Having understood the damage done to Russia and its people, former President Boris Yeltsin stepped down and appointed the correct person – Vladimir Putin – as his successor in the role to repair the damage wrought and to lead the country.

With full confidence, Putin went ahead to face the enormous challenges with all his previous experiences in the intelligence services, widely known as the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security, or KGB) and which is now known as the Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti (Federal Security Service). 

Yeltsin made that decision taking into account the future of the country and the people of Russia.

This took place two decades before President Ranil Wickremesinghe was installed as President of Sri Lanka in 2022.

Many differences can be observed between the appointments of Putin and Wickremesinghe. Wickremesinghe was invited by the Rajapaksa brothers (a reference to former Presidents Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Mahinda Rajapaksa) to take over the Presidency for the protection of the future of the Rajapaksas.

Wickremesinghe had many reasons to take up the Presidency, and he willingly accepted the post.

The Rajapakss had full confidence and trust in Wickremesinghe, who could protect the Rajapaksa family in that very critical time. So they collectively agreed to transfer power from the Prime Minister to the President. 

Wickremesinghe fulfilled his promise and gave all the needed protection to the current and future Rajapaksas as a gesture of gratitude for the Presidential post given to him. 

All of Wickremesinghe’s previous attempts to become President had failed, so as he got the chance, he made use of it and his dream came true. He had been eying the Presidency for the last two decades.

Perhaps, Wickremesinghe could have inherited a genuine motive from his uncle, the first Executive President J.R. Jayewardene, to build a new Sri Lanka with his own concepts. This could have been an additional reason as to why he took over the Presidency; after all, it was time to show the Rajapaksa brothers that he was a true friend to them. 

All these facts brought to light that Wickremesinghe was maintaining close ties with the Rajapaksas in the past throughout the period when he was in the Opposition. 

Realising well that the economy of the country was on the verge of collapse, he still went for the Presidency. He was given a country with an empty Treasury and high rate of unemployment. Inflation was high, with soaring prices. 

The Wickremesinghe Presidency will have marked its fifth month by mid-December, amidst turbulence and crises in the country.

Last week, the Colombo University Law Faculty, where Wickremesinghe studied, organised a function to mark his 50 years in Sri Lankan politics. His arrival was welcomed with boos and hurrays by different factions of students as a mark of expressing both their displeasure and pride.

The past political life of this politician would endorse that he will freely and fully complete his full term in office for the next two years.

It would also reveal that he would hold his grip on power. He remained for a long period as the Opposition Leader amidst growing opposition. He is still the unchallenged Leader of the United National Party (UNP).

During his time as the Premier and a Minister, he paid no attention to when qualified heads of departments and board chairmen left or resigned as conflicts arose between them and Wickremesinghe’s favoured Ministers.

He did not feel sorry for losing qualified civil servants but wanted his favoured politicians to remain in Ministerial posts. 

Sometimes, the decisions Wickremesinghe made backfired on him. An example of this was when, to retain then-Tourism Minister Gamini Lokuge in his Cabinet of Ministers, Wickremesinghe paid no attention to the resignation of qualified Tourist Board Chairman Renton de Alwis as conflicts erupted between those two on tourism-related issues. Sometime later, Lokuge turned back on Wickremesinghe and even left the party and joined the Opposition criticising Wickremesinghe for mismanagement. 

There would hardly be an election before Wickremesinghe ends his term. He will cover the full Presidential period of Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the next two years. 

 If a General Election takes place in March 2023, as some expect, Wickremesinghe would still use all his forces and resources to remain in power.

The last five months confirms this theory, with regard to how issues developed. 

As one of the tactics to cement his position, in the past he appointed his selected candidates to high posts in the UNP and his Government. He also brought his trusted hands from out of conventional politics into responsible posts. These include Malik Samarawickrama, who was appointed to the portfolio of International Trade Minister and President’s Counsel Tilak Marapana to the post of Defence Minister, the latter who was previously sacked by former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga from the Ministerial post and again appointed by Wickremesinghe later as Foreign Minister during the Maithripala Sirisena Presidency.

Businessman Senarath Kapukotuwa was an outsider to party politics and was appointed by Wickremesinghe to the post of the General Secretary of the UNP. Though this was opposed by some party stalwarts, Wickremesinghe could go ahead.

A newcomer to the UNP from the Police Department has now taken the seat of UNP General Secretary at the Sirikotha, the UNP Headquarters. 

Wickremesinghe is seen as stubborn in the decisions that he makes and that he looks forward through the Western system. He is always capable of having a group loyal to support any blunt actions that he takes.

Becoming President, Wickremesinghe gave priority to the burning issues of gas and energy, which caused and led to many unwanted issues in the country during the last months of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa era. This brought the country to a certain extent to a peaceful state, so the credit goes to Wickremesinghe for this.

The issues with food, medicine, and education remain, with soaring prices and other socio-economic crises on top of the agenda. 

There were times when senior members, having found no common language with Wickremesinghe, left the UNP and joined other parties.

All those who left Wickremesinghe in the course of their political life later came back to Wickremesinghe, or left politics forever, as they could not challenge Wickremesinghe.

Even on the verge of the collapse of the UNP, Wickremesinghe still held his grip on command. This is something extraordinary.

Talks and arrangements were in progress in bringing in Wickremesinghe and making him President when the “aragalaya” reached its climax and Gotabaya Rajapaksa had to flee the country.

Thanks to being given the Presidential post, Wickremesinghe remains loyal to the Rajapaksas and reappointed almost all of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s appointed Ministers to the same portfolios that they were holding. 

The fleeing Gotabaya Rajapaksa understood well as to whom he could trust to hand over the Presidency for his safe flight, and obviously for an anticipated future comeback. 

Wickremesinghe’s Cabinet consists mostly of Rajapaksa supporters and a few from other parties who oppose Wickremesinghe.

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Minister of Tourism and Lands Harin Fernando, who are now in the Cabinet, were once vocal critics of Wickremesinghe.

Wickremesinghe, who is translating his ideas into action should go through a careful study, as such former

critics are still in action and hindering changes in any form.

A Cabinet reshuffle and naming more Ministers are expected before the new year, as sources indicate.

The idea behind this could be to appoint loyalists of Wickremesinghe to places where difficulties remain in implementing his plans. 

During the time of the Yahapalana (good governance) United National Front-led Government, the President and the Premier could not get along. This led to many internal problems in the country. 

Wickremesinghe is now given a free hand, with full powers to implement his polices, provided no harm is done to the Rajapaksas.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) General Secretary, MP and Attorney Sagara Kariyawasam dreams about the Rajapaksas returning and issues conflicting statements, which may upset Wickremesinghe. Meanwhile, some dissidents from the SLPP are waiting to cross over to Wickremesinghe’s side. 

These are some issues that Wickremesinghe could face in the time to come, and also far from Colombo in Badulla, where his own Cabinet Ministers are opposing each other on the issue of who is to play the vital role in the constituency. The issues between Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva and young Fernando are so far confined to the Uva Province. When issues similar to these come up in the future and reach Colombo, Wickremesinghe could be a short-run President as he always happened to be a failed short-run Premier.

Pleasing the Tamil people to obtain their sympathy would be another tool Wickremesinghe may use to stay in power for the next two years. Attention is paid by Wickremesinghe to direct flights between Chennai, India, and Palali, Jaffna, and operations have already begun in this regard. A Presidential office was opened recently in the Tamil-dominated North. The Tamil diaspora is invited for talks to build a new Sri Lanka. 

The All-Party Conference was arranged to clear misunderstandings and talks are being held to offer Ministry posts to other political parties. 

On the other side, trade unions threaten token strikes and issues in universities are some of the problems to be faced by Wickremesinghe as his Presidency turns five months old.

(The writer was a former news editor of the Russian Embassy in Colombo)

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.