A rock and a hard place

Saturday, 31 December 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

One of the bigger stories of THE final week of 2016, and also a teaser of what 2017 might bring, was former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s bold claim that he would topple the National Unity Government in the coming year. This is of course coming from a man that was ousted nearly two years ago in what was - Donald Trump’s victory aside - the most shocking election result in modern times.

But while the outcome of the election was unexpected, the voice of the people was resounding - they were fed up and demanded change. That Rajapaksa and his clan failed to identify this social unrest was ultimately the key to their downfall, but that too would not have been possible had the UNP not shrewdly joined forces with SLFP stalwart Maithripala Sirisena, who managed to split the SLFP voter base just enough to ensure victory for the then Joint Opposition.

Therefore, in light of the former President’s most recent claims, it would be wise for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his fellow UNPers to not forget this fact; the people’s mandate that was given to them was not a result of a ‘vote for’ but rather a ‘vote against’. It is this very crucial distinction that has made the once seemingly absurd Mahinda Rajapaksa resurgence a not-so-absurd future reality. That Rajapaksa can even foster such lofty ambitions given the ignominy of his removal speaks volumes as to how poorly this ‘Yahapalanaya’ Government is currently perceived.

Policymaking and then enforcing those decisions is the whole point of Government. However, policymaking is never easy. Governments are expected to consider all points of view, consult at least the major stakeholders and put together a way to deal with the consequences of their decisions. The previous Government was often criticised for its closed door decision-making, which only had space for concerned parties to air their views post-announcement. This resulted in a lacuna where the President had to intervene to find an acceptable middle-ground portraying a king-like system.

When President Sirisena came to power, the expectation was that the relevant Government departments and ministries would do their homework on policies before they were announced, along with a comprehensive implementation framework that would deal with justified concerns. Therefore it is disappointing when Governments have to roll back decisions, as demonstrated by the recent Rs. 25,000 fine debacle, especially when they are progressive, because they are not made with consistent stakeholder involvement and have to be adjusted post-announcement.

If the faith of the voter base is to be restored, the Government badly needs to do its due diligence before announcing policies and once they are announced, top officials need to stick to their guns and stand for the public’s interest because that is why the public voted for them in the first place. If not, this regime too will face the same fate as the previous one, and the Sri Lankan people will once again be left with little choice but to once again ‘vote against’ rather than ‘vote for’.