To calm the mobs and pave the way for a government of national unity, Gotabaya Rajapaksa must go
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskSri Lankans are furious. On May 9th protesters torched dozens of homes, most belonging to politicians, precipitating the, the once-beloved prime minister. Security forces evacuated him and his family to a naval base as a mob tried to storm his official residence. Vigilantes have set up checkpoints outside the country’s airports to prevent him and other officials from fleeing. A state of emergency is in force.
It was against this backdrop that Sri Lankans chose as president a man known for an iron-fisted approach to security: Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had brought to an end a 26-year civil war as head of the ministry of defence a decade earlier. Mr Rajapaksa, in turn, appointed as prime minister his older brother, Mahinda, who had been president from 2005 to 2015. The pair were seen as vigorous, can-do types, unlike the vacillators of the opposition.
But even as the Rajapaksas appeared to be entrenching themselves in power, they were actually undermining their own authority through ill-conceived policies. They slashed taxes as the pandemic brought tourism to a screeching halt, which together clobbered the economy and severely reduced government revenue and precious inflows of foreign exchange. Downgrades from ratings agencies underlined the deteriorating economic picture and in effect closed the door to fresh borrowing abroad.
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