Sri Lanka’s opposition on Monday dismissed the president’s invitation to join the unity government as “stupid” and instead demanded his resignation over the country’s worsening shortage of food, fuel and medicines.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s proposal came after armed troops acknowledged the country’s most severe economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948, which the government acknowledged was seen to quell further demonstrations.
Police used tear gas and water to disperse thousands of protesters trying to attack the prime minister’s private home in Tangalle, once the island’s stronghold of support for Rajapaksa – the president’s elder brother and head of the family’s political clan. Shots fired. South.
The president asked opposition parties represented in parliament to “join the effort to seek a solution to the national crisis”, to pave the way for a revised administration following the late night resignations of nearly all cabinet ministers.
“We will not join this government. The Rajapaksa family should resign,” Eran Wickramaratne of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balvegaya (SJB) party told AFP.
This limited the number of days to one day for political parties to reject the demand of the once popular and powerful ruling family to relinquish power.
“He must be really mad to think that opposition MPs will support the collapsing government,” Anura Dissanayake, MP from the Left People’s Liberation Front (JVP), told reporters in the capital Colombo.
And Abraham Sumanthiran of the Tamil National Alliance told AFP: “His proposal to reconstitute the cabinet with opposition MPs is futile and those who are demanding his resignation are outraged.”
Every member of Sri Lanka’s cabinet, except the president and his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned late Sunday.
The governor of the country’s central bank, Ajit Cabral – who has long opposed the International Monetary Fund bailout being sought by the country – also stepped down on Monday.
A day after the mass resignation, the president reappointed four outgoing ministers – three of them in their old jobs – while replacing brother Tulsi Rajapaksa as finance minister, along with the previous justice chief.
‘Deck Chairs on the Titanic’
Political analysts said the offer of a unity government was not enough to address the economic crisis or restore confidence in the Rajapaksa administration.
“It’s like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” political analyst and human rights lawyer Bhavani Fonseca told AFP. “It’s a joke.”
Political columnist Viktor Ivan told AFP that a cabinet reshuffle under the guise of a national government would not be acceptable to the public.
“A serious reform program is needed to address issues of governance, not just to revive the economy,” Ivan told AFP.
A significant foreign exchange crunch has left Sri Lanka struggling to service its $51 billion foreign debt, which has significant revenue from pandemic torpedo tourism and remittances.
The result has seen unprecedented food and fuel shortages, as well as record inflation and crippling power cuts, with the economic crisis showing no sign of abating.
Trading was halted on the country’s stock exchange seconds after it opened on Monday as shares fell below the five percent threshold needed to trigger an automatic stop.
Economists say Sri Lanka’s crisis has been exacerbated by government mismanagement, years of accumulated borrowing and unfair tax cuts.
The government is planning to hold talks on an IMF bailout, but talks have not started yet.
‘Resign Rajapaksa’
Noisy demonstrations have spread across the country since Sunday evening with thousands of people attending.
Thousands of young men and women dressed mostly in black and carrying hand-written posters and placards staged a noisy but peaceful protest at a busy square in Colombo on Monday.
One placard read, “Take down Rajapaksa,” while another read: “Return the money stolen from the Republic.”
“Get mad, go home gotta,” crowds chanted elsewhere in the city, referring to the president, who imposed a state of emergency last week, the day a mob attempted to storm his residence.
As police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, several senior administration homes in different parts of the island were surrounded by protesters.
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