NPP Govt.’s first Cabinet reshuffle

President Anura Kumara Disanayake undertook the NPP Government’s first Cabinet reshuffle last week, which saw the appointment of three new ministers and 10 additional deputy ministers. Governments across the world carry out cabinet reshuffles due to a multiplicity of reasons. Cabinet reshuffles become necessary when presidents and prime ministers are compelled to remove ministers from their existing portfolios due to their ill-advised decisions and actions as their continuous presence in the same ministerial positions has an adverse impact on the Government’s popularity.

Cabinet reshuffles also provide an opportunity to keep coalition government intact by appeasing partners of the coalition through ministerial portfolios. New ministers may be inducted to the prime decision-making arm of the government in order to provide representation to minority ethnic/religious communities. Rearrangements also serve the purpose of getting rid of underperforming ministers apart from showing the door to those whose views do not align with the policy direction of the government.

In Sri Lanka, Cabinet reorganisations often associate with giving the cold shoulder to ministers who are at loggerheads with the President. The famous Cabinet reshuffle in 2007 under President Mahinda Rajapaksa saw the late Mangala Samaraweera, who was not seeing eye to eye with the former on many issues, losing the foreign affairs portfolio. At the very reshuffle, the late Anura Bandaranaike was downgraded to the insignificant portfolio of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage as Rajapaksa had serious doubts about the late politician’s loyalty to the then Government. 

The highly discussed outcome of the recent Cabinet reshuffle is the transfer of the subjects of ports and civil aviation from Bimal Rathnayake to Anura Karunathilaka. Following the rearrangement, the portfolio of urban development, which was hitherto held by the latter, has been assigned to the former. The downgrade of the National List MP comes in the backdrop of recent speculation that Harini Amarasuriya could be replaced by the former for premiership. During his days in the Opposition, Leader of the House was a passionate supporter of Palestine. Rathnayake is considered as a prominent leader of the NPP, and he is part of the six-member JVP Political Bureau – which forms the nucleus of the NPP’s ideological parent’s decision-making authority. 

Rathnayake’s handling of matters related to the port was severely criticised by the Opposition. Some accused him of overstepping his authority with regard to the controversial release of 323 red-flagged containers from Colombo Port early this year. The Daily Mirror newspaper recently reported that many officials holding key posts in institutions coming under his ministerial purview had resigned. The JVP strongman who dropped out of the University of Moratuwa without completing his civil engineering degree has also come under fire for regularly interfering with the decisions of the Speaker during parliamentary proceedings.

The politician who rose to the forefront of the JVP through university student activist movements enthusiastically endorsed the remanding of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe last August. During a media interview, the individual who is uncomfortable in conversing in English language ridiculed the former President’s reputation for having a wide network of contacts with international leaders. Opposition politicians have repeatedly slammed his alleged haughty and arrogant conduct.

Despite the recent changes to the Cabinet, the top decision-making authority does not include a single representative from the Islamic faith. Every government in the world, particularly in developed democracies, strive hard to make their Cabinets as inclusive and representative as possible in terms of gender and ethnicity. Since gaining independence, every Government had Muslim minister/ministers in their Cabinets except the incumbent. Even the Gotabaya Rajapaksa-led SLPP Government, which was blatantly anti-Muslim in its outlook, had two representatives from the minority ethnic group in its Cabinet. 

Voters have huge expectations from the present Government given the aspirational sentiments they conveyed before coming into power. The pressure of high expectations weighs heavily on the Government. Delivery is more complex and difficult than rhetoric.