One thing that is pertinently clear from the seemingly isolated but characteristically well-coordinated chain of events surrounding the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP) over the course of the past week is that it has now shifted to election mode.

First in the chain of events was the arrival of Basil Rajapaksa from the United States of America. Having left as a villain responsible for the economic crisis, he arrived to a hero’s welcome from the SLPP, with its hierarchy rolling out the red carpet for its Founder. Then came the launch of brother and former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s supposedly tell-all book – the obvious intention being to deflect blame for the crisis by making all kinds of allegations, including falling victim to a foreign-funded regime change project.

However, the commotion over the book was eclipsed by what transpired the very next day when the unlikeliest of candidates was appointed as Chairman of the key parliamentary oversight body, the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), triggering an avalanche of unsavoury reactions on social media. And the fun and games appeared to be only beginning when, on Thursday (7), capping one of the most eventful weeks for what seemed like a dormant SLPP, a hush-hush meeting took place between President Wickremesinghe, Mahinda Rajapaksa, and Basil Rajapaksa.

Following the meeting, speculation was rife of a snap General Election preceding the scheduled Presidential Election later in the year. Giving a degree of credence to the speculation is the series of new appointments to key posts over the past couple of weeks.

In making these appointments, what is unpardonable is the disregard being shown towards the country’s current circumstances that leave no room for politicking with the bureaucracy. Sri Lanka’s extraordinary situation dictates that electioneering should be left exclusively to political parties and the State should not have any role to play in that process other than in allocating funds and conducting the polls. Yet, in the midst of a governance-cum-economic crisis, the State must remain completely insulated and isolated from the political manoeuvring of the regime in office. To not do so will only lead to making a bad case worse, with grave implications over the seriousness and sincerity of the current leadership to put things right.

It is in this backdrop that eyebrows were raised over the appointment of the new IGP, whose political loyalties are already well documented. However, that now appears to have been just a hint of what is to follow. Last week’s appointment of the new COPE Chair laid to rest any apprehensions about the current leadership’s disinterest in good governance. That the regime continues to disregard the root cause of the issue at hand by continuing to appoint misfits to key roles in the governance apparatus must surely cause concern, if not disbelief.

If the leadership’s failure to hold to account those identified as responsible for the current economic crisis that has ruined millions of lives was not bad enough, its continued reliance on those eminently unsuitable for high office must surely amount to a slap in the face for the people whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed.

Reverting to the former President’s new book, his infamous exit from office could only be described as an event of karmic proportions given the controversy surrounding how he came to occupy that office in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday terror attacks. Ironically enough, it is the same individual who is now accusing the defence establishment of conspiring against him.

The implications of the accusations are profound, to say the least, given that the accused individuals are still holding the same posts to date – unlike their former Commander-in-Chief. 

If, as the former President alleges, there is a foreign entity involved in the grand scheme of things, then what of national security even at this point in time, since the same accused individuals are still holding the same positions in the defence hierarchy? 

Further, what of the incumbent President’s conduct leading up to and after the ouster of the former? People still recall the enthusiastic support extended by the then Prime Minister up until Rajapaksa was forced to flee from office and the about-turn no sooner he assumed the presidency, where protesters were chased out of Galle Face with brutal force. 

Adding fuel to the fire is the key role played by the former Opposition strongman-turned-chief lieutenant of the President in the entire protest saga. Given all these details that have been hanging in the air for so long, now leading to so many unanswered questions, the book is likely to answer a few of those – but not without heavy collateral damage to both the SLPP and the incumbent President.

After all, it will be recalled that the main election promise of Gotabaya Rajapaksa – controversially made just a week after the Easter Sunday attacks – was ensuring national security. But now, the former President himself is claiming that a grand conspiracy with international actors was responsible for ousting him, pointing to an even greater intelligence failure under his watch. 

If that claim is to be considered even at face value, there is then the question of the actors involved – both foreign and local. While the former President actually goes on to name who, in his opinion, were some of the conspirators on the local front, there is no mention of the foreign party, except for a cryptic hint as to who it might be.

Then comes the all-important question of the current role of these actors. Given the fact that they are still holding on to the same positions, if there indeed was a foreign conspiracy, then what did it entail and has that threat now diminished or is there more to follow?

The current President, who is fond of appointing commissions of inquiry at the drop of a hat, might do well to appoint one to probe the veracity of the former’s conspiracy claims and any further perils it may entail for this nation.

Be that as it may, as far as the ordinary citizen and even the Supreme Court of this country are concerned, the main reasons for regime change remain skewed, arbitrary policy decisions, such as the massive overnight tax cuts that laid the foundation for the economic crisis, the subsequent forex crisis that led to rapid depreciation of the rupee, followed by the halting of essential imports, the suicidal agriculture policy that led to a food crisis and brought farmers on to streets, unmitigated corruption, etc.

The launch of the book in what is essentially a crucial election year may have been designed to alienate the former President and his party, the SLPP, from blame for the economic crisis, but as it was with the entirety of his presidency that ultimately led to his infamous downfall, the timing could not have been any worse, for rather than doing its intended job, it has led to the exact opposite – a major backlash, with the SLPP caught in the eye of the storm. Judging by the reactions to news reports on the launch of the book on social media, it has all the hallmarks of an unmitigated public relations disaster for the party.

An issue that should have been left for time to heal – given the forgetfulness and forgiving nature of the Sri Lankan voter – has now been resurrected in an unforgiving economic environment that is still destroying lives and livelihoods. By his eagerness to vindicate his role in the saga, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has now effectively compromised the very existence of the SLPP and its relevance in the current milieu, given that the entire crisis is its creation, and going by the President’s repeated assertions in Parliament last week of the “hell” he inherited, it appears that any role it may have had in the resolution of the crisis is now fast evaporating. Whether that itself is a conspiracy, only time will tell.