Judging by what transpires in the political sphere these days, it appears that the same old bankrupt politicking that ultimately bankrupted this country is yet continuing, with the same actors playing the leading roles. Some of these actors, now in ‘born again’ mode, portraying themselves as the victims rather than the villains, are busy peddling their respective narratives hoping there will be enough takers so as to prevent obliteration at the next poll. They appear to be trying their best to set the cat among the pigeons with outlandish claims of new alliances in the making, in the hope that the ensuing scuffle will leave them unscathed while scarring the rest.
Such shenanigans are nothing new to a nation that has literally seen it all. Thus, it is becoming clear that despite the trauma that this nation has had to undergo in the last couple of years and indeed years more to come with the debt burden intact, no lessons have been learnt, no one is accepting responsibility, and accountability for anything remains elusive. Given this predictable scenario, the Supreme Court made life easy for the current leadership by identifying those primarily responsible for the economic crisis, but no action has been forthcoming, leave alone even a verbal acknowledgement of the same.
Meanwhile, the main actors in the saga are back on political platforms making a case for their return at the upcoming polls. Therefore, the billion dollar question is, how long can this nation survive by depending on the same politicians and their bankrupt politicking that already succeeded in bankrupting this country?
The Founder of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Basil Rajapaksa, who is very much in the news these days following his return to the island, appears to be mobilising his party to lobby for a snap General Election ahead of the scheduled Presidential Election later this year. In a media interview last week, he, for the first time, openly advocated for it, offering a bizarre explanation and, in the process, scored an own goal, leaving party faithful holding their heads.
His contention was that if a Presidential Election was held first, given past experience it was likely that the party that the president-elect represents would sweep the board at the subsequent General Election. By way of example he pointed to his own party’s performance in 2019 and 2020. What is bizarre is that he chose his own SLPP to describe how wrong things could go in a situation where both the all-powerful Executive as well as the governing party in Parliament were of the same party. The brutal hint, which for the first time brought to the open the deep fractures within the SLPP and the blame game within, is unlikely to go unnoticed.
Not stopping at that, he openly lamented the SLPP’s inability to come up with a suitable candidate for the next presidency. But what raised eyebrows was his open endorsement of the incumbent for the job. While admittance of failure is extremely rare in the local political milieu, for it to come from the creator of what was arguably the most powerful political entity up until the upheavals of 2022, speaks volumes of the tectonic shift taking place in the local political arena. However, the entire episode reeks of crass opportunism, which unfortunately has saved the day for many political rejects in the past. Whether history will repeat, we will have to wait and see.
But let’s consider what could be driving this sudden introspection. If one were to compare the election manifestos of the SLPP and incumbent President’s UNP at the last poll in 2020, it is like the North and South Poles. For instance, the UNP has consistently advocated for the divestiture of loss-making State-Owned Enterprises, whereas the SLPP has not only advocated the opposite but even promised to take back already-divested entities. Therefore, for the SLPP or whatever that remains of it to go to the extent of endorsing the candidature of someone diametrically opposed to its policies, must surely rank as opportunism of the highest order.
But in a dog eat dog world, such things do not come into the equation when what is at stake is the very existence of the SLPP and its future relevance in Sri Lanka’s sociopolitical setting. As far as Basil Rajapaksa is concerned, a Presidential Election first will virtually wipe out its chances of making an impact at a General Election and therefore is making the case for the opposite. And there lies the rub for the incumbent Executive.
With the SLPP’s Founder and chief strategist outlining his stance as to which election he prefers first, the President, who is entirely dependent on the SLPP’s support to continue in office, has been left with a Hobson’s choice, for it has to be the SLPP’s way or the highway as far as his job is concerned. It is probably with this realisation that the UNP began its election campaign in Kuliyapitiya last Sunday. But unlike the party’s previous campaigns, there was a marked difference in the President’s usual cool and collected demeanour.
Probably for the first time in his nearly half-a-century-long political career, the country was treated to a different brand of politicking from Wickremesinghe, who shed his traditional conservative style for a more aggressive one, hammering all around the wicket while uncharacteristically targeting the Opposition parties, even going to the extent of a PowerPoint presentation featuring Opposition footage. But all that effort came to naught as no mention was made of those responsible for the economic crisis.
Having lambasted the Opposition parties, he then invited party leaders for a discussion with an IMF team the very next day. An IMF delegation is in town to conduct the second review of the ongoing bailout programme. With the main Opposition SJB questioning the purpose of the meeting in light of the Government having already entered into an agreement with the IMF, which it is unwilling to amend, only one Opposition MP attended the meeting amidst a wholesale Opposition boycott.
That the Opposition refused to bite the President’s bait to deflect any negative impact stemming from the rigorous bailout conditions at the forthcoming hustings has effectively left him holding the baby. Besides, what exposed the failed fait accompli was the absence of any IMF representation at the meeting. However, barely 24 hours later, a JVP/NPP delegation held a private meeting with the IMF delegation in Colombo, leaving the President in an embarrassing situation.
What is unfortunate is that while the SLPP is refusing to show any sort of remorse over its disastrous role in the creation of the economic crisis, the Executive too appears to have joined the bandwagon by opting to play politics with the recovery effort. By attempting to sell a dummy to the Opposition by inviting them to discuss a deal that has already been signed and sealed while ignoring their call for a meeting with International Sovereign Bondholders with whom a deal appears imminent, he is not doing himself or the country any favours.
Why such a meeting is critically important is because once a new leadership is installed before the year is out, it is that administration that will be burdened with honouring commitments made by the incumbent, who has just months remaining in office. Besides the ethics involved in the matter, what is more important is that Sri Lanka cannot afford a second default if the next regime finds the conditions agreed upon unviable. Therefore, while the door still remains open, it is in Sri Lanka’s interest that the collective Opposition is roped into the bondholder discussion sooner than later. To not do so is to play with fire all over again.