DEW: Tottering economy President GR’s biggest challenge in election year

... urges political parties to handle national anthem issue carefully

By Shamindra Ferdinando-December 31, 2019, 8:33 pm

General Secretary of the Communist Party DEW Gunasekera, yesterday, warned of dire consequences unless tangible measures were taken to shore up what he called a tottering national economy.

Gunasekera, who held several ministerial portfolios in different administrations, said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s biggest challenge would be to revive the national economy in 2020.

The CP Chief said President could comfortably win the parliamentary polls and secure a simple majority. Gunasekera ruled out the possibility of the President winning a two-thirds majority.

Asked how he viewed President Rajapaksa’s handling of the North-East issue, Gunasekera said that the government should be really cautious on this front. With parliamentary elections just a couple of months away, the government couldn’t pursue a strategy detrimental to those Tamil politicians who backed Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s candidature at the Nov 2019 presidential poll.

The former minister appreciated President Rajapaksa’s efforts to promote social development in once war-torn areas. Those who had been deprived of even basic facilities during the conflict should be given an opportunity to live a comparatively better life.

Referring to ongoing debate on a decision purported to have been taken by the government to sing the national anthem only in Sinhalese, Gunasekera urged political parties, civil society and the media to be extremely cautious in handling the issue. Asked what would be his remedy for the continuing uproar over the alleged move to do away with Tamil version of the national anthem at the Independence Day, Gunasekera pointed out Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government, S. Hettiarachchi was on record as having said on Monday, Dec 30 that the government had so far not taken any decision to sing the national anthem only in Sinhala.

Since 2015 Independence Day celebrations, the national anthem has been sung in both Sinhala and Tamil.

Recollecting the circumstances leading to Easter Sunday massacre, Gunasekera said that the country was not out of danger.

Commenting on the government-Tamil National Alliance (TNA) relationship, Gunasekera said that Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in his capacity as the President of the country should talk to all political parties represented in parliament. Direct talks between the government and the TNA shouldn’t be misinterpreted or described as succumbing to the largest Tamil coalition.

Commenting on repeated calls to either amend the 19th Amendment or do away with it, the former minister said there was no dispute over the need to revise that controversial piece of legislation. The 19th Amendment created two centers of power, he added, urging Parliament to discuss without further delays ways and means of ending the ambiguities as regards the powers of the President and the Prime Minister.

The former COPE Chief said that he expected the new parliament to debate Presidential Commission report on Treasury bond scams perpetrated in 2015 and 2016 as soon as possible.

Parliament received the report in early 2018.