Campaigning Gains Momentum

Whilst the signs of grass root activities for the Common Alliance was hardly making a blip on the journalistic radar screens, the candidates’ principal backers Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe were busy playing politics. An inspired leak revealed that a Sirisena-led administration will have a mean and lean cabinet of ministers, numbering just 18.

 

Twelve members were already named according to leaked information:-

Maithripala Sirisena – President

Ranil Wickremesinghe – Prime Minister

Sarath Fonseka – Defence

Chandrika Kumaratunga – Finance

Athureliya Ratana Thero – Religious & Buddhist Affairs

Rajitha Senaratne – Internal Affairs

Mangala Samaraweera – Foreign Affairs

Ravi Karunanayake – Trade & Commerce

John Amaratunga – Fisheries

Champika Ranawaka – Petroleum, Power & Energy

Sajith Premadasa – Environment

Duminda Dissanayaka – Education

 

According to opposition sources a further six names will be announced after monitoring the current situation. The announcement they said was likely to be made in Polonnaruwa on the 27^th of December. This was deemed as holding out the carrot to members of the government who are contemplating a crossover. This action is likely to cause an uproar amongst those even thinking of making a political move.

It is little wonder that international PR agencies do not make much of headway in Sri Lanka. Dilith Jayaweera and Waruni Amunugama the effective owners of Triad have firmly put paid to any lingering hopes of any new agency making their mark locally. The theme for Asia’s first-ever synchronised meeting was called ‘Momentum’. The storyline that Triad had conjured up was slick as it was effective. Four locations The Cinnamon Grand, Cinnamon Lakeside, The Galadari and The Hilton Residency – held specially invited guests for a breakfast meeting where all heavyweights were billed to speak: Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa amongst them. The entire proceedings were synchronised.

The storyline was well set: Dian Gomes spoke with a natural passion about how in the late 80’s mid 1990’s then young men decided on changing the way things were done. He spoke off the cuff and his was a compelling story especially when he spoke of the various mechanisations put in place for their projects, to succeed. Some were revolutionary many were out of the box. But his passion came out in his talk. The fears of the people then. The tough economic environment. The loss of GSP and the 8% that they lost then. But while the war was on the government had continued on their dual track of developing the economy and tackling the war. The end of the war saw, as Dian Gomes put it, a grudging admiration for the beautification programme undertaken by the Urban Development Authority (UDA).

By design the Defence Secretary came on in a live, real-time, speech. The Defence Secretary articulated his position as to why there was a real need to be vigilant. He provided a snapshot of proof to use as examples. He relied on slides that were shown simultaneous to his address.

The synchronisation meant that President Rajapaksa would arrive at the Cinnamon Grand’s Oak Room and give his address to be watched live and simultaneously at the other three locations. He spoke to a house full of businessmen, corporate leaders and entrepreneurs. It was a veritable rich list of commercial Sri Lanka. It was clear why the UNP / collective opposition postponed their own economic forum which had been scheduled to be held on the same date at the Taj Samudra. A last minute round of e-mails saw that event postponed for a week. Ranil Wickremesinghe was due to speak along with Maithripala Sirisena.

The audience cheered their President spontaneously when he said they would look into the eradication of poverty and corruption. The audience of professionals applauded the President no sooner he spoke of eradicating the twin magic words: “poverty and corruption.”

As the President was leaving the Oak Room he stopped to speak to someone he obviously knew. Not to be outdone businessman DHS Jayewardene propelled himself between the two and proceeded to hold the President’s hand and escorted the President to the waiting limousine. Many wondered if the President was being led up the proverbial garden path.

Separately the intrepid Mervyn Silva turned to camouflage for a short journey. He donned a cap and propelled himself in to an unmarked Maruti. He went straight to Maithripala Sirisena’s residence. He clasped his palms together in the traditional way, bowed his head and greeted the new presidential aspirant. Mervyn was taken aback by the response from Sirisena: “Anay macho, oyanam endaepa” (Friend you don’t come to us) in a direct message that Dr Meryn Silva, court jester extraordinaire, was persona non grata at the Common Alliance. A not too impressed Mervyn made small talk, chatted a wee while longer and then made his exit complete with cap in hand. It was not immediately clear if the Doctor departed in a Maruti or a 4-Wheel drive SUV.

 

Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Casino Connection and the loss of USD 3.1 Billion investment:

Casinos and the UNP are closely connected. The first de-facto casinos in Sri Lanka were tolerated first by the United National Party. In the infamous two year government Wickremesinghe had discussions with the owners of Genting Malaysia to set up casino operations in Sri Lanka. Shying away from the local casino operators who mainly operate in Colombo and who had heavily backed his bid to win a parliamentary majority, Wickremesinghe however could not stay away from the casino business. There’s no business like casino business. Ranil urged Genting to take him up on his offer and even identified a 2,000 acre marshy land for their exclusive use.

Playing a key role in these discussions at the time was a deputy Minister, that deputy is now the Secretary General of the UNP, Kabeer Hashim MP from Kegalle. Ranil had originally asked Gamini Lokuge then Minister of Tourism to liaise with the UNP financier the late Sabir Hussein. When Hussein met with Lokuge and Kabeer Hashim at the Trans Asia Hotel over lunch in a private room, Lokuge said he was willing to go ahead and that he needed a note from the Leader – as in the Prime Minister.

Hussein then wrote to Prime Minister Wickremesinghe on those lines. Some months later Wickremesinghe in the company of Kabeer Hashim met with the Genting team. The project never materialised because Wickremesinghe had no desire to alienate his casino operating associates and did not give Genting their main requirement: exclusivity in Colombo.

Genting’s request was not so far fetched; they eventually went to Singapore and invested in the Santosa island project. Their total investment was a staggering USD 3.1 Billion. A measure of the success there is that over the past four years Genting have annually spent over S$ 900 Million just to maintain the project. It is by far one of the most successful integrated resort projects ever undertaken.

It will be up to the winner of the 2015 Presidential poll to explore fully the opening of integrated resorts in Colombo with or without or in addition to James Packer. Several others are marking time and waiting for the election blues to subside.

It is possibly in this light that the expose of candidate Sirisena’s brother’s casino fling came last week. Dudley Sirisena the candidate’s most active supporter Maithripala’s brother was named a high-rolling, high-spending, regular VVIP player at the local casino known as ‘Bally’s’. In fact Dudley Sirisena a habitual visitor to a couple of Sri Lanka’s upmarket casinos was identified as the winner of a Bally’s Casino lottery in which the top prize of a BMW car went to Sirisena. This brought into the foreground as to what any new government’s plan would be on casino licensing and indeed if they would be opening in Sri Lanka post election or not. Maithripala Sirisena voted in favour of government legislation on the issue of casino licensing.  Chandrika Kumaratunga predictably was not to be outshone as she laid claim to 75% of the war victory.  Many analysts observed that Kumaratunga had sidelined Army Commander Sarath Fonseka and it had been the role played by Gotabaya Rajapaksa that saw Fonseka entrusted with the job of leading the battle against terror.

Analysts feel that she will have a tough time trying to avoid comparison that many of the projects that the Rajapaksa administration has seen through to fruition languished for years under the Kumaratunga and the Kumaratunga/Wickremesinghe administrations.

The Nelum Pokuna for example is a case in point: the former President virtually sat on the drawings until Rajapaksa came along. The Katunayake expressway to Colombo is another and so was the Outer Circular road. Indeed her Administration is remarkable for the fact that not one major infra structure development project got underway under the Kumaratunga watch.

However friends and friends of friends, benefitted from her largesse at the expense of assets and services that belonged to the people of the country. Says a three-wheel driver from Kottawa, “Madam has been all talk. She can’t point to anything she has spent our money on. Even the coal power (Norochcholai) she could not start. What did she do for 11 years? No economy, No war victory, No constitutional reform, nothing. Even the roads in Attanagala were done after Basil Rajapaksa came in.”  

Our commentator may not have realised: Kumaratunga has the distinction of being the only Head of State of Sri Lanka who has ever presided over a period of negative growth.

Says an analyst based in Washington DC: “President Kumaratunga had all the ingredients for success. She had the pedigree, she had the education. She had the ability to speak fluently and to articulate a position rather well. She was unafraid to speak out on international TV and of course she had a mandate never ever repeated or matched when she was first elected as President. (62%) That is why her inaction is not only shocking but also utterly inexcusable.”And with typical Kumaratunga penchant for being able to stretch the imagination she describes herself in documentation filed with the Registrar of Companies in the United Kingdom, as an Economist. She perhaps has forgotten the negative growth she presided over.

 

Treasury takes it easy:

Whilst the nation’s focus is on the Presidential poll and to some extent on the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis, Dr PB Jayasundera Sri Lanka’s longest serving Treasury Secretary is said to be trying to catch up with some much needed rest following earlier medical treatment. Rumours that the Treasury Secretary will shortly retire have been fuelled by the Secretary’s part time appearances and that he did not participate fully at the Momentum event in Colombo. Inside Politics was unable to immediately ascertain who would succeed Dr Jayasundera.

 

Fonseka’s son-in-law mysteriously appears:

Dhanuna Thilekeratna, General Sarath Fonseka’s elder daughter’s husband, surrendered himself to the authorities and was immediately granted bail on a long standing matter. Inside Politics previously referred to the help that was being given to this matter by a loyal friend to the Fonsekas when times were far more trying than at present. Mrs Fonseka is said to have turned to him for help in order that the young couple can go their own way. The Police spokesperson Ajith Rohana declared that he has no idea how Dhanuna suddenly appeared and since he was on the Interpol list could not have arrived in Sri Lanka via the airports as the Immigration would have stopped him then.

 

Low finances & poor planning plague the common alliance:

The lack of grass roots activity at the Common Alliance was being blamed on two issues: the crossover of the party General Secretary Tissa Attanayaka and that the finances were being controlled by Chandrika Kumaratunga.

In this ambiance money has become short in supply and organisers are having a tough time. On top of the fact that the organisers are not wholeheartedly behind the candidate (who is after all still a member of their traditional rivals SLFP) this contributes to a general feel bad factor amongst die hard UNP loyalists who resent the fact that Ranil did not fully consider using his options.

Those options included the thought that Wickremesinghe ought to have run as the candidate and ought to have named Sajith Premadasa as his running mate for Prime Minister. Many UNP members feel let down by the choice of an outsider to ruin their chances of getting to the top job.

Be that as it may on the ground the word is that the Presidential popularity is holding up although Maithripala too shines. The President will be privy now to some facts that he may have been kept away from: that interference is a worrying aspect and the opposition have identified this and are working into this wound.