By Seyi Odewale
Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaska’s abdication of office last Wednesday and his eventual resignation on Friday in the far away Asia country of Singapore was no doubt the end of an era and a unique way of changing the country’s political leadership.
Unlike its sister country Myanmar (formerly Burma), whose political leaders have been swept away through a military coup on February 1st, 2021, Sri Lanka, the island nation, without any martial music or military jackboot pushed out its beleaguered leader, who fled the country after months of protests and unrest. He fled the country under the cover of the night, aided by the military.
Rajapaska’s resignation might have come from what most Sri Lankans alluded to as him being the cause of their economic woes in recent times. They are holding him responsible for driving their country into its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.
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Their beleaguered economy has witnessed severe fuel shortages and a lack of food and medicines. Not only these but he was also accused by several members of his family, who held political posts, of mismanaging the economy and encouraging corruption.
His exit, unfortunately, left the country in a state of political limbo for more than 36 hours, as tensions ran high causing the country to be in a state of emergency. Making it worse was the fact that he did not deem it fit to address the people he had ruled for three years.
Nevertheless, nature, they say, abhors a vacuum. His Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, had to fill in till this week when someone else is chosen to lead them on.
Expectedly, Wickremesinghe’s appointment also came under fire as he too was expected to have gone with his president, who they alleged to have dragged their country into its abysmal state in which it is.
“We demand that Ranil Wickremesinghe also resigns. He is just as bad and corrupt as Gotabaya and he does not have any support from the people. How can he call himself our president?” said a 25-year-old Kasun Viraj, who protested. But this did not move the ruling party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), which last Friday nominated Wickremesinghe to replace Rajapaska.
In a reaction to Rajapaska’s resignation, a student said: “We are very happy. Today is a historic day,” said Supun Udara, 24, a student, who for the past three months has been part of a residential protest camp on Galle Face Green outside the president’s offices in Colombo, demanding his resignation.
Another student, who was among others that laid siege on the presidential office of that country’s leader for the past three months, Supun Udara said: “We all know the Rajapaksas are thieves – that’s why we stayed here, day and night, for three months.
They stole money from us while we were suffering, and people could not eat. There’s still no fuel. They had everything while we have nothing”, adding: “We are very happy. Today is a historic day.” The 24-year-old Udara was part of those at the residential protest camp on Galle Face Green outside the president’s offices in Colombo, demanding his resignation.
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He added, “We all know the Rajapaksas are thieves – that’s why we stayed here, day and night, for three months. They stole money from us while we were suffering, and people could not eat. There’s still no fuel. They had everything while we had nothing.”
However, Wickremesinghe, who is now acting said he would initiate steps to change the constitution to curb presidential powers and strengthen the parliament, restore law, and order and take legal action against “insurgents”
The former Sri Lankan leader earlier promised to quit power come July 13, but he reneged, and observers later saw his fleeing as a way of evading arrest after he might have relinquished power to protect himself from prosecution from longstanding accusations of war crimes and corruption.
Hence, his escape to Singapore was termed as a haven for him. But the Singaporean bilateral relations do not support asylum for anyone, and the country has not been seen to have shifted grounds on that.
The protests which began in April in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, before last week’s resignation of Rajapaska had spread like a desert fire across the entire country. Life had become unbearable for many as the once blossoming middle class had been erased.
People were seen struggling with daily power cuts and shortages of basic items such as fuel and medicines. Inflation had risen beyond 50 per cent, while there was no fuel for essential services like transportation, just as there was no foreign exchange for importation.
As if that was not enough, the lack of petroleum products gave a spiral rise to their prices, causing the government to ban the sale of fuel for non-essential vehicles for about two weeks in June. Schools are under lock and key just as workers are being asked to work from home.
Worst still, in May, the government for the first time, could not pay the interest on the foreign loans taken, an indication of a damaged reputation and lack of credit worthiness.
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The country is reportedly owing more than $51bn (£39bn) to foreign lenders, including $6.5bn to China, which has begun discussions on restructuring its loans.
The G7 group of countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States) said it supports Sri Lanka’s attempts to reduce its debt repayments, while the World Bank has agreed to lend Sri Lanka $600m, and India has offered at least $1.9bn.
Sometime last year when Sri Lanka’s foreign currency shortages became an issue, the government tried to limit its importation of chemical fertiliser. Farmers were asked to source organic fertilisers locally, which unfortunately led to crop failure and poor yield, hence importation which again depleted an already non-existing foreign exchange.
The government has, however, laid the blame for its economic crisis on the doorstep of the Covid 19 pandemic, saying it seriously affected Tourism, which has been their mainstay. Also, the near insecurity in the country was another factor as the country witnessed some bombings in 2019. But all these have not exonerated their immediate past leader, who was said to be sleazy.
Sri Lanka in 2019 had $7.6bn (£5.8bn) in foreign currency reserves, which have dropped to around $250m (£210m). Its former president was also criticised for big tax cuts, which he introduced in 2019, and caused the government to lose revenue of more than $1.4bn (£1.13bn) a year.
