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Ranil on the cross, JO searching for 113 nails to crucify him; and guess who’s giving them the hammer to drive the nails home?
It’s there in the koha’s avurudhu caw, it’s there humming in the buzz of the bees, it’s there in the breeze, in the rustle of the leaves, and it’s found and murmurs on the quivering lips of the people: There’s a bad moon on the rise for Lanka.

On this Easter Sunday morning as the world celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe finds himself tied to the cross, branded a thief. Below him, he can see the Joint Opposition mob frantically searching for 113 nails to crucify him. And guess who’s offering them the hammer to drive the nails home?

This April 4, parliament will rise to debate and vote on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wicremesinghe. It’s a motion born out of the joint opposition’s elation in having garnered the popular vote at February’s local government elections. They know they are bound to lose it. But are they worried? No, no.

Sirisena: Where the buck stops

Its real purpose is not to win it but to put the shivers into government ranks, create a leadership crisis within the UNP and show the masses on what taught tightrope this coalition government precariously walks the walk today; and on what tremulous strands of coir it perilously balances its act. And that it’s doomed to fall. And it realises that, after having thrown the seeds of dissent, bringing down both the UNP and the SLFP before 2020 is nothing more than child’s play. In fact, the puerile way the Government has reacted, the joint opposition’s determined campaign is akin to stealing candy from a kid.

For both parties in the coalition Government have taken the bait and are doing the joint opposition’s bidding, dancing to its music and acting in accordance with the Mahinda script which has devised a tragedy at its ending. It’s not the prime minister’s scalp they are after. The no-confidence motion is to drain the lifeblood of this coalition Government and render it moribund — for the nation not to resurrect the corpus come 2020 but to puke upon it.

A government’s duty is to govern. In that rose-hued dawn three years ago, much was expected of this Government and three years later Lanka finds that much has been denied to the masses. On the economic front, the country totters on the brink of an abyss. On the political front, it seems it has voluntarily gone over the precipice and lost the people’s confidence. The last three years tell a sad tale of how a Government voted to office with a silver spoon became the spendthrift of the nation’s hopes and trust; and how it squandered the goodwill and faith the people had lavishly reposed upon it.

Its political pamphlet, promising the sun, moon and stars to usher a Yahapalana era of just governance, to lift the nation from the sewers of corruption and to embolden it with hope that a new enlightened epoch awaited them, today lies traduced in the dust for the people to trample upon. For the promised dawn, it vowed to usher now stand proven false. No wonder there’s a bad moon on the rise.

Ranil: On the cross

The coalition Government has gone beyond the pale of redemption. It’s evident there’s no love lost between the two main parties. The partnership is but a farce, a façade to hide the mad confusions that broil within its ranks subjected as it is to the opposition’s oppressive heat.

The opposition’s duty is to oppose. And they have done a super duper job to make the Government cringe and crawl. From day one of losing the presidential election in 2015 to now, they have worked a miracle to ensure their resurrection: Even succeeded in turning Sirisena to a Judas. To betray the gratitude Sirisena said — on a Derana 360 chat show in the run up to the local government elections in February — he had to his running mate Ranil for making him president.
This week on Wednesday Maithripala Sirisena showed the extent of his gratitude in no small measure. He gave Ranil Wickremesinghe a public slapping by stripping him of control of the Central Bank.

He removed the Central Bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission from the Prime Minister’s purview. A gazette extraordinary announcing the President’s decision was issued on Tuesday, a week before the no-confidence motion against Wickremesinghe was to be taken up. Now the two institutions have been brought under the Ministry of Finance.

President Sirisena has also put on hold some draft bills, proposed amendments, resolutions, orders etc, which Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was to present to Parliament, in his capacity as the Minister of National Policies & Economic Affairs. The amendments were to be moved to the Monetary Law Act, No. 58 of 1949, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka Act, No. 35 of 2002, Exchange Control Act, No. 24 of 195, Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka Act, No. 36 of 1987, National Youth Service Council Act, No. 69 of 1979, Youth Corps Act, No. 21 of 2002, Children and Young Persons Ordinance, No. 48 of 1939 and National Insurance Trust Fund Act, No. 28 of 2006.

It was nothing less than a public flogging.
It couldn’t have come at a worse time for Ranil, already on the cross waiting to be nailed, charged by the joint opposition, in its no-confidence motion against him, to be responsible for the bond scam.

Twelve out of the 14 charges contained in the no-confidence motion against the prime minister deal with the bond swindle. All stem from the original sin, the first charge levelled against the Prime Minister: that of ‘placing the Central Bank under the purview of the Prime Minister with the intention of committing the bond scam.’

Musthapaha: Passes the buck

But does the Prime Minister have the Constitutional right to place the Central Bank under his purview? Or does that constitutional right belong solely to the president? Has the joint opposition dialled the wrong number when it accused Ranil of arrogating the Central Bank to his pocket to make rich his wallet? Or should the phone have rung in the presidential residence at Paget Road, Colombo 7?

According to Local Go vernment and Provincial Councils Minister Faiszer Musthapha, the answer is no. On Tuesday, countering a claim made by Home Affairs Minister Vajira Abeywardana, he said the No-Confidence Motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe affected only the PM and not President Maithripala Sirisena.

Perhaps he should take another look at the constitution. Or read SUNDAY PUNCH of March 4.
Under article 43(2) the President shall on the advice of the prime minister appoint ministers. Under Article 43(3) he does not need to consult the prime minister if he wants to reshuffle his cabinet pack and wishes to make a Jack a King or a Queen a Knave or the Joker the Ace.

When it comes to the appointment of state ministers or deputy ministers the same applies. He shall do so on the advice of the prime minister. But when it comes to determining their assignments and functions as Ministers, he may do so in consultation with the prime minister only if he thinks such consultation necessary.
Or Mr. Musthapha can save himself the trouble of reading constitutional clauses by simply taking note of the President’s actions this week when he stripped the Prime Minister of the Central Bank and other institutions he had assigned to Ranil three years ago and unequivocally demonstrated the principle that the one who has the right to fire is the one who has the right to hire.

Whether the President did so in consultation with the Prime Minister or whether he did so on his own, thinking that such consultation was not necessary as is his constitutional right is beside the point. What matters is that the Central Bank was assigned to the Prime Minister by the president and there is no getting away from that fact.

Thus this Wednesday when the no-confidence motion is brought before Parliament with its first allegation ‘placing the Finance Ministry under the purview of the Prime Minister with the intention of committing the bond scam,’ Sirisena’s head too is on the block. On Friday the former hitman of the Rajapaksa regime who switched his allegiance to Sirisena once the latter was installed in power, Science, Technology and Research Minister Susil Premajayantha announced that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party will vote for the no-confidence motion, moved by the Joint Opposition against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and called upon Wickremesinghe to resign as Prime Minister.

Premajayantha assured that the SLFP’s current position on the no-confidence motion would not change and that it would be confirmed by the Working Committee before April 4. Addressing the media at the SLFP headquarters in Colombo, Minister Premajayanatha said 12 out of 14 charges against PM Wickremesinghe on the motion tabled in parliament were regarding the Central Bank bond scam and those charges were similar to the outcome of the SLFP appointed bond scam committee report. Therefore, the SLFP MPs did not have any reason to oppose the NCM, he added. Wonder on whose side he is batting now, given his track record of scoring runs for the winning side?

Perhaps, he too, had failed to read the President-appointed Bond Commission’s report which exonerated the Prime Minister and only faulted him in making Arjun Mahendran the Governor of the Central Bank. But Ranil Wicremesinghe had no crystal ball to foretell what the future held when the fateful appointment was made. Neither did the Maithripala Sirisena have power of clairvoyance when he assigned the Central Bank to the Prime Minister’s care and appointed Mahendran as its head. For under the constitution the president appoints the Central Bank Governor. Both fell victim and both must share the blame. Especially the one at whose table the buck finally stops.

The former president Rajapaksa — who did not sign the no-confidence motion he handed over to the Speaker last week along with Dinesh Gunawardena — also chipped in. He said, the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would succeed as President Maithripala Sirisena was backing it. But is he? And if he does, will he not be committing political hara kiri?

What did the president achieve by delivering a thundering slap to Ranil by removing the Central Bank from his jurisdiction? If he thought that Ranil was indeed responsible, no matter what his own presidential bond commission said in its conclusive findings, then was action taken three years after the event, akin to closing the stable door after the horse had bolted? And to whose province did he, using his constitutional right with or without consulting the prime minister, to appoint and assign, to hire and fire, hand over the Government’s Banker. To Mangala Samaraweera, a stalwart of the UNP, faithful to his leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Do not his advisers tell him that the joint opposition’s no-confidence motion is also an indictment on his presidency by placing the Central Bank under Ranil’s purview and appointing Arjuna as its governor: Both assignment and appointment being his duty and prerogative under the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which he himself introduced and got enacted with a thumping five sixth majority in Parliament. Let’s hail him for that. And weep for his many failures.

For his failure to execute the 2015 mandate the nation gave to him. To bring the crooks to book. Even after the local government poll results shook the government from its slumber, Sirisena slept. On many occasions had he promised to raise his sword to crackdown on corruption. But when the time came for it to be used – when Ranil insisted that a strong man be used for the job, he chose a nerd instead – and sheathed his sword out of fear that the joint opposition spittle will rust it.
As dark clouds gather over the Yahapalana government, with its Prime Minister on the dock and an indecisive President with a death wish waiting in the wings to share the stage, discern the bad moon on the rise for Lanka.

The Pope says there’s no hell: Perhaps he’s forgotten Lanka? In his Good Friday sermon, Pope Francis has said that hell does not exist. Perhaps the servant of the servant of God who visited the isle in 2015 was denied the chance to see the other side of Eden.A joke currently doing the rounds goes like this: Donald Trump, the Queen of England and a former Lankan President died and went to hell. They were met by Satan and were told to sign the register. Whilst doing so, Trump saw a red phone at the reception desk.He asked Satan: ‘Whats that for’?” “Oh, that’s for calling Earth,” Satan replied. “Can I make a quick call,” Trump asked in earnest, anxious to get in touch with Stormy Daniels. “Sure,” Satan replied, “of course Universal Direct Dialing (UDD) call rates apply.” Trump spoke for ten minutes. At the end of the call Satan charged him a million dollars. “No prob”, Trump said and wrote out a cheque for the same amount. The Queen then asked the devil.” Excuse me, Mr. Satan, can I possibly call home.” “And where would that be,” Satan asked. “England, of course, you old fool,” the Queen replied. “Of, course, ma’am, “the Devil said and gave her the phone. The Queen spoke for thirty minutes. She was charged ten million pounds, which she readily paid by way of cheque, guaranteed by the Bank of England. The former Lankan president waited till the Queen had finished her call and asked the devil whether there will be a problem if he spoke to his relatives in Lanka. “No problem, my old friend,” Satan said and handed over the universal direct dialing hotline to him. The Lankan president spent two and a half hours on the line. When kept, Satan charged him Rs. Fifty for the call. Trump rose in protest and shouted. “What, I had to pay a million dollars for a ten minute call to the US and Her Majesty had to pay ten million pounds for a thirty minute call while this guy here is only charged fifty bucks for a two and a half hour call. Who is this guy anyway? Satan replied: “This guy is the man who changed Lanka to Hell and therefore we treat it as a local call.”

Minister requests to dim the light of Vesak It’s as if the Government does not have enough trouble on its plate. Now it has gone and set light to another blooming controversy. Buddhasasana Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera, who was handling wildlife earlier, was reported to have said on Friday the Government had decided to prohibit pandals on Vesak and Poson Poya Days to stress the need to focus on the spiritual aspect of religion rather than on mundane activities. THORAN: Light of Vesak under threat The Daily Mirror reported that the Government had made this decision to safeguard Buddhist principles and encourage Buddhists to engage in spiritual activities during Vesak and Poson. It immediately drew fire — and rightly so — from Wimal Weerawansa who said the Government was attempting to undermine Buddhist culture and asked on what basis the Government was prohibiting pandals on these Poya Days despite the same Government constructing the tallest artificial Christmas tree though it was disapproved by Colombo’s Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith. Both the minister and the Government Information Department rushed last evening to clarify the matter. The minister claimed that his call had been not to ban pandals but to enlighten the public on the need to play more attention to practice rather than to rituals. On that same basis is he against Bodhi poojas, against Bodhi worship, against the Sri Dalada perehera? All rituals. Not precepts. The minister said it would be preferable to hold dansal near temples or within temple premises rather than pandals on Vesak Full Moon night. . Dansal? According to Buddhist philosophy, you feed a man today and he will still be hungry in the morn. As the Buddha has said: The greatest gift is the gift of the Dhamma. But whatever gave the Buddhasasana Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera the idea that thoran, or a pandal, which have been a regular feature of Vesak celebration is not one focused upon spiritual upliftment. For his edification, pandals illustrate the life of the Buddha in his previous 550 births as a Bodhisathwa. The pandal’s purpose which depict episodes in that long samsaric journey is to evoke within the eye of its beholder the inspiration to follow in the Buddha’s steps. Dansal only serve to fill stomachs. A pandal is designed to inspire one’s soul. He also said he had the Mahanayake Theras’ agreement. Who these Mahanayake Theras were, he did not state. And it does not matter. Man does not live by bread alone. And, as far as his claim that he has the Mahanayake Theras’ blessings for his new Buddhist doctrine, Buddhism knows no popes.