Amid considerable speculation about the Cabinet reshuffle, seen as part of the Sri Lankan government’s corrective measures following its recent poll drubbing, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took over the key Law and Order Ministry on Sunday.
He replaced his close aide and party colleague Sagala Ratnayaka, who some in government accused of failing to act on cases linked to the government of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. In his pre-poll campaign, Mr. Sirisena blamed his coalition partner for going slow on cases involving the former first family.
A few other portfolios were shuffled on Sunday, but all the changes were made only to ministries held by members of Mr. Wickremesighe’s United National Party (UNP), the senior partner in the coalition government.
“These changes as well as those soon to be made on the UPFA side of the government will strengthen us to better serve our people,” Mr. Sirisena said. The changes to portfolios held by members of the United People’s Freedom Alliance, the junior coalition partner led by Mr. Sirisena, might take two weeks, official sources indicated. The changes come weeks after the two parties of Sri Lanka’s ruling alliance took a severe beating in the February 10 local authority polls held across the island. The two parties contested polls separately and lost to a new one that, with Mr. Rajapaksa’s backing, won 239 out of 341 local bodies.
Fallout of poll results
Days after the elections, many in Mr. Sirisena’s party called for the Prime Minister’s resignation, blaming him for the poor performance. While Mr. Wickremesinghe accepted responsibility for the defeat, he said he saw no reason why he must resign as per the law and conventions.
The poll outcome was widely seen as a reflection of the government’s fallen ratings among the people, especially after it was tainted by a major scandal concerning the sale of government bonds by Sri Lanka’s Central Bank. A poor response to one of the most severe droughts, the spiralling of living costs and the growing unemployment are among other reasons said to have led to government’s poor showing in the recent polls.
In addition to a Cabinet reshuffle, the National Economic Council, chaired by Mr. Sirisena, will present a new economic plan next week to address “key economic issues”, the government has said.
