Legendary Yahapalanaya (Subha Yasapalanaya)

The acid test of the Yahapalanaya regime was this comedy played by all key players of the Yahapalanaya. The President sacked the then Prime Minister and appointed another as PM. One PM was operating from Temple Trees while the other was operating from the Prime Minister’s Office. The country was blessed with two Prime Ministers as if one was not enough

By Chandrasena Maliyadde 

The last meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Yahapalanaya Government was held on 11 November. One newspaper reported that “old hostilities were set aside yesterday as President Maithripala Sirisena presided over his last Cabinet meeting, with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and other Ministers thanking him for restoring democracy”.  

News item goes on to say: “President Sirisena, for his part, took time to explain to Cabinet the reasons for his decision to grant a pardon to Jude Shramantha Jayamaha...”

When I read this piece of news what struck my mind was how the Yahapalanaya Government commenced and how it ended five years later. In fact, if we fill all what happened between the two ends one would get a full picture of Yahapalanaya Government. 

I wrote an article in April 2015 under the title of Yahapalanaya or (Subha) Yasapalanaya. I ended the article stating: “Well we are the spectators, and let us sit down and watch how the current form of Subha-Yasa drama would unfold.” 

We have been sitting down and watching how the drama was unfolding. Now the drama is over and it’s time to stand up from our sitting positions and look back. Yahapalanaya Government commenced with pardoning and restoring the impeached Chief Justice and ended up with pardoning a murder suspect who was convicted by the Chief Justice. 

The events of the Yahapalanaya regime

It commenced with the pledge made by the President that he would not seek a second term but ended up after exploring every possible way to get a second term. The very same people who crowned him in 2015 denied the crown in 2019. It commenced with defeating the then President after the famous hopper dinner and ended up with joining hands with the defeated President just before the dinner.

One of the pledges made during the election in 2015 was to clip the wings of the President. The 19th Amendment was introduced with that intention. Some of the powers vested with the President were transferred to the Prime Minister. Some powers were withdrawn. 

Most of the people including some senior leaders except the constitutional experts were clueless of the shifting of power. This negligence was staring at us during the infamous 54-day saga which commenced with the sacking of the then Prime Minister in October 2018.   

The acid test of the Yahapalanaya regime was this comedy played by all key players of the Yahapalanaya. President sacked the then Prime Minister and appointed another as PM. One PM was operating from Temple Trees while the other operating from Prime Minister’s Office. The country was blessed with two Prime Ministers as if one is not enough.  

No one including those who are in control knows who is in control

Then the President and the two PMs were campaigning and canvassing to establish and prove the confidence of the majority in the Parliament. Once this failed, the President dissolved the Parliament. Then the Speaker came out and protested. He did not agree with the act of the President. This led to a controversy between the President and the Parliament over the supremacy. 

A tussle between independent supreme Parliament vs independent supreme President emerged. While President displayed his leadership capacity, parliamentarians proved that they are true representatives of people by exchanging fisticuffs and hurling eggs and chilli powder. The tussle was then taken to the Judiciary, another independent organ created under Yahapalanaya. It dismissed the action of the Executive President. 

This drama was quite appropriate to fill the vacuum created by the absence of the comedy of famous trio Samuel-Anesly-Berty. The students were in a quandary in answering the question: “Who is the Prime Minister of the pearl of Indian Ocean?” 

Many independent institutions, commissions, structures were created under Yahapalanaya. Central Bank (CBSL) was one such Institution that was made independent. CBSL was keen on pursuing action to ensure economic stability as mandated to it, but without being sensitive to the economic social and more the political reality and the priority. 

The stabilisation policy of the Central Bank led to stalling the economy rather than stabilising. Credit flow was stalled making the industry cash trapped. CBSL is hailing its act and taking the credit but the incumbent Government had to close its shop. In fact, once a senior officer mentioned that Central Bank Governor will get a medal from IMF but by then the Government will cease to be in power. 

Reconciliation between different ethnic groups and religions was one of the priorities of the Yahapalanaya. Yahapalanaya Government won the confidence of the minority and lost the confidence of the majority. It won the international community and lost the rural community

In addition to CBSL, many other independent actors started to pop up in many areas. National Audit Commission, National Police Commission, Right to Information Commission, Public Service Commission, National Procurement Commission, Human Rights Commission and Bribery Commission are all created as independent commissions under Yahapalanaya with meritorious intentions. 

But what happened was every commission dancing on its own within its mandate. No integration; no consistency; leading to chaos, indecision and inaction. No public officer was willing to stick his/her neck out and make a decision. Every officer was passing the buck up or down. 

Before the Yahapalanaya was established, the Executive President was all-powerful. You may recall the day after the Presidential Election 2015, the newly elected President rushed to Independence Arcade and took oaths as Sri Lanka’s sixth President. 

His very first act was ordaining the then leader of the Opposition as the Prime Minister when another Prime Minister with the confidence of the majority of the Parliament was sitting. But the act went unchallenged. No cry in the Parliament; no Judiciary ruling; no social protest; no civil society uprising. 

The first Presidential Election after Yahapalanaya was established was held on 16 November. The Executive President took five days to appoint a new Prime Minister. Look at the sequential ravelling of events. The sitting PM joined the oaths taking ceremony of the new President held in Anuradhapura. He stated that he has constitutional rights to continue until the next General Election. 

Then he said that he is considering resignation. Then he was discussing with the President on cohabitation. Then a statement was made announcing consultation with the aligned parties of Democratic National Alliance. Then a discussion with Cabinet colleagues was held. 

Next, an announcement was made that he is considering the next step. This was followed by a news item that he has decided to step down. He announces that he will tender his resignation to President tomorrow. Then he resigned and left Temple Trees after five days of the election. This symbolises the delay caused by Yahapalanaya arrangements.

No one including those who are in control knows who is in control. Suicide bombers struck on Easter Sunday. Several churches were destroyed. Some hotels were closed. Several innocent victims were caught in the attack. Some were dead; some were crippled. The tourism industry was crashed. 

The blame game between independent pillars started. The President appointed one Committee. Parliament appointed another Committee. Judiciary proceedings are taking place independently.  Fingers are being pointed. Senior officers are under arrest. Muslim extremists are suspected but more Sinhalese are being questioned, accused and behind the bar. 

Reconciliation between different ethnic groups and religions was one of the priorities of the Yahapalanaya. Yahapalanaya Government won the confidence of the minority and lost the confidence of the majority. It won the international community and lost the rural community. It promised one million jobs and imported labour from Nepal and Myanmar. 

It vouched to investigate politicians who robbed public assets and wealth and questioned the public officials who signed vouchers. It created a special unit (FCID) to investigate fraudulent culprits and the head of the unit is being hunted for fraud. He was running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.

The Yahapalanaya regime claims that it provided many benefits to the public sector employees but more than 2/3rd of them and their family members voted against. It created new institutions; revamped the existing institutions. But efficiency, coordination and integration were lost.

Two main opposition fractions contested Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in 2015 before the introduction of Yahapalanaya. One fraction was led by United National Party with the Elephant symbol while the other fraction was led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party of which the symbol was an open Hand. 

There was a strong presence of these two parties in the village. At the election held in 2019 at the end of Yahapalanaya regime, both parties lost their rural base. If one looks at the symbols carefully and of course at a distance, the Swan looks like a reduced version of an elephant with a blunt trunk. The Pohottuwa (Bud) looks like a clench Hand instead of the open hand of SLFP.

Yahapalanaya regime restored and established democracy, reconciliation and good governance as promised during the election. But people expected tangible socioeconomic benefits rather than intangible virtues of Yahapalanaya. This is the message conveyed by the electorate during the election concluded on 16 November.   

(The writer is a retired Ministry Secretary and can be reached on [email protected].)