President Maithri reveals who really has power to call snap polls

BY Gagani Weerakoon- SEP 09 2018

Following a massive propaganda campaign and a change of dates a few times, earlier, in the run up to Janabalaya Kolambata protest, the Joint Opposition finally was able to show its ‘strength’ by bringing tens of thousands of people to Colombo last week.
Masses gathered in front of the Lake House blocking all three roads to and from Colombo, as the JO and SLPP occupied Colombo in an overnight protest.

Crowds surged behind former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and other members of SLPP and JO who commenced the demonstration from the Pettah Temple - famously referred to as ‘Pettah Bo-Tree’.
Meanwhile, crowds from the Town Hall area converged at the Lake House junction at around 4 p.m., blocking all routes.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the gathering said: “We will stay with the people, through the night until it dawns. The Government cannot stand in our way; we will go forward and stand strong.”

Yoshitha Rajapaksa, Namal Rajapaksa, Wimal Weerawansa, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Geetha Kumarasinghe, S.B. Dissanayaka, Bandula Gunawardena, Keheliya Rambukwella and several other former Parliamentarians were present at the protest.
Meanwhile, several reporters were seen being harassed by intoxicated supporters and the crowd also attacked some buses and assaulted drivers.

Even though it was widely publicized as a protest by the Joint Opposition, the main organizer of the protest march was none other than Hambantota District Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa. As it is known that former President’s brother Basil Rajapaksa - arguably one of the finest national organizers any political party could have in the present era - many eyes were also on MP Namal to assess his skills in mobilizing masses.

Though the numbers were in thousands, not having proper focus was clearly evident in watering down a protest march which otherwise would have led shockwaves to the Government.

While it was emphasized the protest would be held against Government policies such as selling-off national assets to foreign countries, privatizing public enterprises and institutions and toppling the Government, it was reduced to petty issues like not giving Opposition Leader’s post to the Joint Opposition. Lack of focus was evident when the protest actually took place watering down the hype it created for weeks.

The strategy of confusing the Government from having a clear idea about when, where and what the Joint Opposition was planning to do on the day of the protest march succeeded to a certain extent as the authorities had to scatter its security to different main focus areas.

Prior to the protest march on Wednesday, MP Udaya Gammanpila said that they had informed the Government to make available the required facilities to accommodate ambulances arriving at the Colombo National Hospital, to be directed to the Teaching Hospital Colombo North (Ragama) and Kalubowila (Colombo South) Teaching Hospital due to the congestion that is likely to arise because of Janabalaya Kolambata anti-Government rally.

In advance, MP Dulles Alahapperuma apologized to all Colombo residents for any public inconveniences likely to be caused due to the rally, warning that the Government is initiating various traps with the intent of sabotaging the movement.

Even though, not on a large scale as predicted by Gammanpila, thirty individuals were taken to the National Hospital, Colombo, at about 8.45 p.m. on the day of the protest, after taking ill suddenly. The hospital sources said that 21 individuals obtained medication at the Out Patients’ Department and left, however nine were admitted for treatment. The cause for this sudden illness, where patients complained of nausea, vomiting and loose motions, was milk packets they were served by another group on several points in Colombo as they were proceeding towards the Lake House Roundabout.

Furthermore, another individual is reported to have died during the protest. The body of the deceased was placed at the National Hospital mortuary pending a post-mortem

Court says no

Colombo Chief Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake on Tuesday (4) rejected requests, made by three Police stations, for interim injunction to be issued against the anti-Government rally and protest march organized by the Joint Opposition.

While rejecting the request made by Cinnamon Gardens Police, Welikada Police and Colpetty Police, the Magistrate also ordered the Police to apprehend Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa and 10 others, if there was evidence to suggest that during the protest they were planning to enter the President’s official residence at Malalasekera Mawatha and stage an anti-Government riot.

The order came following Cinnamon Gardens Police informing the Court that they have received information to the effect.
Magistrate Dissanayake, accordingly ordered the Cinnamon Gardens Police to arrest JO MPs named below, if the information received by the Police about their plan was true, as they had been named as respondents in the request by the Police.

The 11 persons include, MPs Namal Rajapaksa, Rohitha Abeygunawardene, Dilum Amunugama, Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Prasanna Ranathunga, Tissa Vitharana, D.E.W. Gunasekera, Dinesh Gunawardene and Asanka Navaratne of the Mahajana Party.

Police Sergeant Mendis making submissions in Court, said that the JO had planned a protest against the Government, based on various issues and that they were planning to enter the road on which the President’s residence is situated, entering the house and were also planning to prevent the President from leaving his house. Therefore, he requested the Court to issue an Interim Injunction on the JO, preventing them from entering the President’s premises.
The Magistrate then inquired from the Police whether they had received a complaint to that effect.

The Police then informed Court that there was no complaint received and they had gathered the information through the Western Province Intelligence Director.
The Magistrate then told the Police if the protesters were planning to topple the Government unlawfully, then, as they would be committing an offence, under Sections 114, 115 of the Penal Code, the Police have the authority to apprehend and produce them in Court.

The Magistrate also told the Police that evidence has to be produced in Court that the investigations by Police have revealed that the protesters were planning to topple the Government.
The Police then told the Court that they had not done an inquiry into the information received by them.

The Chief Magistrate then advised the Police not to pass the buck to the Court and that if there was evidence to suggest through their inquiries the protesters were planning to raid the President’s house then it could be deemed an illegal act and the suspects could be arrested.

He told the Police that every individual in the country has been given the right to engage in protests and if there was anyone engaging in riots against the Government they can be arrested as per Section 116 of the Penal Code. He then rejected the request for an Interim Injunction against the JO protest.

Meanwhile, Welikada Police made a request to Colombo Additional Magistrate Neranjana de Silva to order the protesters to engage in a peaceful protest near the Polduwa Roundabout and Diyatha Uyana and she told the Police that no Court Order will be needed for any protesters to engage in peaceful protests and told the Police to act if the protesters were to act in violation of laws.

Presidential Elections

President Maithirpala Sirisena yesterday put to rest the increasing speculations about holding the Presidential Election prematurely and insisted that neither United National Party (UNP) nor the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) can form a Government sans the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

“There are various people who forecast an early Presidential Election in 2019. I must tell you that there are no such preparations to hold an election prematurely. No one else, but I am vested with powers to go for an early election and the decision completely lies with me,” President Sirisena said.

Addressing SLFP’s Nivithigala Balamandalaya, the President also emphasized that both UNP and the SLPP should not overestimate their power.

“Neither party is strong enough to form a Government without the help of the SLFP. People should keep in mind those political movements that build around certain individuals sans policies and visions are only short-lived. What this country needs at this hour is proper policies and a Government that has a better vision for this land. It is only the SLFP that has such policies at the moment,” he added.

He also pointed out that powers of the President as per the provisions of the 19th Amendment will be further lessened after the future Presidential Election.
“Therefore, what the political fraternity must pay attention is to find a strong and suitable person to be the Prime Minister, because it is the Prime Minister that is going to be the centre of governance,” he elaborated.

President Sirisena also said that he will make a special statement to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 24 September to bail out the security forces from the allegations of war crimes. “I will make a special statement regarding the military forces and the alleged war crime charges on them. Once that is done I hope it will solve many other problems in the country too,” he added.

Ranil to lead UNP

While the President is saying that neither the UNP nor the SLPP could form a Government alone, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe addressing the 72nd anniversary celebration of the UNP requested young leaders of the United National Party to be ready to take over the party by 2030.

 “I have already started to groom a new generation of leaders. It is definitely us who will take the Government in 2020. We also have a clear aim about 2025. I would like to request our young leaders to prepare to take over the country by 2030,” he added indicating he will, probably, not give up party leadership at least for another 10 – 15 years.

Wickremesinghe said that he had received several phone calls on 5 September inquiring as to whether holding the Party convention was necessary on Thursday (6) due to concerns over the Joint Opposition’s Janabalaya Kolambata protest march.

“Some of them even suggested to me to postpone this anniversary celebration to safeguard the Government. But I told them that we will do our thing and let them do their thing. But look what happened on 5 September. It was proved that the ‘Lotus Bud’ has no ‘Janabalaya (power of the people)’ and the media which never see the good things we do for the country only have the ‘Pacha Balaya’ (the power of lies). No matter how they try, the media cannot destroy the legacy of this Party,” he said.
The Premier said that many people did not believe that the Government would last much longer when they came to power.

“We had to endure so many difficulties and there were many hurdles in our way. We had to pay a colossal amount of money to the banks from which loans were taken. We faced a severe drought, floods and everything else. But none of these things could destroy us. We had to take tough and unpopular decisions. We had to increase the Value Added Tax. The prices of goods increased. But we did everything for the country and we did what we had to do to protect it from disasters. Now it is the time to reap the harvest of all those decisions. So, let us reap the harvest and share it with our Party supporters and also with the rest of the country,” the Prime Minister said.

Police tug of war

The Constitutional Council on Friday (7) gave the National Police Commission (NPC) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara 14 days to solve all disputes between them.  The Council met, with Speaker Karu Jayasuriya presiding, at the Parliament complex to discuss the reports submitted by the Independent Commissions and the administrative problems of the Commissions.

One of the key issues taken up for the discussion was the ongoing dispute between the NPC and the IGP where the latter declined to follow some recommendations of the NPC about the promotion of Kilinochchi Senior Superintendent of Police Palitha Siriwardena, the promotions of 129 officers subjected to political victimization, the removal of Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Narammala from his post, investigations into the educational qualifications of Deputy Inspector General of Police Nalaka de Silva and the suspension of the OIC of the Statistics Division.

The NPC complained to the Council earlier  that they could not compel the IGP to implement their recommendations. The NPC Chairman had complained that with the IGP refusing to implement their recommendations, the NPC is unable to take any further action to ensure the implementation of its proposals as it does not have the powers to do so.

In response, IGP Jayasundara informed the Council that he could not implement some recommendations on various grounds. One of the Police officers in the list of 129 directed by the NCP for promotions is known to have close connections with the previous Government although the list mentions that he was politically victimized by the same Government.

This has created serious doubts regarding the process used by the NPC to recommend promotions for these officers, the IGP said.
The Council then informed both parties to come to a conclusive agreement on the matters within 14 days and to inform the Council.