Ants’ march, promises, and one-year rule of AKD

A year later, the Government’s rhythm remains, yet its melody has dulled

One year on, the moral march of Anura Kumara Disanayake’s Government echoes Jonathan Chait’s warning: movements that mistake conviction for wisdom risk becoming moral parades rather than governing forces [1].

1. The promise of the march

“The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah… The little one stops to tie his shoe…” Adapted from an old folk rhyme, the song endures because its rhythm carries a warning: unity preserves survival, but unthinking motion breeds futility.

When Anura Kumara Disanayake (AKD) and the National People’s Power (NPP) took office, their campaign sounded like that hopeful parade of ants escaping a storm. They promised to rebuild the rule of law, purge corruption, and restore national dignity. To weary citizens, the rhythm of their march felt redemptive — an orderly exit from chaos.

2. The drift — motion without meaning

A year later, the Government’s rhythm remains, yet its melody has dulled. Discipline endures, but direction has faded.

• Debt and the surrender of sovereignty. AKD pledged to renegotiate the IMF program on fairer terms. Instead, the agreement was accepted almost intact, yielding roughly a 10% debt haircut while Argentina under Martín Guzmán achieved around 45%. The resulting austerity has placed the burden squarely on households, turning sovereignty from a principle into a slogan.
• Judicial appointments and rule of law. The promised cleansing of institutions soon gave way to continuity. Individuals previously linked to controversy now hold senior judicial or prosecutorial posts, and a former Chief Justice facing public criticism was later nominated to a UN position. The symbolic “pause to tie the shoe” — the moral moment to reflect before marching — never occurred.

3. The container affair — when the march turned blind

In early 2025, media reports revealed that over 300 containers left the Colombo Port without inspection. The DGC later stated that the release order followed joint advice from President Disanayake and Ports Minister Bimal Ratnayake [2]. Whether or not the cargo contained illicit goods, the breach was serious: executive direction overriding institutional autonomy — the opposite of the NPP’s pledge of transparency.

4. The Chait Lens — From Washington to Colombo

Jonathan Chait’s analysis of post-defeat paralysis in the US Democratic Party illuminates the NPP’s post-victory drift [1].

• The cult of purity: dissent becomes disloyalty; critique becomes betrayal.
• Timid moderation, loud rhetoric: AKD’s rhetoric is thunderous; governance is cautious.
• Detachment from the electorate: the NPP increasingly speaks to its own echo chamber.
• Moral theatre versus responsibility: governance becomes performance; virtue becomes costume.

5. Lessons from the ants and the democrats

• Ideological rigidity: Refusal to admit error — whether over IMF negotiations or foreign dependency — turns policy into creed.
• Moral narcissism: Conviction in one’s righteousness blinds leaders to compromise.
• Timidity as principle: Avoidance of confrontation is recast as prudence; genuine courage lies in persuasion and disclosure.

6. Fault lines after one year

• Fiscal fragility: Debt service absorbs most revenue.
• Persistent hardship: Prices of essentials remain punishing.
• Foreign dependency: The rhetoric of sovereignty coexists with reliance on India and the IMF.
• Democratic closure: Parliamentary and institutional checks have weakened.
• Declining confidence: Early public enthusiasm is eroding.

Each is another verse in a song that now sounds mechanical.

7. Integrity and the Burkina Faso contrast

At the 80th UN session, AKD presented himself as leading a crusade against corruption. Yet beside Captain Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso — who spoke of dignity, independence, and self-sacrifice — AKD’s speech sounded managerial rather than moral; calculated, not courageous.

8. Selective accountability — the Ranil test

AKD pledged to “bring the culprits under the law.” Yet his most visible action against Ranil Wickremesinghe concerns a mere Rs. 16.6 million travel-fund case, while far larger scandals remain untouched:

• LPG procurement (2022–2023): Auditor General reported losses of Rs. 1.349 billion; the reversal of the cheaper Siam Gas tender occurred under Ranil as Finance Minister [3].
• Central Bank Bond Issue (2015): Estimated public losses exceeded Rs. 11 billion. Arjuna Mahendran remains at large [4].
• Batalanda (1995–1998): The Commission found Ranil politically responsible for detention and torture centres. No renewed action under AKD [5]. The Shylocks of Batalanda have been crying for justice for 36 years.

If accountability is the cornerstone of democratic governance, it must extend beyond Rs. 16.6 million to the Rs. 1.349 billion in LPG losses, the Rs. 11 billion Bond scandal, and the non-monetary harms at Batalanda.

9. Duty-free permits (2015) — a rule of law test

AKD pledged equal standards under the law. Yet the 2015–2016 duty-free vehicle-permit episode remains unresolved.

• 224–225 MPs received permits valued at ~$ 62,500 each, many resold for Rs. 20–33 million profits.
• Critics argue the scheme lacked statutory footing and misapplied concessions meant for income-producing activity [7].
• Maithripala Sirisena as President (not MP), reportedly imported a vehicle on an MP permit [7].
• Six JVP/NPP MPs according to Election Commission records held by this author, sold their vehicles and credited ~Rs. 30 million to party funds [6].

Test of consistency: If the Government is serious, it should publish the full permit list, quantify losses, recover unlawful gains, and legislate a permanent ban in favour of a transparent pooled vehicle fleet for MPs.

10. The moral of the march

Unity without thought becomes obedience. Order without reflection breeds decay. The “little one” who stops to tie his shoe symbolises conscience in action — a pause that preserves direction. If rulers will not pause, citizens eventually will.

11. Conclusion — from parade to governance

After one year, the challenge is not rhythm but purpose. To restore the rule of law, symbolic prosecutions will not suffice. Genuine reform requires equal standards across the largest wounds: Batalanda, the Bond scandal, LPG procurement, and duty-free permits.

• Publish and prosecute — release complete files with timelines.
• Recover and remedy — quantify losses and initiate recovery.
• Legislate fairness — abolish discretionary privileges; ensure transparent asset disclosures and parliamentary oversight.

These are not partisan demands but constitutional ones. Only by embodying the restraint it asks of citizens can the administration reclaim moral authority — and help Sri Lanka recover the republic it was promised. 

Footnotes:

[1] Jonathan Chait, “Democrats Still Have No Idea What Went Wrong,” The Atlantic, 6 Oct 2025.

[2] Darmasiri Kariyawasam, “YouTube media briefing on Customs container release,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKn49fTDzW8

[3] Auditor General, Special Report on LPG Procurement (2022–2023).

[4] Commission of Inquiry into the Central Bank Bond Issue (2015).

[5] Report of the Batalanda Commission of Inquiry (1998).

[6] Election Commission financial disclosures — copies held by the author.

[7] Contemporaneous parliamentary statements and investigative reporting on 2015–2016 duty-free permits (valuation, resale, and legal-basis debates).

(The writer is a political economist and columnist who writes on law, governance, and moral psychology. A former lecturer at the University of Peradeniya, he has published extensively in the Daily FT and continues to examine Sri Lanka’s evolving political and institutional landscape through analytical and interdisciplinary lenses.)