Published on January 13, 2018
Eranda Ginige
I was once an admirer of Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe. He was the blue-eyed boy of the UNP. The poster-child of the capitalist right-wing. The last of the green-blooded aristocrats. The chosen-one to make Sri Lanka a developed nation. Lately, the knight in rusty armour who was to bestow good governance upon us. Well, so much for that.
After 40 long years in politics and at the old age of 68, Mr Wickremesinghe has been reduced to a man of utter failure. With all due respect, perhaps these five reasons might convince Mr Wickremesinghe to retire from politics with the little dignity that is left of him.
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1. Living with a destiny of failure
There has never been a man who has failed for so long, for so many times than Mr Wickremesinghe. What is so ironical about Ranil’s political career is that even when he wins, he still loses. It looks as if he is cursed with failure. O what a tragedy his destiny has woven for him. His life-and-career is a sad case study of leadership failure.
At some point in one’s life, you should realise the purpose of your existence. There was a purpose for D S Senanayake. There was a purpose for S W R D Bandaranaike. There was a purpose for Rohana Wijeweera. There was a purpose for Velupillai Prabhakaran. There was a purpose for Mahinda Rajapaksa. And every remarkable leader had a specific purpose which they all fulfilled irrespective of whether that purpose is right or wrong.
But what is Ranil Wickremesinghe’s purpose? It’s too late for him. There’s no purpose for him anymore. Because whatever purpose that is remaining to be fulfilled are just mediocre economic stuff or simply too technologically advanced for a 19th century pseudo aristocrat. It’s not like Mr Wickremesinghe can build Sri Lanka to meet the 21st century sustainability challenges, or introduce Blockchain-based governance system. Even the one last purpose he could’ve owned which was to instil good governance in this country, ended up as his life’s biggest failure.
2. Becoming the Antichrist of Good Governance
Isn’t it ironical the very person who vouched and stood for Good Governance became the very symbol of Bad Governance? Ranil Wickremesinghe can write a book titled “101 Ways to Govern Badly”. It was fascinating how some people actually believed that he is the ideal man to bring good governance when his entire political career is marred with too many examples of bad governance.
His Machiavellian dictatorial authority in running his own party for so many years by stingily holding on to power through plutocracy, cronyism and conspiracy is such a giveaway that it is impossible to associate Ranil with any form of “Good” governance. Hell shall freeze over before Ranil brings good governance to anywhere.
Purposely or not, Ranil massacred the concept of good governance. Although some die-hard UNP members refuse to accept it out of embarrassment, deep down everybody knows that it’s a lost cause. And the wickedest thing about it is that, Ranil did it in the grandest way possible, by making a Billion Rupee Central Bank fraud to happen on his watch.
3. Lack of sound judgment
For Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe, the proud Royalist, the educated lawyer, the English-speaking gentleman, and once thought master-strategist to fall victim to an average person such as Mr Maithripala Sirisena must be an unbelievably humbling experience. At least it’s dignified to lose in a battle, in an election, in a competition, but to lose in your own game by your own pawn, when you least expect it, is soul crushing.
Taking the Central Bank under his control, appointing his buddy, a foreigner, a questionable character, as the governor to the single most important financial institution in the country, when there was huge resistance from all sides including from his own party, shows a serious lack of sound judgement. If Mr Wickremesinghe had an iota of good judgement he would never try to safeguard Arjuna Mahendran, when the first complaints surfaced.
Ranil could’ve at least tried to control the damage to him, to his party, and to his country. But he just played right into President Sirisena’s advantage. Not only he continued with Arjuna, he then appointed another foreigner to the same position who is directly connected with the man who is in jail for the biggest insider trading fraud in the history of the USA! They say there is a thin-line between genius and stupidity.
This seems to be Ranil’s Achilles heel as he is unable to control serious situations contingent upon multifaceted, external factors like in 2004 when Mrs Chandrika Kumaratunga ended the coalition with Ranil too easily. I used to think it demonstrates his political maturity, but seeing his childish behaviour inside and outside parliament, I no longer think as such. It’s just his weakness to handle crisis. He is like that senior guy in many offices who wheels and deals to come to power and stays in power, but fails to deliver any project successfully, and ends up making a mess for everyone.
4. Dishonouring the great UNP forefathers
It’s disgraceful what has become of the UNP, the party of the great D S Senanayake, the Father of the Nation. It’s shameful to see the incompetence and the indecencies of most of the UNP Members of Parliament compared to its former great statesmen such as Mr J R Jayawardene. It’s sad to see how the party that was once hailed as the common man’s party under great leaders like Mr Ranasinghe Premadasa, has turned into a corrupt bunch of a mediocre mob.
And the one man who is responsible for that tragedy is the UNP party leader for the past 24 years, Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe, the man who controlled his party tightfistedly for the longest period in the history. In his struggle to stay in power at any cost, he lost sight of the big picture. He failed to live up to the magnanimity of his forefathers. He failed to make his mark as a leader. His legacy is a disillusioned party with a group of corrupt and incompetent fools running around like headless chickens.
The kind of fools who would actually get apartments as gifts for corruption. The kind of fools who actually spend time and money to write books to coverup corruption. The kind of fools who promise to give free Wi-Fi to the whole country using an experimental technology. The kind of fools who open Volkswagen factories before even seeing the investment agreements. And they are the next generation of leaders of this once great party. Mr Wickremasinghe, what have you done…
5. Let go, Mr Wickremasinghe
It’s time to let go, Sir. You are just making it worse for yourself and for everybody around you by holding on. What are you trying to prove? You had 40 long years, four decades, to do something meaningful for your life and for the country. You were the youngest cabinet minister. You had more time and more opportunities than any other political personality to make history. Yet, here you are today childishly trying to emancipate yourself from disgrace, disappointment and failure of your own making. Is this what you dreamed of?
You could’ve at least repurpose and rebuild your party to meet the 21st century challenges. But instead you lost the plot. Leadership, Mr Wickremesinghe is no longer about power. It’s about people. If only you took all that time you spent in the opposition to build good people around you, implement good governance within your own party, you would not have to beg for salvation from some Indian god. O what depths you have fallen.
But you also have an amazingly high endurance, which I respect very much. But you don’t have to fight anymore, Ranil. You tried your best and that’s what’s important. Everybody deserves some peace in their life. Give peace to yourself. Give peace to your party. Give peace to the people. Sometimes the greatest success comes in your surrender.
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