By
Rasika Jayakody
In politics you either eat the baby or you are the baby – House of Cards
President Maithripala Sirisena used the national unity government’s first anniversary celebration in Matara as an opportunity to give the party’s rebel group cozying up to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa a strong warning.
“They are talking about forming new political parties. I have to say only one thing. Let them do and deal with the repercussions. If they take that path, I will reveal some stunning political secrets that we have kept under wraps, so far. When we reveal those secrets, they will have to roam the streets every day,” the President told the cheering crowds, at the event to mark the first year anniversary of the government.
Although ‘good governance’ and undisclosed political secrets are akin to oil and water, it is important to understand the context in which the President issued this warning:
A few days before the event, the President decided to appoint 40 new electorate organisers to strengthen the grassroots level activities of the party. As part of the same process, he expelled a number of Joint Opposition MPs from their party positions.
Former Ministers Gamini Lokuge, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, C. B. Ratnayake, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Keheliya Rambukwella, Pavithra Wanniarachchi and Sarath Kumara Gunaratne were among the Joint Opposition stalwarts who lost their electorate organiser posts. In addition, former MP Upeksha Swarnamali too lost her position as the SLFP co-organiser for the Divulapitiya electorate. Relatively young politicians whose allegiance lies with the party and its leadership replaced them. Most were sidelined at the last Parliamentary election because they did not extend their unconditional support to the former President, who led the party’s unsuccessful election campaign, in August, last year.
At the same time, the party took measures to expedite regional meetings to drive the proposed reorganisation. The party’s district leaders were asked to initiate this process in their areas. It was a direct move to consolidate President Sirisena’s position in the party. Any move to strengthen the President’s position in the party will inevitably weaken the former President’s grip on the SLFP, which he led for nearly ten years.
It is quite obvious that the SLFP is running into a major split – probably the worst in the party’s 65-year history. But, the President made it clear that he was not ready to give in to the demands of the rebel group fearing the repercussions of a split. The President has said in no uncertain terms that the government will not change until 2020 and there will be no room for a regime change by ‘shifting heads’ in Parliament. Although a split will weaken the SLFP machinery, at least temporarily, their agreement with the UNP will give the party the time and space to bounce back from the crisis. This is one reason why the President is not hesitant to crack the whip on the rebel group attempting to divide the grand old party.
Knowing the President’s intention, several MPs of the rebel group pre-empted their sacking by handing over their resignations to step down from electoral and district organiser posts. On Friday, former Minister Dullas Alahapperuma, addressing a press conference in Colombo, said he would step down from his position as the SLFP district leader for Matara.
Alahapperuma
A journalist by profession, Alahapperuma made his entry into politics in 1993, when the People’s Alliance, led by the SLFP, contested the Southern Provincial Council election. The PA achieved a historic win at the election and Alahapperuma developed a strong link with the likes of Mangala Samaraweera and Mahinda Rajapaksa at the initial stage of his political career. In 2001, when the People’s Alliance faced imminent defeat at the general election, Alahapperuma left the country, unexpectedly, claiming there was no room for ‘gentlemanly politics’ in Sri Lanka.
Four years later, when his friend, Mahinda Rajapaksa, contested for presidency on the UPFA ticket, Alahapperuma returned to the country to help that election campaign. He was appointed to Parliament from the national list and given a ministry under the former President’s administration. He never made even one reference to ‘gentlemanly politics’ after he became a minister of the Rajapaksa government. It brought the bona fides of his ‘honourable exit’ in 2001 to serious question.
Alahapperuma, backed by the Rajapaksas, became the district leader of the Matara district, replacing Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, a veteran politician in the area. Ironically, both Alahapperuma and Abeywardena are now in the former President’s camp. It was quite obvious that Alahapperuma stepped down from the district leadership to pre-empt his sacking. At the time Alahapperuma resigned, Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, a supporter of President Sirisena, was positioning himself to be a strong contender for the district. He was duly appointed to the post a day after Alahapperuma’s resignation.
Homagama organiser issue
Two days later, former Education Minister and UPFA MP Bandula Gunawardena, a prominent supporter of the former President, said he had decided to resign from his position as the SLFP organiser for Homagama. “The government is doing everything to take revenge from the Rajapaksas. In this context, I am not in a position to function as the party organiser for Homagama anymore. I have already sent my letter of resignation to the President,” Gunawardena said, addressing a public gathering, on Sunday.
However, Minister S.B. Dissanayake, a prominent SLFP politician supporting the President, had a different opinion on the matter. “Bandula resigned as he knew he would be sacked very soon. There is no reason to worry about his resignation” Dissanayake said, speaking to a group of party supporters, after a ‘restructuring meeting’ in Matale, on Monday.
Commenting on Alahapperuma’s decision, Dissanayake trivialised the matter, saying nobody even knew that the former Minister functioned as the SLFP district leader for Matara.
“He must have got a letter from the former President saying he was the district leader. But those letters are of no use now. Those resignations will not make any impact on the party,” the Minister said, voicing the party’s opinion on the matter.
A day after Gunawardena’s announcement, the SLFP appointed Gamini Thilakasiri, a provincial council member, as the party’s new organiser for Homagama. Thilakasiri is an experienced politician in the area who ran into various problems during the time former President Rajapaksa headed the party.
SLFP anniversary
It is against this backdrop that the SLFP is preparing for its 65th anniversary. A major event, chaired by party leader President Sirisena, is to be held in Kurunegala to mark the anniversary.
SLFP General Secretary Duminda Dissanayake sent letters to all MPs representing the party, irrespective of their individual affiliations, to take part in the anniversary event. However, in the wake of the recent developments, the members representing the Joint Opposition are more likely to turn down Dissanayake’s invitation.
A spokesman close to Rajapaksa told the Daily News that the former President would leave the country to attend a conference, soon before the anniversary event. Therefore, he said, the former President would not be available for the anniversary event organised by the SLFP. When asked whether it was a deliberate move to “skip” the event, the spokesman gave an unconvincing reply.
“The foreign tour was fixed before the anniversary event. The former President does not have any intention to skip the convention. He is a Patron of the SLFP and is still accepted by the party membership. Unfortunately, he is not in a position to cancel the tour after confirmation,” the spokesman explained. However, one does not have to remind the former President, who led the SLFP for nearly ten years, that the party’s anniversary falls on September 2. It is the party’s tradition to hold events every year to celebrate its anniversary and commemorate the party founders.
Meanwhile, members of the Joint Opposition held a special meeting to make a final decision on their participation, on Monday night. Speaking to the Daily News after the meeting, a parliamentarian said the group was still not ready to announce their decision.
“We have to discuss the matter with our balamandala members as they are the core of our group. Based on their opinion, we will make our final decision,” the parliamentarian said. It was an indication that the Joint Opposition might boycott the SLFP’s anniversary event. Their reluctance to announce the final decision shows that members of the group are still not on the same page about the official reason behind the boycott.
Dilemma
It goes without saying that with the President’s decision to expel JO members from their party positions, the former President’s camp is in a dilemma of sorts.
The President’s action, quite obviously, pushes them to breakaway from the SLFP and form a new party, under the former President’s leadership. But the JO is aware of the fact that it is disadvantageous to form a new party, without any idea about the timeline of the next Local Government election. Forming a new political party at the wrong time could produce disastrous results for them, at the next election. That is one reason why the Rajapaksa group is still tight-lipped about their ‘new party’.
On the other hand, a sizable section of the Joint Opposition group was of the view that they would, at some point, regain the control of the SLFP, ousting the President and his group. Their initial calculation was that the President might not resort to punitive action against them because he didn’t want a split in the SLFP. Their plan was to ‘cannibalise’ the President’s group, while remaining in the SLFP. Therefore, the President’s move has baffled the rebel group’s plans to a great extent.
Against this backdrop, it is too early to assume that all members of the SLFP rebel group will join the new party, formed by the Rajapaksas. A sizable proportion of them will opt to remain in the SLFP, accepting President Sirisena’s leadership. Only the hardcore Rajapaksa supporters will choose to step out of the SLFP umbrella to form a new party with the former President. This will pose a fresh challenge to the former President in terms of his ‘numbers’ in Parliament.
Controversial coal tender revisited
The coal controversy, which has not been fully resolved so far, continues to make ripples across the political sphere. Adding to various complications involving the controversial coal tender, soaring coal prices in the global market have added a fresh dimension to the issue.
The Power and Energy Ministry was taken aback last week when the spot tender they called for coal had the lowest price for this commodity at 64.77 US Dollars per metric tonne. Whilst the lowest price was quoted by Adani, other players quotes were, Trafigura at US $ 66.11, Noble Resources at US $ 71.12 with Visa quoting the highest at US $ 77/-.
Secretary to the Power and Energy Ministry Dr. B.M.S. Batagoda said that this was close on US $ 7 more than the long term contract price they had which is US $ 58/- (index based) per metric ton. He said this was why there was a clear necessity for both long and short-term formulas to be employed by the Ministry to ensure they can hedge their bets to advantage.
The Secretary was defending the position taken earlier by the Ministry that this was the best way to buy fuel for the Lakvijaya coal power plant, which provides almost 50 percent of the energy needs of the country.
“Whatever anyone says, we need a hedging mechanism like this. This is how we bring s in the market – we are sometimes affected by price volatility and the best way to handle this is having a long-term contract as well as a short-term contract. We can move from one contract to the other, choosing which one would be best for the next shipment,” he told the Daily News, on Sunday.
The Secretary said there had been some people with hidden agendas who have been trying to introduce some naive thinking into the purchasing plan for the Lakvijaya power plant in Norochcholai.
There is much similarity between buying coal and buying any other commodity
Purchases of coal in the past have been inundated with conspiracy theories. The recent long-term contract with Swiss Singapore came under scrutiny and a special study was carried out on the procurement of coal for the Lakvijaya Coal Power plant in Norochcholai during 2015 and 2016, to determine whether there was any loss or damage to the government.
An independent committee appointed by the Minister of Power and Renewable Energy did the report. The conclusions of this committee which was headed by Professor K.K.Y.W. Perera said that whilst in the recent past, there had seen a saving for the country from spot tenders for coal purchases in comparison to long-term tender prices, their advise was not to rely only on spot tenders.
They said a mix of procurement through long-term as well as spot tenders was a recommended formula. This they said would be good from the point of source diversity and supply security. “When considering the combination of long-term tenders together with spot tenders, there is definitely an advantage in the total price paid,” the high-powered independent committee said.
In this context, informed ministry sources said massive fluctuations in international prices for coal may induce the Power and Energy Ministry to resume purchase from their long-term supplier Swiss Singapore whose long-term contracted price is USD 58 per metric ton, which is approximately USD 7 less than what, was quoted in a recent spot tender.
The long-term purchase, under current circumstances, would save the government approximately Rs. 320 Million, on a 330,000 metric ton requirement. However, the ministry is yet to take a final decision on the matter. However, it is now evident that in less than six months after the coal industry was declared to be in terminal decline, the fossil fuel has shown its steepest price rally in more than half a decade, making it one of the hottest major commodities in the global economy.
According to an article in Business Day, Cargo prices for Australian thermal coal from its Newcastle terminal, seen as the Asian benchmark, have soared more than 35% since mid-June to more than one-year highs of almost $70 a tonne, pushed by surprise increases in Chinese imports.
“Restrictions on domestic production introduced earlier this year have lifted prices globally and turned coal into one of the best performing commodities so far this year,” the report said.
It can be assumed that these trends will be taken into consideration by the Sri Lankan government, before making a final decision on future coal purchases.
Meanwhile, the report of the three-member committee is expected to be presented to the Cabinet for further discussion. It is now clear that no one is willing to take ‘ownership’ to the coal controversy, which was widely discussed among political circles over the past three months. Informed government sources said the ministry would make a decision on its future course of action based on the recommendation of the Cabinet.
Courtesy;Daily News