPA Leader and SJB MP Mano Ganesan, speaking during the all-party conference on reconciliation, had expressed that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the devolution of power through the system of Provincial Councils (PCs) should be both the starting point and the way forward with regard to resolving the national ethnic issue, which, he noted, was not solely relegated to the north and the east of the country. 

“The national issue is not restricted to the north and the east alone. The PC mechanism is functional in all nine provinces. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution is the point on which most here agree. The President, as well as former President and incumbent Government MP Mahinda Rajapaksa, Opposition and SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa, and many party leaders have publicly expressed acceptance for the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Hence, let this be the starting point. I wish to bring to your notice that once the Chief Ministers’ Conclave with many southern Provincial Councillors wanted the 13th Amendment to the Constitution fully implemented. That’s the way forward,” Ganesan has told the media after the all-party meeting.

During the all-party meeting, Minister Devananda was cut off from speaking by the President, who stated that the Opposition Leader had been waiting to make his statement. Devananda, without batting an eyelid, said: “Of course, he is more important than me.”

Drawing restrained laughter from those in attendance, Premadasa spared a moment to throw a glare at the Minister before beginning his statement. Most noticeable was the embarrassed looks of the SJB members who were in attendance. Earlier in the day, several of them had been heard commenting in the Parliament lobby that their Leader’s comments were not only unnecessary but would hurt them amongst the Sinhala-speaking voters. 

One member is known to have said: “Half the time he uses words none of us understand and now he ridicules someone who is trying to speak in English. His own father was known to mispronounce words.”

With the meeting breaking up, many of the MPs took the opportunity to speak to the President and voice their opinions over the LG Elections. Several members were heard asking how candidates could canvass with only 20 litres of fuel a week. The President had said that this matter would be resolved and discussions with the Election Commission and other officials were necessary ahead of any final decision.

MR surprised

MR visited his old stomping ground last week when he attended the all-party conference on reconciliation. The former President found time to visit his old office at the Presidential Secretariat. Arriving early for the meeting, Rajapaksa was accompanied upstairs to President Wickremesinghe’s lounge.

However, the former President would have been surprised to find that his old office had in fact been converted into a sitting area where the current President now hosts VIPs. The last couple of weeks have seen the President’s Office undergo a reversion to the format followed by former President J.R. Jayewardene (JR), with the President’s Office occupying the larger room on the top floor. 

Until now, previous presidents had used the larger room for Cabinet meetings and other meetings with officials. The transformation to the state the original Executive President kept it in will serve as a reminder for many that JR’s protégé is now occupying the top seat in the country.

Delaying LG Polls

Several members of the Government meanwhile have launched a campaign to lobby for the support of at least a few members of the Opposition to the moves initiated to delay the impending Local Government Polls. Accordingly, several Government MPs have made representations to a few MPs representing the SJB and TNA, asking them to convince their party leaders to agree to the proposal to set up a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to discuss reforms to the Local Government Elections process.

One of the key points being promoted by the Government MPs is that the economy is not conducive to hold an election and that the impending polls can be held after providing relief to the general public who are currently overburdened due to rising costs and shortages. 

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister MR had told the media that there would not be an election for another two years and called the public to be patient until then. He had made this statement during a visit to Anuradhapura.

However, a group of Opposition MPs last week filed two cases before the Supreme Court, requesting a court directive to be issued to the Election Commission directing the holding of Local Government Elections without further delay. The SJB had approached the other Opposition groups in Parliament to discuss the plan to resort to legal action to ensure the holding of Local Government Elections. The rest of the Opposition groups had agreed and consented to a joint effort to resort to legal action.

One of the petitions was filed by SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara and SLPP defector and Nidahasa People’s Council Head Prof. G.L. Peiris. The other was filed by MPs Dayasiri Jayasekara (Sri Lanka Freedom Party – SLFP), Anura Priyadarshana Yapa (SLPP defector) and M.A. Sumanthiran (TNA). The Election Commission and the Prime Minister have been cited as respondents.

The Election Commission meanwhile reiterated last week that the announcement of Local Government Elections would be made during the last week of this month.

SJB gears for polls

Opposition and SJB Leader Premadasa last week told the party’s convention that the SJB should prepare for impending elections. “We are a group that can build this nation. Therefore get ready to bring a change through the Local Government Elections,” he said.

“Those who say ‘unuth ekai, munuth ekai’ (both sides are the same) are conspiring to destroy the SJB. I am challenging them to do it. Let’s face an election. It will be possible to measure the strengths of the parties through an election,” he added.

Premadasa further pledged to take charge of the Aragalaya to launch a revolution that would rebuild Sri Lanka.

Premadasa was unanimously re-elected as the Leader of the SJB at the event. MP Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka and MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara were also re-appointed as the party’s Chairman and General Secretary respectively. MP Dr. Harsha de Silva was appointed as the Treasurer of the party while MP Tissa Attanayake was re-appointed as its National Organiser.

However, Fonseka was not a happy customer at the convention since his speech was allotted towards the end of the programme when most of the participants had left the ground to embark on their journey back home. Fonseka, after expressing his displeasure on the matter publicly before commencing his speech, had also taken steps to lodge a complaint with Premadasa about the time allocated for him to address the gathering.

It is interesting that Fonseka has faced issues at the SJB convention for the second year running since he had a similar complaint during the party’s last convention, where he even had a heated exchange of words with then SJB MP, Minister Harin Fernando. 

Meanwhile, SLPP defectors – the Nidahasa People’s Council members – Dullas Alahapperuma, Dilan Perera, and Chandima Weerakkody also attended the SJB convention as invitees.

Split over SJB

However, the decision by several members of the Nidahasa group to attend the SJB convention, it is learnt, has resulted in a split within the group, with Alahapperuma and Perera, who attended the SJB event, facing criticism from the others.

It was Alahapperuma, Perera, G.L. Peiris, and Nalaka Godahewa who were invited by the SJB for its convention. The group of SLPP defectors was split in the decision on whether or not to attend the event. One group had believed that accepting the invitation and attending the SJB convention would further strengthen the partnership between the two sides that would in turn enable a good understanding when addressing common issues in Parliament and outside. 

The other group had believed that attending the SJB convention would make the SLPPers, whom the defectors are targeting to muster more support, feel betrayed if the Nidahasa members were seen to be aligning solely with the SJB.

However, it was finally decided that the four MPs in the group who had received the invites would attend the event. Peiris had however said that he was unable to attend the event. Godahewa was also a no-show at the convention after saying that he would attend it.

Finally, it was Alahapperuma and Perera who were seen attending the event, which in turn has resulted in a rift within the group.

RW meets SLPPers

President Wickremesinghe meanwhile had met with the heads of SLPP Local Government bodies at the Presidential Secretariat. SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam and State Minister Janaka Wakkumbura had also attended the meeting. Moratuwa Mayor Saman Lal Fernando had led the group of Local Government members.

The first topic of discussion was the houses of SLPPers including Local Government members that were burnt down during the 9 May mayhem. The Local Government members had asked the President to ensure that the compensation payments were made fast. Wickremesinghe had responded saying that steps had already been taken to expedite the matter.

Wickremesinghe had then asked the SLPPers about their thoughts on holding the Local Government Elections. The SLPPers had said that the party was still not fully engaged with the grassroots and would require more time. However, the Local Government members have said that they could prepare for polls if they were to be held.

“We must hold elections at the due time without delay, but I doubt whether we can hold the Local Government Elections before March,” the President had said, while explaining that there were several practical issues. He had pointed out that the GCE A/Level exam that begins on 28 January would continue till mid-February and that it would not be the best time for election campaigning. He had also noted that it was difficult to allocate a sum of around Rs. 20 billion to hold elections at a time when paying State sector salaries was also a challenge.

However, the meeting had concluded with Wickremesinghe pointing out that elections would have to be held at some point and that the SLPPers should start their work in their electorates and prepare for polls.

SLPP regroup

The SLPP meanwhile has commenced a programme to consolidate an alliance led by the party targeting the impending elections. Accordingly, the SLPP, led by Basil Rajapaksa and with Namal Rajapaksa in attendance, met with nine constituent parties on 10 December for preliminary discussions into plans on regrouping and facing future elections.

Namal told the media after the meeting that discussions had mainly centred on how the SLPP could rebuild as an alliance in the face of future elections and added that parties that were still with the SLPP wished to move forward with it as the mother party. 

“Taking into account the county’s present situation, if there should be any change in our political approach and in our policies, we will pay heed to those and discuss them accordingly. In time, we will have lengthy discussions on facing an election if such is to be held. As an alliance, we have parties that have broken off and those that still remain with us. We will converse with them openly about how we can face future elections,” he added.

Responding to a question on the opposition that the SLPP received in the recent past, he said: “We have to decide if we want to change governments through ‘aragalaya’ (struggle) movements or change such through elections. Governments in this country should be changed through the democratic process, i.e., through elections. So when we have an election, people can go ahead and vote for the party and candidate of their choice.”

SLPP General Secretary Kariyawasam told the media that the SLPP aimed to provide a stronger youth representation in future elections. He also added that while nine registered parties had taken part in the discussions, six others which had made requests to join the discussions would be summoned for future discussions.

Speaking further, Kariyawasam said: “We are ready to face any election as a party. We are certain that we will win. Even the next government will be an SLPP government. In the LG Elections, the vast majority will be SLPP members. The public hasn’t rejected us. One should understand that in the Presidential Election, while 6.9 million voted for us, 4.2 million voted against us. 

“Just because 50,000-100,000 people stepped out on the street, our voting base is not lost, nor will we lose it. When we went to the villages, we clearly saw our strength there. Our foundation is still very strong. We are certain that we can win any future election with a great margin and re-establish the SLPP’s strength because the public’s trust is in the SLPP, as it is the only people’s party in this country.”

When questioned on SLPP Founder and National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa’s involvement in the elections, Kariyawasam noted: “He is contributing actively to the party’s political activities. His standpoint at present is that he will not join the Government, but will provide his maximum support to the party.”

Joining the UNP

Kariyawasam meanwhile noted that the SLPP had also indicated to the United National Party (UNP) its willingness to discuss the formation of an alliance with the party. According to the SLPP General Secretary, an informal discussion has been held on the matter.

After hearing the possibility of forming an alliance between the SLPP and UNP, several party members had approached Basil and expressed some concern. They have explained that the UNP still did not have a proper presence in the electorates while the SLPPers were engaged in campaigning. 

The other point that the SLPPers had noted to Basil was that the SLPP should not change its symbol for elections even under an alliance. They had insisted that any electoral alliance for future elections be under the SLPP’s symbol of the ‘flower bud’ and not even the UNP’s ‘elephant’ symbol. 

After listening to the concerns, Basil had assured that decisions detrimental to the party’s future would not be taken.

Kariyawasam had also stated that any alliance between the SLPP and UNP would be carried out in a manner that would not harm the policies of the two parties. Nevertheless, he had added that the SLPP was prepared to join with the UNP for the sake of the country.

The SLPP seniors have thus far maintained that the SLPP and UNP already work on an understanding since it was the SLPP that supported Wickremesinghe to be elected as President in Parliament.

“The UNP is one of the oldest political parties in the country and joining such a party would be a strength,” Kariyawasam added.