Sri Lanka: Is ‘Mr Clean’ eyeing the presidency?

Ranil Wickremesighe, the longest running leader for the oldest political party in Sri Lanka, was sworn in as prime minister for the sixth time on Thursday evening. His appointment comes three days after Mahinda Rajapaksa, brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, resigned as prime minister following island-wide riots, incited by Rajapaksa supporters.

The 73-year-old was appointed amid a severe economic crisis in the nation, that has metamorphosed into a political upheaval. Suffering Sri Lankans, who have been facing a severe shortage of essential food, medicines, fuel and eight-hour long blackouts over months, have been calling the Rajapaksas to step down. Although Wickremesinghe, with his sound economic policies and strong international relations, has been grudgingly accepted as the man of the moment to help the debt ridden, nearly bankrupt nation, Sri Lankans are unhappy with his hand-in-glove relationship with the allegedly corrupt Rajapaksas.

Island-wide protestors, who have been demanding the expulsion of the Rajapaksas from politics, shouted for Wickremesinghe to step down immediately after his appointment.

Insiders say that Wickremesinghe’s appointment without election, following closed-door talks with the president on Wednesday, bodes only one thing — that he will use his premiership to protect the Rajapaksa family, who have been accused of widescale corruption of billions of dollars, bringing the nation to its knees.

Pact with Rajapaksas?

Wide speculation within political circles indicates that Wickremesinghe may have reached an agreement with the president to protect the allegedly nepotic Rajapaksa family. Sources say that President Rajapaksa might quit due to public angst, making way for Wickremesinghe to become president. According to the Sri Lankan constitution, the prime minister will automatically become president upon the resignation or death of a president. For a man who has lost majority public support, been prime minister six times and lost two presidential elections in 45 years of politics, this might well be his final chance at presidency.

The Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe pact goes beyond Thursday’s appointment. In 2015, Wickremesinghe’s party led a coalition alliance and announced a common candidate, Maithripala Sirisena, for president against then president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sirisena, an ally and health minister in the Rajapaksa government defected, and won the elections, with Wickremesinghe being appointed prime minister for 100 days in accordance with a 100-day programme. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe election pledge promised to sweep corruption and bring perpetrators to justice. At this juncture, the Rajapaksas, who had been hailed as heroes for ending a three-decade civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE), had fallen from grace due to nepotism and wide scale corruption.

After the 100 days, Wickremesinghe’s coalition alliance — the United National Front for Good Governance — won the parliamentary elections with 106 seats. Although it fell short of an outright majority, Wickremesinghe was re-elected prime minister for the third time, with over 35 of the Rajapaksa party members defecting and joining his cabinet.

Wickremesinghe led the government with strong promises. Heading the list was bringing Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who served as defence minister during his brother’s presidency to trial for war crimes allegations, human rights violation, and mass corruption. Despite mounting evidence against the two brothers and their family members, for killings and disappearances of journalists, anti-Rajapaksa civilians and sportsmen, the investigations and interrogations did not lead to any charges. Public fury over the blatant cover-up of a Wickremesinghe-led investigations grew, when evidence following the exhumation of the body of a star rugby player, Wasim Thajudeen, mysteriously went missing. Evidence proved that Thajudeen had been abducted, tortured and murdered, allegedly upon the orders of the second son of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The last premiership of Wickremesinghe also marred his image as “Mr Clean” that he had earned from the public for not dabbling in family politics and corruption. Born into a wealthy family, with no siblings or children of his own, Wickremesinghe remained a cut above the rest in a nation that was steeped in nepotism and corruption.

The public, however, lost all faith when a bond scam involving the hen central bank governor, Arjuna Mahendra, a close confidante of Wickremesinghe, cost the country $11 million. This also soured his relationship with president Sirisena, who sacked Wickremesinghe overnight and brought back his former ally Rajapaksa back as prime minister. Following 52 days of constitutional crisis, Wickremesinghe was reinstated as prime minister after receiving 117 votes in favour of the 225-member legislative body.

During this period, a series of bombs targeting churches and civilians on Easter Sunday in 2019, killed more than 250 people, and plummeted the waning popularity of the UNP further. Critics blamed the government for ignoring warnings that could have prevented the attacks. Wickremesinghe’s party lost in the next elections, with the UNP securing just one seat in the parliament.

But Wickremesinghe has not always been an unpopular man. He cut a dashing figure when he entered politics as a young lawyer in 1977. Under the shadow of his uncle, then president Junius Jayawardene, the 28-year-old, who was the youngest parliamentarian, soon climbed up the UNP party ladder.

Elite background

Wickremesinghe hails from an elite family belonging to a high caste, and his roots go back to pre-independence Sri Lanka. His maternal grandfather, D.R Wijewardena, supported the independence movement with a series of nationalistic newspapers. His paternal grandfather, C.G Wickremesinghe, was the most senior Sri Lankan colonial government servant.

His father, Esmond Wickremesinghe was the managing director of Lake House, the publishing empire started by his father-in-law, and later became one of the closest confidantes of the UNP. Wickremesinghe, who is widely read, once said he would have taken journalism as a career if his family’s publishing empire had not been taken over by the government under Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the first woman prime minister of the world.

Young Wickremesinghe worked with the UNP during its resurgence, following a disastrous defeat by a coalition led by Bandaranaike in 1970. He joined the party following its landslide victory in 1977, led by his uncle president Jayawardene.

It was the beginning of an era of hope and optimism of the country, and the educated, eloquent, English-speaking young man, who schooled at the elite Royal College, was looked upon as a role model by the youth of the nation. The man who is considered crafty and intelligent by his peers, was first posted as deputy foreign minister, and then as minister of youth affairs and employment. He went on to make marked reforms during his tenure as minister of education.