AKD’s sincerity in balance -little room to manoeuvre - EDITORIAL

The presidential election of 21 September is barely over. In less than a month the new president has been forced to hit the ground running so-to-say. With one of his first acts being to dissolve parliament, he now runs the country with a Cabinet of four, including himself. Sections of public, social and mainstream media that hailed his ‘unexpected victory’ appear to be now gunning for him. 

Charges of appointing cronies to particular institutions are being trumpeted. Yet, only a handful of such appointments have been made. On the other hand, though only two to three weeks have passed since his election, charges that young president AKD is not fulfilling election promises fill the air. One of the most serious charges is that he has not brought down the cost of living and has not changed the  International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement. The fact of the matter, is that AKD and his three-member team have had just a single meeting with the IMF team which flew into the country and left couple of days later. 

Both parties made their concerns known. At that meeting, the Lankan President did in fact inform the IMF delegates that he felt it was necessary to ease the burdens on the weaker sections of society. What exactly went on at the initial discussion has not been made public by either the president’s team, or by the members of the IMF delegation.  

We are privy only to vague statements on the intent. The next meeting with the IMF will be held after the general elections scheduled to be held on 14 November. In the meantime the president through his actions has made clear that he intends to follow up on his promise to clear the air on the investigation into the Easter Sunday bombings. This brings hope other extra-judicial killings both during the LTTE and the two southern insurgencies will see the light of day. 

The re-appointment of Senior Superintendent of Police -Shani Abeysekera whose investigation into the Easter Sunday bombings was blocked by past President Gotabaya Rajapaksa leaves room for hope. The appointment of former DIG Ravi Seneviratne as his Secretary of Public Security is an indication of the president’s determination to rid the system of justice of political interference. 

The president needs to be congratulated on this bold move. Until now, none of our past presidents have dared to investigate cases of dastardly crimes committed by particular blood-thirsty members of the security complex or those who ordered a cover-up of the crimes.  

Our political history is littered with cases of politicians scratching each other’s backs and impeding investigations to protect fellow parliamentarians. The travel ban imposed against a particularly boisterous politician who participated in an attack on former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, roused a mob to attack protestors at ‘Gota Go Gama’ and ‘Myna Go Gama’ and who stands accused of corrupt practice is another welcome move. 

The judiciary too, needs to be congratulated for once again charging the hate-speech-spouting man of the cloth Gnanasara who was pardoned by discredited President Sirisena. 

Interested parties accuse the president back peddling the Adani wind power farm project. The president himself emphasised the project was not favourable to Lanka’s interest. The final outcome will be the proof of the pudding in the eating. With the general election due in just over a month, many are portraying the shortcomings as an act of insincerity made to dupe voters.   

Despite our much-touted non-aligned stance, the fact of the matter is that the actions of some of our previous presidents, who locked themselves in, lock stock and barrel via financial agreements with major powers have left little elbow room for the incumbent president to manoeuvre. The presence of warships of competing major regional powers plus US warships which seem to be maintaining a constant presence in our ports is proof of the financial, political and international tangle our country is in. 

How we vote at this general election is therefore very important. A number of old faces have dropped out. The results of the next general election will dictate whether the hopes of a system change will materialise, or whether we will merely see new crooks replacing old rogues.