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Game and set to Sajith but match to Ranil
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ODD MAN OUT: Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ex-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe share a cozy chat at the Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu’s farewell party held at India House last Monday whilst Sajith Premadasa stays aloof in the wings
Why does Sajith Premadasa have that uncanny feeling this Sunday morning of finding butterflies fluttering in his abdomen? Or feel his ire rising to find fish shakin’ a fin to the baila beat of his agitated heart? Why does he fear the shadow that falls before him making him constantly look over his shoulder to assure himself that it is truly his?
Like the Muslims await Friday to say their jumma prayers at the mosque and the Christians rush to get to the church on time on Sundays to hear the morning mass, for the last eleven weeks since the loss of the Presidential election, the UNP citadel of Sirikotha has been the temple of call every Thursday evening for the distraught, for the downtrodden and the dejected to pray for succour in hope of receiving answer.
But answer never came and the distraught, the downtrodden and the dejected trudged slowly home week after week without succour hoping as faith commanded them that the presiding deities who had in their hands the power to exile them East of Eden, would nevertheless see the light of reality and accept as inevitable the younger rising and the older gracefully stepping down.
It has taken the UNP 77 vital days to come up grudgingly with a compromise solution to the leadership crisis which has embroiled the UNP in a self-consuming internecine war for too long; and which now threatens to split the party in the middle. It has been 77 vital days lost with party members fritting away this valuable period wrangling, bickering, squabbling, quarrelling and backbiting over the party leadership, each faction holding steadfast to their intransigent position and refusing to budge from it when they should be spending this invaluable time unitedly gearing to meet the awesome challenge of the forthcoming general election, just two or three months away.
The UNP is Lanka’s major opposition party. Except for a brief spell in power between 2000 and 2003 as well as 2015 and 2019 as the government of the day, it has stayed rooted to the opposition benches under the lacklustre 25-year leadership of Ranil Wickremesinghe. Not to forget, of course, that during this period no UNP candidate ever won a presidential election but had to play second fiddle as an also ran to the winner.
So the question is this: What does this major political party of Lanka consider to be its reason of existence? Is it to complacently continue to sit on the opposition benches and, in that comfort zone to which perhaps they have grown accustomed, find satiation being a mere pressure group, a loud but ineffective alternate voice full of hot air, to be nothing more than a wannabe JVP?
Or is its aim, its grand aspiration, its undiluted determination and sworn resolve to break free from the trappings of the insignificant past, to turn the ebb tide of defeat to one unstoppable tidal wave of triumph with only one burning desire in mind: Victory, victory at all cost, victory to gain political power and rule the land, for to be in power, and in perpetuity if possible, is the only honourable reason of existence for any major party of note. For without victory, there is nought. Or did the UNP’s forefathers found the party for its members to remain seated idly by, impotent to dawn a better tomorrow for the nation?
Today the UNP is in a crisis because of two men: Septuagenarian Ranil, keeper of the Castle keys, and middle aged Turk Sajith, the challenger to the UNP throne.
If you think that raison d’être of the UNP should be victory at all costs, consider who the better man for the job will be.
Sajith Premadasa is a man in a hurry. Furthermore, he’s a hungry man and with every morsel thrown to him from the UNP high table by Ranil to sate his appetite for power, so has his hunger grown to topple Ranil from his pedestal and instal himself thereon. With his popularity in the rank and file of the party growing, his incessant knocking on the Sirikotha door has grown louder. To ensure a UNP victory and give effect to his vision, he firmly believes he must be the leader of the party or else, he claims, he will be done for by the old guard of the party if they remain ensconced in their present positions of power.
His suspicions, he says, were confirmed when shortly after the Presidential election Ranil Wickremesinghe was quoted as saying, ‘I always knew that Sajith was going to lose.’
Spurned at every turn in what seemed to be his elusive quest to win the Party leadership, Sajith threatened to breakaway and go it alone. Ranil dangled the carrot of Leader of the Opposition before Sajith to contain his all or nothing ambitions. It didn’t work. For Sajith may not only bite the bate but also still demand the top most job.
But Ranil Wickremesinghe’s grip on the party leadership has been tenacious. Being the UNP leader is his raison d’être.
He had been the leader of his party for 25 years. And captain of the ship. And he has done a tremendous job. He has sailed the UNP ship safely through many a turbulent storm, steered clear of many a hidden rock whose victims lie as shivering wrecks on the ocean floor, kept the crew fed and safe and when the winds sometimes took the ship off course he brought it faithfully back to the old shipping route but if he had one drawback as skipper it was that he could never bring his ship to port of victory and drop anchor there at. Stayer, he is. Never a winner. And it appears that he is determined to stay that way, reminiscing and retelling his Lichchavi political philosophy to anyone willing to give ear.
A frustrated Sajith launched his own comeback fight. Last month he successfully garnered the support of the UNF alliance members who pledged their support to him. An unofficial vote taken showed that 52 out of 65 members of the UNP Parliamentary Group present on that occasion voted for him.
Last Saturday, Premadasa speaking at a meeting consisting of parliamentarians, local council members, provincial council members and supporters, at the Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre, Colombo, promised a party where everybody would have a say and its leader could be expelled if he or she was at fault.
There would be no instructions from Sirikotha to raise hands or to hoot according to the whims and fancies of someone to humiliate him, Premadasa said, adding that he had personally experienced such situations. “We won’t have deals with the government and there will be room for professionals, the youth, women who account for 52 percent of the population and those at the grassroots level.”
Presented with the threat of Sajith daring to go it alone, also taking away a sliceable chunk of UNF MPs plus commanding the support of the alliance members of the UNF, Ranil Wickremesinghe may have sensed a certain isolation creeping on his own party. It was time to make Sajith an offer he couldn’t refuse.
The answer the old guard came up with was to offer Sajith Premadasa the leadership of the UNF which is the UNP-led grouping that will contest the forthcoming general election. They also offered to name Sajith as the UNP’s prime ministerial candidate.
As part of this offer, it was also to be agreed that Ranil Wickremesinghe will remain as the UNP leader. Sajith Premadasa was given a week to consider the offer. On the face of it, though it falls far short of Sajith’s expectations to be the UNP leader, it looks a fair compromise solution. But given the prevailing situation in the political electorate, isn’t the dice loaded in Ranil’s favour?
Consider this. True that Sajith Premadasa has been named as the leader of the United National Front, a political party brought out from the closet for a specific and temporary purpose. It is the party under which the UNP members and the members of allied parties will contest elections. If by chance against all odds, should the UNF win a majority of the seats in parliament it will form the next government with Sajith Premadasa as its Prime Minister. In this case, it is likely that Sajith will push his demand to be the leader of the UNP to its natural conclusion. The die will then be cast for Ranil and Sajith as the winner will take all. But will the UNF win 113 seats to get an outright majority in parliament and thus be able to call the shots?
The Pohottuwa momentum generated by SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s massive presidential win still exists, and can be depended upon to return a victory for the party at the general elections. In fact the Pohottuwa has already taken a simple majority win for granted and is now busy seeking a two-thirds majority to gain absolute power.
Thus in the likely event of the UNF failing to gain a majority, where would its leader Sajith Premadasa go thereafter? Firstly, he would not be Prime Minister. Secondly, leadership of a failed UNF would mean nothing and Sajith Premadasa would find, having failed in his mission to bring home the golden fleece, he is branded a twice loser. And as far as his demand for UNP leadership is concerned, if he can summon the courage to make it without blushing crimson, it will be construed as the utterings of a tortured mind.
And out of the expected UNP defeat at the polls, Ranil Wickremesinghe will be celebrating at his Fifth Lane residence, Colombo 3 his own personal victory: Another long undisputed lease of life as the unchallenged leader of the UNP. The game and set may go to Sajith but the match will certainly be his.
And as Sajith Premadasa considers the offer on the table this Sunday morn, no wonder he gets that uncanny feeling of a kaleidoscope of butterflies dancing in his stomach.
Nation’s Law Enforcer Dappula returns fireAttorney General refuses to bow down to PCoI order These are definitely not the best of times for Attorney General Dappula de Livera, the man who seems to revel in having a shock of windblown hair permanently perched precariously on his permanently furrowed forehead,Strictly speaking, he is the Government’s lawyer. The man who carries the Government’s brief when he walks into court and is duty bound to follow the instructions contained therein when he rises to his feet to speak. He enjoys a client-counsel relationship with the Government; and though he represents the government’s interest in all matters, the government has no power to issue orders to the Attorney General who thus retains his independent status as a lawyer.  ATTORNEY GENERAL: Dappula de Livera rightly defends his turf Attorney General Dappula de Livera’s duty is to represent the Republic of Sri Lanka in any court and to give legal advice to the Lankan Government, and to discharge the functions conferred on him by any written law. He is also the public prosecutor. On his desk lands the report whether to prosecute a suspect or whether to set him free for want of sufficient evidence that would reasonably stand up in court. Given the number of criminals lurking in almost every strata of society and lolling about behind every frangipani tree blithely awaiting Dappula’s long arm to grab and haul them before court and place them in the dock, no doubt, he is a very busy man indeed. After all hadn’t his Coordinating officer Nishara Jayaratne made an announcement on national television of the Herculean task he had performed cleaning the Aegean stables that was the Attorney General’s office when he took over the keys? And how he had set a new record by advising the police on a record-breaking number of cases? On September 21 last year, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne said: ‘6,695 indictments were directed to high courts across the country during the past eight months. The Attorney General Dappula de Livera instructed the police stations pertaining to filing 1,778 cases at magistrate’s courts. The Attorney General also gave instructions regarding 1,533 cases for acquittal rulings. 5,169 criminal cases and 4,924 cases concerning child abuses have also been concluded. According to AG’s coordinating officer, ‘all in all, the Attorney General’s Department has concluded a total number of 10,093 law suits over the course of the year. This is a historic record marked by the Attorney General’s Department.’ Dappula de Livera was appointed Attorney General on May 10, 2019. At a time when lesser men promoted to high office would still be cutting their teeth and learning the ropes, Dappula de Livera had been busy clearing the backlog and, within a record time of a mere four moths, gained for himself a personal achievement award in the process. As if he didn’t already have enough on his plate to gorge on, the late night police arrest without a magistrate’s warrant of MP Champika Ranawaka on his orders alone, would have plunged the over-worked Dappula into an unwanted controversy he could well have done without. A hue and cry arose and a resounding din was made when UNP MPs protested over the high handed arrest of their fellow parliamentary member Ranawaka on December 18, last year. Former UNP Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in a statement issued on December 21, said: ‘The arrest of Champika Ranawaka has been carried out contrary to accepted democratic and legal traditions.’ Former Law and Order Minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara lashed out against the manner of Ranawaka’s arrest. He argued, the Police did not follow acceptable procedure to arrest Ranawaka. He said, “There is an accepted procedure to arrest a Parliamentarian. The police should obtain a warrant and inform the Speaker prior to the arrest.” But the nation’s mind is laid at rest when Lanka’s self-appointed topmost legal luminary Udaya Gammanpila steps out of his chambers to offer his considered opinion pro bono. He declares with all the majesty of a Daniel come to judgement summing up: ‘Mr. Ranawaka was very annoyed and perplexed at the time of his arrest with the MP claiming it was a forcible and illegal arrest. But there was no violation of the law in the process of ‘arresting him.’ And then Gammanpila Parliamentary Councillor delivers the ratio decidendi on which his decision is based. He states: ‘The arrest of the relevant MP Champika Ranawaka was carried out on the orders of the Attorney General. However, Mr. Ranawaka alleged that the Magistrate was unaware of his arrest. There is no issue about not informing the Magistrate because the Attorney General is superior to the Magistrate. He is in the same league as the Chief Justice and other judges of the Supreme Court” In his eyes, it’s case closed. This is the danger posed when a half-baked lawyer is let loose on national television to peddle his half-baked opinions as if it were the pronouncements from the legal Oracle of Delphi thereby creating a misconception in the naïve public mind that the Government’s lawyer is on par with the nation’s founts of justice and a magistrate in the judiciary system is inferior to the Attorney General and has to bow before his presence. One can almost hear the entire legal fraternity clapping in earnest and thanking their lucky stars that while Diyawanna has notched a Pyrrhic gain by having Gammanpila in its ranks, Hulftsdorp’s loss as a result has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. But though his position has been elevated and made equal to the apex court in the land by a legal ignoramus, the Attorney General is no fool to lap up the flattery spittle and when it was the turn of the former UNP Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne to don the bangles of arrest, on December 27, Dappula takes no chances. To be on the safe side, he orders the police to arrest the former minister at his hospital bed but takes the precaution to advise the police to first obtain an arrest warrant from a magistrate. It profits a man who learns from his errors. The new motto: Melior Tutius Paenitet. Better safe than sorry. The Attorney General on 15 January ordered the arrest of UNP MP Ranjan Ramanayake but instructed the Colombo Crimes Division to follow the same procedure as they had done with Dr. Seneratne and obtain an arrest warrant from the Gangodawila magistrate before taking him in. This was duly done. But it was on 23 January that legal fireworks exploded on the streets when the Attorney General ordered the Colombo Crimes Division to arrest sitting High Court Judge Gihan Pilapitiya who is allegedly implicated in the Ranjangate Tapes. The legal fraternity who had been in the main silent over the arrests of three sitting opposition MPs, erupted in fury when the news broke; and a protest was staged before the Hulftsdorf Court Complex against the Attorney General’s decision. Attorney-at-law Sunil Watagala alleged that the Attorney General hadn’t followed the proper procedure in issuing instructions to the police to take interdicted High Court judge Gihan Pilapitiya into custody. The arrest order was made shortly after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa authorised Pilapitiya’s interdiction as advised by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). But, as reported by the Island newspaper, the IGP hadn’t been in a rush to arrest the High Court judge but had sat on it.’ The question is whether the Attorney General had the power to order the police to arrest a sitting High Court judge since not even the Judicial Services Commission has the power to decide on the fate of a sitting judge when he or she displays conduct unbecoming. Under the constitution only the executive president has that power and he had already decreed that judge Pilapitiya be interdicted. Thus did the Attorney General come a cropper by acting in undue haste and ordering the police to arrest a High Court judge whose conduct was beyond the AG’s censure? As a result, Judge Pilapitiya’s arrest is still pending. But just when it was thought that the Attorney General had passed the swells and troughs of the sea and was approaching calm waters, another dozen Wuhan bats seem to have been piled on to his side plate for him to dig into. The day after the Pilapitiya episode had died down, he received orders from a totally different and unexpected quarter that threatened the Attorney General’s independence and position as the Government’s watchdog, not its poodle. It was an order not to proceed with a case already in court. On January 23, the order issued by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) appointed to probe the alleged political victimisation of Public Servants landed on AG Dappula de Livera’s desk. It ordered the Attorney General not to proceed with the case against former Navy Commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda and former Navy Spokesman Commodore D.K.P. Dassanayake until it reached a conclusion on the matter. The case concerns the indictment of 14 persons, including the Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda and Rear Admiral D. K. P. Dassanayake, in connection with the alleged abduction and disappearance of 11 persons. The Commission which is chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Upali Abeyratne, has issued the order about the matter, as per the powers given to it by the gazette notification 2157/44 issued on January 22, 2019. The Commission has decided that if the AG’s Department continues this case before the three member trial at bar, it might be detrimental to the two men. It is better if the case is heard after the PCoI decides if they are political victims. Therefore, until the PCoI hands over its recommendations to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the PCoI decided that the AG’s Department or any officials who have been designated authority by the AG must not continue the case at the trial-at-bar. But did they have the power by virtue of a gazette notification to override the statutory entrenched duties of the Attorney General? Can a fact-finding body with no judicial power order the nation’s Attorney General about and tell him what to do when even the executive president doesn’t possess that power? Dappula de Livera thought not. And decided to fight back. And return fire to defend his fort from this unprecedented trespass by a Presidential Commission of Inquiry on his domain. On January 24, he wrote to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, appointed to look into alleged political victimisation of public servants, informing it that the Commission of Inquiry has no statutory or legal authority to order the Attorney General to refrain from performing his statutory functions regarding the abduction of eleven persons in 2008 and 2009. There the matter rests. And an uneasy truce prevails. But Dappula de Livera, by his bold stance, has effectively demonstrated that a determined loose cannon can, and sometimes does, find its designated target spot on. | |
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