“The more things change, the more they stay the same” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr

The last thing comrade Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Sri Lanka’s brand-new Executive President and his party, the National People’s Power (NPP), would wish to be associated with at this juncture, or at any point during his tenure for that matter, is the general assertion that those who came to change the system ended up falling victim to that same system, or that the system is changing them. While social media is abuzz with such claims, fuelled by some less-than-desirable new appointments, it is up to the new leadership to clearly set out its course in accordance with the mandate received.

Having reached the top with the approval of just 42% of the electorate, Dissanayake must be extra cautious in navigating the political minefield that is now before him to not only distance himself from the cancerous claim that nothing much has changed, but also be mindful of the fact that he simply cannot afford to slip in approval ratings given this handicap. He must be mindful of why he, instead of any other, is now installed at the Presidential Secretariat; that reason almost exclusively being to wage war on the infamous threesome sucking the life out of this nation – corruption, wastage, and malpractice. But Dissanayake appears to have struck the right note in implementation of austerity measures by showing the way that it must start at the top, something that could not be said of his predecessor.

Having literally been to hell and back at the hands of a deeply-entrenched political establishment notorious for its obsession with self-preservation at the expense of the nation’s well-being, a frustrated and impoverished nation is hardly likely to be amenable to a grace period in order for the new President to get down to business. That is how tough and unforgiving the work environment is for Dissanayake, who, under normal circumstances, would have been entitled to a grace period to ease into the job that is certainly not for the fainthearted.

Having done their part through the ballot, it is indeed ironic that while the 42% who voted for the new President are demanding instant action in fulfilling campaign promises, it is the other 58% who appear to be willing to give the man a chance to prove himself. But either way, with an election looming, time is of the essence and quick delivery of promises will be key to consolidating Executive power through the next Parliament. By the same token, the other parties in the fray must push the leadership to deliver, for their future too depends on how much they push. 

If the current mood of the people persists through to the 14 November General Elections, chances are that only a handful from the last Parliament will find their way back to the House. Having probably seen the writing on the wall, as at the time of writing, over 30 former Members of Parliament (MPs) – mostly belonging to the Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) – have either announced their retirement from politics or indicated they will not contest the upcoming poll. They include some prominent members who were in fact the face of the SLPP, such as former Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Ali Sabry, Bandula Gunawardena, etc.

Despite the pressure and need to show results, the new leadership should desist from the temptation to seek cheap gains, as in the case of the vehicle saga at Galle Face, and instead deep dive into serious corruption issues. By making a ha-ho about luxury vehicles being assigned to various advisers by the previous President and then re-assigning those same vehicles to a new set of users whose list is yet to be made known, the regime appears to have lost the plot. 

Instead of re-purposing these expensive, high-maintenance vehicles, what it should have done is to have auctioned them off and invested those funds in a uniform fleet of smaller, more economical, and easier to maintain vehicles. By doing what it did, the burden on the Treasury remains the same, with the gas guzzlers continuing to run up massive fuel bills and maintenance costs of the super luxury fleet remain beyond the reach of a bankrupt nation. 

Back in the day, all State-owned vehicles were obliged to display the State emblem which was permanently and prominently painted on both sides of the vehicle. With the vehicle thus identified, those allocated these vehicles were careful to use them only for official purposes. At the end of the day, people must see the same practicality that propelled Dissanayake to office being implemented by his office. 

The nation made it abundantly clear that the era of cheap political stunts ended on 21 September. By not reading the signs and sticking to the same old playbook, the NPP runs the risk of being bundled with the rest, thus hurting its electoral fortunes in November. People are no longer interested in cheap thrills. They are marking time for the big fish to be netted. The longer it takes to do so, the more people will think twice. After all, there should be no excuses for delays as the party has long boasted that it has comprehensive “files on 400-plus rogues,” and all that it needs to action those files is a mandate. 

In the end, justice must not only be done but also be seen to be done. The deep-rooted change that the people were promised must materialise sooner than later. The new leadership has secured the mandate it sought to expose whom they alleged as corrupt and it is now time to walk the talk. In fact, those who were at the receiving end of those allegations are now challenging the new regime to either come up with evidence of corruption or stop the accusations – a challenge the regime is obliged to take up in accordance with the mandate given by the people. 

Meanwhile, those parties that were confident of their candidates at the concluded Presidential Election are yet seemingly engrossed in post-mortems on how a party that consistently averaged 3% of the vote suddenly shot up to 42%. Just in case they need further reminding, at least four million of the 5.6 million votes polled by the winning candidate were handed on a platter by those who were in office over the course of the last three years or so. Whether that was by design or default, only time will tell.

But as things stand, it was poverty that spoke the loudest at the Presidential Poll. Sri Lanka’s poverty-stricken segment that stood at three million people in 2022, shot up to a staggering seven million over the course of the next two years – an increase of four million, based on World Bank data. If one can hazard a guess, 99% of this four million would have formed the bedrock of the NPP’s new support base. After all, what other choice did they have other than to vote for radical change, to change a system that had badly let them down for no fault of their own but that of those whom they elected to office?

The story of a young school girl who had starved for 24 hours until a teacher randomly inquired about her meals, which went viral on social media, underlines the fact that despite boasts of recovery and impressive economic data, there is the bigger story of deprivation and impoverishment that barely makes it to the headlines. Yet, that is the reality that millions endure on a daily basis. It is an issue both the Samagi Jana Balawegaya as well as the United National Party underestimated and paid the price for. It is these people, regular folk, who have been robbed of everything they had, who in the end had no alternative but to seek change. It is for this reason that change cannot wait, because starvation does not.