Who is the Boss the President or the Prime Minister ?

The people of Sri Lanka and the world are made to believe that the decision taking  leader of the government of Sri Lanka is  its President Maithripala Sirisena. But it is utterly false, even though the President may  believe that he is the President and as such he is the one on “the driving seat.”

But in reality it is Ranil Wickramasinghe  the Prime Minister who really takes decisions and runs he Country. That is exactly what Ranil Wickramasinghe  did as the Prime Minister of President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Government of 2001. It was then that Ranil Wickramasinghe  signed the CFA with Prabhakaran without consulting either the President nor the Parliament, aiding  and abetting in the terrorism in  Sri Lanka and thus also took the responsibility for the deaths of thousands of Soldiers  and Officers of the Armed Forces and the Civilians.

One would have been really amnesic of the past to have made Ranil Wickramasinghe a Prime Minister once again onb the 9^th January,2015 when Sri Lanka had been released from thirty years of  suffering by the former President Mahinda Rajapakse, and the paths were being gradually cleared and prepared  to rectify any errors of the past and take Sri Lanka towards  peace , progress and a future of hope for more success.

The Prime Minister immediately after being sworn in planned the future from then onwards  of Sri Lanka in terms of the Agenda Prompted by the USA and UN, and the West and EU. Prime Minister had his men  Ravi Karunanayake despite a still pending case against him for money laundering  to be the Minister of Finance , Mangala Samaraweera  a sworn enemy of the  President Mahinda Rajapakse as Foreign Secretary,  which office was denied to him previously by his enemy, Karu Jayasuriya who was likely to have usurped Ranil as the Leader of the UNP,  as the speaker, and Chandrika a lost soul utterly jealous of the successes of former President Mahinda Rajapâkse as a chief Consultant,  and turn coats like Champika, who was hoping to be a Presidential candidate in the future, Rajitha who can make truth look false and falsehood look the truth, as the Government Spokesman.

Ranil the PM  knew that having made Maithripala Sirisena a President, his devotion to the Prime Minster was assured  to bypass  the presidential leadership to take Sri Lanka the way  he had promised his USA and Western friends.  In order to assure the confidence of the USA and the West, he suspended China’s Colombo Port City project laying off large numbers of workers, antagonising China by suspending a project which had been declared open by none other than   the President of China Xi Jinping himself.

This matter taken up without any foresight has caused not only financial difficulties to the country but also serious diplomatic issues . Antagonising China is not in the interest of Sri Lanka.  In order to rectify this monstrous error, and win back the lost confidence of China  the Yahapalanaya is now faced with the necessity to give  the Hambantota Harbour and  large extents of Land on long lease to China.   Had the President Maithripala Sirisena been consulted on these issues or are they the decisions taken independently by the Prime Minister and his UNP followers ?

It was again an unwise move for the Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and the Prime Minister to have decided to sponsor the US resolution against Sri Lanka putting Sri Lank’s sovereignty at jeopardy. This was again done with a view to win the friendship of  the USA and the Western countries to boast to the people that country has regained the friendshipof the West which the country lost under President Mahinda Rajapakse.

Then the  Prime Minister took over the administration of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka under his Ministry, and appointed a citizen of Singapore as its Governor, orchestrating the  Bond Scam which took place as planned on the 27 of February,2017.

When the term of office of the Governor of the Central Bank came up, the President refused to extend the appointment, requesting the Prime Minister to remove him from office.  The Prime Minister instead of removing him, appointed him as an adviser to himself, making the President Maithripala Sirisena understand that the Prime Minister has the power to challenge the decisions of the President.

Prime Minister did his best to avoid involving Arjuna Mahendran in the Bond Scam, appointing his own team of Lawyers to an Investigating Committee, and  getting his UNP loyalists to put  footnotes to the COPE report  making the report ineffective.

The President remained  silent on the issue  until  the public agitation against the Bond Scam became difficult to be ignored . It was then that he woke up to appoint a Commission. There too the Prime Minister had his say.

When two senior UNP Ministers were summoned before the Commission, a mysterious hand had moved to stop the Commission from cross examining the two Ministers. The PM has still not gone before the Commission , but will Dappula Livera and Yasantha Kodagoda SASGs be allowed to cross examine the Prime Minister ? One of the members of the panel of the Commission had criticised  SASG Dappula Livera. Will the report of the Commission see the light of the day and if so when?

Who wanted the Local Government elections postponed, the President or the Prime Minister ? How was that the Parliament was used by this Yahapalanaya Government to  ignore a verdict of the SC, and nevertheless postpone  Local Government elections ?  Wasn’t it an insult to democracy to which the Yahaplanaya Government is paying mere lip service.

Who made the President Maithripala Sirisena lay a foundation stone to a building which was only to dupe the people that the building is to set up the factory of the VolksWagen Company  ? Wasn’t the President led by the nose ?

Who was delaying taking a decision on the SATM issue ? Why did it take such a long time for the President Maithripala Sirisena to wake up  to appoint a Commission to look into it ? Who is chairing the Commission ? Is it an independent  person who has no interest on the issue or a political yes man of the PM?

President Maithripala Sirisena wakes up late to appoint Commissions when the political issues have  become serious concerns of the people and public agitation becomes impossible to be ignored.  Doesn’t it make the people wonder that the President is not consulted when important decisions are made by the Prime Minister,  and the President becomes aware of them only when public agitation becomes too serious to be ignored ?

Even about the new Constitution and the preparation of an interim report to be passed in the Parliament, the President is a late comer to an issue which has become a great concern of the people who demand the rejection of the Yahapalanaya Government’s effort to write a new Constitution. Why didn’t the President raise objection to the appointment of Lal Wijenayake and Sumanthiram to prepare the Interim Report ? Is the President ever consulted in these important political issues ?

Is the President aware of the problems caused on the question of  tenders for the construction of the Colombo Kandy Expressway ?  Here also it appears that the President had been left out or he had not been given all information with regard to the Construction of the Expressway ? Should Maithripala Sirisena remain a lamentably ineffective President getting aware of the political  messing of the Yahapalanaya Government only when the media raises the issue ? 

It appears from many political issues becoming serious concerns of the people only when they are brought before the Parliament , that there is a lack  of  sufficient exchange of information on important issues discussed at Cabinet Meetings. Some information may be hidden at Cabinet meetings and included  only when the issues come as bills before the Parliament. Otherwise how can the President be unaware of them ?

It was reported that, speaking at the death anniversary of Venerable late Maduluwawe Sobitha thero, the President Maithripala Sirisena says, “… even though, few people in the government leveled allegations and criticisms against him for appointing the Bond Commission, he appointed the Commission to fulfill the pledge given by him to the people to eradicate fraud and corruption from the country, while ensuring the fair justice in the society as a government of good governance.”

It would be interesting to know who these “few people in the government  who levelled  allegations and criticism against him for appointing the Bond Scam…”

There are many other issues that may have been decision made  by the Prime Minister without consulting the President or without giving him all relevant information. The setting up of a missing persons office, setting up a special High Court to expedite hearing of special crimes, misuse of state resources etc.,  FCID are issues where perhaps the President had not been consulted or he had not been given sufficient information.-

It was reported in the Island of Nov.8^th  that Venerable Prof. Medagoda Abeytissa thera had :

“….urged President Maithripala Sirisena to quit what he called separatist agenda pursued by the UNP administration and align with nationalist elements.

Had President felt obliged to back the UNP’s despicable project in return for fielding him at the 2015 polls, the SLFP leader should now discontinue association with the ruling party, the Ven. Thera said further said ,  the President Sirisena regardless of his affiliations with the UNP couldn’t under any circumstances shirk his responsibilities. Asserting that there was no point in blaming Premier Wickremesinghe for the current situation, Ven. thera emphasized that President Sirisena should be held responsible……”.

Recently Lord Neseby, had made a statement in the House of Lords, UK highly critical of the stance taken by the Government of UK and other European countries against Sri Lanka’s military operations against terrorism, accusing the Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces for war crimes. He had contested the war deaths estimated  at 40 000 as highly imaginative.

This Statement by Lord Neseby which is favourable to Sri Lanka has been completely ignored by the former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and the Prime Minister. Why has not the President Maithripala Sirisena urged the Prim Minister to take action on this issue and get his Foreign Minister  Ravi Karunanayake to take it up with the UNHuman Rights Council.

Considering all this it is questionable whether the President Maithripala Sirisena  is kept informed of all political matters  before the Prime Minister presents any of them  to the Parliament, or is the President being taken for a ride by his own Prime Minister.