• If President Rajapaksa cannot resign immediately, he must give a time frame indicating his departure in the shortest possible time

By Sandun A Jayasekera

The Gotabaya – Ranil regime does not command the confidence of the global or the Sri Lankan community and has failed miserably to find solutions to burning issues affecting the 22 million plus people and therefore have no legitimacy to rule the country any further, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) said.  

The SJB’s stance was to form an all-party interim government in the aftermath of the resignation of President Rajapaksa with the participation of all political parties and alliances represented in Parliament such as the SLFP, the 10 party alliance and even minority parties like the TNA as a stop gap arrangement to find immediate solutions to the acute problems of the country until an election is held, senior vice president of the SJB and former Minister Kiriella said.  “If President Rajapaksa cannot resign immediately, he must give a time frame indicating his departure in the shortest possible time. Only then the country will return to stability and global financial agencies like the IMF, the World Bank and the ADB, and friendly donor countries like USA, China, the EU, Japan and India will come forward to bail out Sri Lanka from the current economic, political and social turmoil. 
The resignation of Gotabaya and Ranil is also the first and foremost demand of the entire country and protesters of GotaGoGama and NoDealGama that has drawn worldwide attention,’ Kiriella stressed.  .

As long as Gota-Ranil regime remains, there will be no tourists, no international investors and no foreign remittances will come to Sri Lanka which means the acute shortage of food, medicine, fuel, gas, industrial raw materials and fertilizer will remain unchanged and country will go down a precipice of no return.   

“A bridge loan of 1.5 million, Rs. 200 million or few hundred million Euros for the day to day survival will not address the current predicament facing the country. The SJB has the ability, strength and also the confidence of the global community to salvage the country and people from the current mayhem,’ Kiriella added.  

Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government has offended the entire world community and in particular the US, Canada and the EU owing to its abysmal human rights record. There is no ‘rule of law’ in the country and no country or financial establishment will help this administration, he said.  

The SJB is ready to form an all-party interim government once President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe resign and to restore normalcy in the country, address the shortage of food, fuel, gas, medicine and fertilizer within a given time frame, he emphasized.