Reports that the Presidential Secretariat has informed four Governors – i.e. Eastern Provincial Governor Anuradha Yahampath, North Western Provincial Governor and Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda, Uva Provincial Governor A.J.M. Muzammil, and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Governor Tikiri Kobbekaduwa – to resign from their Governor posts, and that United National Party (UNP) Leader and President Ranil Wickremesinghe is to appoint their successors after the President’s return from the United Kingdom, attracted the attention of many, and caused controversy on many fronts.

While some viewed this alleged move as an attempt by the President to further spread his or the UNP’s ideology in the country, some claimed that Governors appointed by one President, who in this case is erstwhile President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, resigning subsequent to the appointment of a new President, who in this case is Wickremesinghe, is a tradition that Sri Lanka has upheld with this instance being the exception.

This situation begs a question as to whether this move – if it is in fact true – is a practically prudent one or is a pressing need at the moment. That is primarily because of the current socio-political context, where the country’s provincial-level administration remains in a rather unstable state due to the indefinite postponement of the Provincial Councils (PC) elections which has resulted in the PCs not having elected public representatives to take crucial decisions in their respective PCs and areas. In such a situation, the role of a Governor, appointed directly by the President to oversee and make the necessary interventions in provincial-level administrative tasks as a representative of the President, has become more important than before, and meddling with it when there is no pressing need to do so, is concerning.

It is crucial to have Governors in a stable manner at this moment. Therefore, the President, who claims to be a logical ruler that is trying to change the country’s political culture for the better, should go ahead with this alleged decision based on facts and reasoning, instead of a mere tradition of appointing new Governors. The President should take into account the prevailing administrative situation in the Provinces in question, and appoint Governors only to Provinces where such appointments seem suitable and necessary.

In the current socio-political situation, changing Governors is not just a matter of changing the President’s representative. With the appointment of new Governors come new policies and procedures, new instructions to public officials including those at the PC level and even the changing of various public officials that work under Governors, which may have an adverse impact on how the respective provinces are governed. Taking also into consideration the above-mentioned unstable situation at the provincial administrative level, if such appointments are made, they should be followed by updated guidelines for Governors with regard to how those provinces should be managed until new Provincial Councillors are elected through PCs elections. The role of Governors should be reassessed in accordance with their role in their respective provinces.

The failure to make these appointments scientifically, would make them just another political move, and such moves are detrimental to a country that is seeking to change its political culture, which has not been beneficial to the public. It should also be noted that there are rumours that the underlying motive behind the President seeking the resignation of the Governors is to appoint more UNP members, with the UNP having told The Daily Morning that UNPers are willing to accept Governor posts even though they did not ask for the same. In such a situation, it is incumbent on the President to prioritise the country’s interests over his Party’s interests, and bring about the change he claims to bring by example. The President has a responsibility to ensure the stability of the provincial-level administration until his Government is ready to hold PCs elections.