Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Getting “Yahapālanaya” Is A Process?

Colombo Telegraph
By Ravindra Galhena –June 28, 2016
Ravindra Galhena
Ravindra Galhena
The word “Yahapalanaya” (good governance) has been the most used lexis in Sri Lankan politics since Maithripala Sirisena decided to run for the office of President in November 2014. Sri Lankans would not find it difficult to understand the reasons behind this mind-set. In a nutshell, ensuring ‘Yahapalanaya’ was an attractive promise (given the situation that the people were in) made to the public and many of us Sri Lankans considered it as an immediate panacea for all our woes!
On January 10 2015, Maithripala Sirisena was sworn in as President. As per his manifesto and the mandate, Ranil Wickremesinghe took office as Prime Minister despite the meagre parliamentary support he was able to garner single-handedly at the time. However, the life of the said government was not meant to last over 100 days. The promise and the plan was to go for a parliamentary election having successfully delivered the promised ‘100 Day Programme’. A young person would think that this was the most chaotic 100 days in our political history! President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had to work very closely to harness the support in parliament to pass an emergency budget and the legislature to trim the presidential powers etc.Maithri Chandrika Ranil
However, due to numerous reasons, the ‘100-day Government’ had to last beyond the designated period and it was still legitimate. In August last year, we the Sri Lankans voted for a new parliament. At this election, United National Front (UNF = United National Party + other smaller parties) was able to win only 106 out of 225 parliamentary seats and the President Sirisena faction of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) joined hands with the UNF under the premiership of Ranil Wickremesinghe to form a government which now accounts for more than two thirds altogether.