Lankan crisis is the result of failed promises, flawed decisions & dynastic mindset

Gotabaya Rajapaksa treated the presidency as his dynasty and kept lot of powers in his own hands, which eventually led to the present furore

If one were to determine the single most important cause of the continuing Sri Lankan crisis, it is likely to be the way the Gotabaya Rajapaksa presidency conducted the affairs of governance in the island nation.

Observers say Gotabaya Rajapaksa treated the presidency as his dynasty. He began his term in office in November 2019 with a solemn promise to the Sri Lankan people that he would ensure a fair measure of stability, security, and development in the country. He hardly kept his promise.

Instead, Gotabaya sought to restore a personalised model of executive authoritarianism in the country. To achieve this, in October 2020, he used the newly gained two-thirds parliamentary majority of his party to abolish the 19th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution. With the introduction of the 20th Amendment, he institutionalised executive presidentialism in the country.

Gotabaya concentrated a great deal of financial and administrative powers into his own hands. He appointed many members of his family to topmost positions in the Sri Lankan government.

Besides, he gave primacy to the military in certain civilian areas of administration. For instance, he appointed the Army Commander to head a new Presidential Task Force to manage the public health crisis and placed him over medical and civilian professionals in the area.

The worst dimension of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa presidency has been its increasing leaning towards China. During the rule of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya's elder bother, Sri Lanka and China signed many agreements. Mahinda used Chinese President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative to borrow hugely from China, including $1.1 billion to build a port in his home region of Hambantota. Gotabaya followed the same dynastic track to cultivate China.

In the process, Sri Lanka has become somewhat a client state of China over the last couple of years. Sri Lanka today owes $51 billion of external debt. Today, China is Sri Lanka's third largest creditor after Japan and the Asian Development Bank. It has lent about $6.5 billion to Sri Lanka. It accounts for about 10% of Sri Lanka's debt.

New Delhi is doing well to help Colombo out of its present crisis. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Neighbourhood First' foreign policy initiative focuses on cultivating and sustaining relations with nearby countries. In tune with this, in the recent months, India has supplied to Sri Lanka millions of dollars worth of rice, milk powder, medicine, diesel fuel, gasoline and other humanitarian aid. India has also extended to Sri Lanka a $4 billion credit line on favorable terms.

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

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