Two weeks and time to take stock! A train wreck waiting to happen Part 3 of 5

The Cabinet and State Ministers

I was frankly not at all surprised at the constituents comprising these ministries. After all he had no option but to appoint the very people who violated Parliamentary privilege, by behaving like hooligans inside the chamber, who should have been subject to some parliamentary discipline by now and punishment.

The stark absence of minorities, Tamils and Muslims except for a token one or two Tamils, and the lack of women, I was still willing to permit this Monotheistic and Misogynistic mix as being inevitable till the next elections.

An embarrassing world record of the three main chairs at the appointment of State ministers showed GR flanked by MR the PM and CR the State Minister of Defence showing in no uncertain terms where the power of the land lay!

My preference for immediate General Elections

My Preference would have been for the opposition and govt to agree to hold immediate General Elections giving 2/3 power in Parliament, so that we could get it over and done with once and for all, so that in future both Presidential and General Elections could be held on the same day to save on waste.

I don’t know the personal reasons that was not done, but I suppose it was the funds,  energy needed soon after the bruising Presidential Elections, that did it, though many have told me it was for the pension benefits of the outgoing MPs that it was delayed. I cannot verify that statement.

My conclusion here it that RW made a mistake in not going for an immediate General Election soon after the win for Maithripala Sirisena, similarly GR is also going to regret not going in for one as soon as he won. Many who voted for him are going to desert him the way the administration has begun their work.

The first mis-step!

When one of the most respected CID officers SSP Abeysekera was demoted as an assistant to a DIG, the whole investigation process over many years of crooks and criminals of all hues, the whole apparatus would become impotent, not leading to the prosecution and conviction of wrongdoers, just to save a few cases that have implicated the Rajapakses also. That is again destroying the fabric of your criminal investigation at a stroke to save a person or two. Treason in another word, if you put the interests of the state over the personal interest of the President.