‘Withdrawal syndrome’
Monday 30th October 2023
Troubled by the increasing demoralisation of its rank and file, and the rapid erosion of its support base, besides the prospect of having to face an election next year, the SLPP is desperate to consolidate its power. Things have not been moving the way it expected. On the political front, Ranil Wickremesinghe is arguably doing well for a President whose political party has only a single seat in Parliament; the SLPP has not been able to leverage its parliamentary majority to have him on a string.
The SLPP leaders have been urging President Wickremesinghe to accommodate its district leaders in the Cabinet, but in vain. They are not likely to give up easily, though; they are sure to ratchet up pressure on him to do its bidding. They keep reminding Wickremesinghe that it is they who enabled him to secure the presidency; he is dependent on them for parliamentary support, and, most of all, they can pull the rug out from under his feet anytime.
Former Minister Namal Rajapaksa and several other disgruntled SLPP MPs have criticised tax and tariff hikes and other such economic burdens the government has placed on the public. Some of them have even said there is no guarantee that they will vote for the upcoming Budget 2024 en bloc, hinting at the possibility of what may be called a political Kamikaze attack. Interestingly, defence for President Wickremesinghe has come from SLPP MP Nimal Lanza, who was considered a staunch Rajapaksa loyalist. Lanza has torn into the SLPP leaders and dared them to go ahead and defeat Budget 2024, thereby making way for a general election.
It will be a huge mistake for President Wickremesinghe to appoint more ministers. He will incur much public opprobrium if he does so, given the people’s resentment towards the government. He has, in our book, settled his political debts fully, and is no longer under obligation to the Rajpaksas. The SLPP made him the President to bring order out of chaos for their own sake rather than anyone else’s.
It is thanks to him that the SLPP politicians escaped harm at the hands of violent protesters who carried out arson attacks on their properties and even beat a government MP—Amarakeerthi Athukorale—to death, last year. While President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was on the run with other SLPP big guns hiding, Wickremesinghe, as the Acting President, neutralised the anarchical elements that tried to march on Parliament, and restored law and order. So, President Wickremesinghe and the SLPP could be considered even.
Ministerial appointments must be made to solve the problems of the public and not those of political parties. This country does not need more than 12 Cabinet ministers. There is no need for State Ministers. When all nine Provincial Councils are elected, they have 45 ministers among them. Thus, there are 10 ministers each for all vital sectors at the national and provincial levels. An irrational increase in the number of ministers brings about bloated state expenditure and divided accountability; multiple overlapping roles lead to confusion, inefficiency and lack of clear responsibility and hinders effective governance. The deplorable practice of creating ministerial positions by way of sinecures for the ruling party politicians must end.
Power is said to corrupt; it is also highly addictive like narcotics. That may be the reason why politicians out of power or deprived of ministerial posts behave like drug addicts experiencing painful withdrawal syndrome. There are about a dozen such SLPP MPs craving for Cabinet posts, and frothing at the mouth, as it were. But that is their problem, and the President must not pander to their whims and fancies at the expense of the people.
The Opposition, which is clamouring for a system overhaul and stringent measures to curtail wasteful government expenditure, ought to redouble its efforts to prevent a further expansion of the Cabinet if it is as keen as it claims to be to safeguard the interests of the public.
