Sri Lanka protest pressure increases and loyalists request PM to quit
Sri Lanka’s beleaguered prime minister has come under increased pressure to step down as a cabinet minister and other senior party members back street protests that are calling for resignations over the deteriorating economic situation.
Media minister Nalaka Godahewa announced on Saturday his support for the thousands of protesters outside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office who are demanding him and his other powerful family members to resign.
Sri Lanka is suffering its worse economic decline since independence from British rule in 1948, with months of lengthy blackouts and acute shortages of food, fuel and other essentials. The economic crisis has sparked protests across the country, with angry demonstrators camped outside Rajapaksa’s office for over three weeks.
Under pressure, the president dropped two of his brothers, Chamal and Basil, as well as nephew Namal from the cabinet this month, but protesters rejected the changes as cosmetic.
Godahewa, previously a staunch Rajapaksa loyalist, said the president should sack his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and allow an all-party interim government to take over. He said that the government lost its credibility after the police killed a protester on Tuesday. Godahewa said he offered his resignation but President Rajapaksa did not accept it.
Godahewa said, “The entire cabinet, including the prime minister, should resign and there should be an interim cabinet that can win the confidence of all.”
Several senior ruling party members, including Dullas Alahapperuma, a former media minister and cabinet spokesman, have also asked the PM to step down. Alahapperuma said on Saturday, “I urge the president to appoint a smaller cabinet with a genuine consensus representing all parties in parliament for one year maximum.”
Food, fuel and electricity have been rationed for months and the country is facing record inflation. Hospitals are short of vital medicines and the government has appealed to citizens abroad for donations.
Finance minister Ali Sabry, who is in the United States to negotiate a bailout from the International Monetary Fund, warned on Friday that the economic situation in the South Asian nation will likely worsen even further. Sabry said, “It is going to get worse before it gets better, It is going to be a painful few years ahead.”
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES