The newly minted National People’s Power (NPP) caretaker Government is rushing to corral their momentum to make a successful play at securing their power at the upcoming General Elections which will be held in mid-November. It seems the new Government doesn’t want to ‘rock the boat’ much before they are sure of their power base in the Legislature. Further, the new caretaker Government, only three strong, is inundated with official duties and responsibilities. With just one week of governance under the ‘NPP experience’, some of their supporters’ have expressed dissatisfaction. The persona of ‘comrade Anura’ as the invincible and witty leader is slowly cracking as he takes up his duties as the Executive President of the island, and as the NPP and its supporters come to terms with the scale and effort that is governance. The coming months will show if Dissanayake is made of the ‘right stuff’ to lead Sri Lanka, especially with the prevailing economic climate resting heavily on his shoulders.  

In fairness to the NPP and its supporters, such sentiments are to be expected from ‘public wave’ movements. They are like waves at the beach, strong, large and tall when making landfall. However, waves soon disappear having smashed themselves on rocks and the shoreline. Let us hope that the momentum for ‘system change’ which the NPP rode into power, has more thrust and gusto. The order of magnitude of what governance is may have been lost to many. The full scale and effort only become apparent once a new governance team takes charge and opens the ‘books’ to see where the previous team has left off. It is learnt that Comrade Anura has been in luck, with former President Wickremesinghe and his team working closely with the incoming NPP team (small as they may be) to ensure an effective transformation. It is also heartening to see that President Anura, his Premier Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and Vijitha Herath state that they are not subject matter experts on every area, and acknowledge the challenges they face in governance. Such admissions are a clear departure from the pompous statements which Sri Lankans are used to seeing from previous leaders.

As the proverb says a new broom sweeps clean, President Dissnayake is passing time till the General Elections making some hard hitting changes which were promised. As such, Dissanayake seems to be working on some low-hanging fruits, and has resorted to tried and tested ‘show the public’ decisions which will undoubtedly keep their fan base happy – for now. However, for the NPP to make the tough changes they had promised, they first need to consolidate power. Which is why, one will likely have to wait till post November elections, to see how a fully functional NPP Government or alliance can deliver, if they manage to sustain their winning streak.

Another challenge the NPP will face at the upcoming election is that with nearly 225 seats to fill, the public only knows a few of the NPP/JVP leadership. Outside the JVP party membership structure, many Sri Lankans are not aware of the ‘faces’ of the movement. While the NPP has brought a fresh crop of faces before the masses, the question remains if the masses will put their faith in the wide ranging new faces, over the ‘known devils’, no pun intended.

However, with the opposition still in disarray, squabbling over bruised egos like kindergarten kids in a sand pit during play time, one has to wonder, what viable choices are the opposition providing the Sri Lankan voter. It is clear that many in Sri Lanka do not have the palate to see the ‘same old faces return’, and that is with an emphasis on the ‘old’. It is indeed an interesting time in Sri Lankan polity, with public pressure for much change, but so little change on offer in the near term. Who will Sri Lanka elect to act as lawmakers and custodians of our island State over the next five years? And how much of the change that they were promised, will be delivered. With the new broom sweeps well and for how long? We must all wait for the answers.