Lankan President vows never to reappoint Wickremesinghe as PM

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday made it clear that he would never reappoint ousted prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe even as he accepted that the action of removing his arch-rival has created “some form of political unrest” in the country.Sirisena last month abruptly sacked Wickeremesinghe and replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapksa in a controversial move termed by many as unconstitutional.The controversial action on October 26 led to a political crisis in the country with both Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa claiming to be the legitimate prime minister.Sirisena, addressing the Colombo-based foreign correspondents, said: “There is no possibility that I will be re-appointing him (Wickeremesinghe).”There is some form of political unrest in the country due to my decision, but I do not consider it as a serious political crisis”.The President said that he and Wickremesinghe had developed serious policy differences on their approach to governance.”The first one was on the appointment of the Cabinet. I had entrusted a committee of academics to recommend ways to appoint a cabinet based on a scientific division of subjects. But Mr Wickremesinghe ignored those recommendations,” he said.Sirisena said that Wickremesinghe appointed one ministry to handle both the higher education and the highways.One of the major issues of conflict was Sirisena’s opposition to Wickremesinghe’s nominee to the post of Central Bank governor Arjuna Mahendran, a Singaporean national.”I told him (Wickremesinghe) that he should not be appointed because he is a non Sri Lankan. He insisted that he (Mahendran) be appointed,” Sirisena said.The President said that Mahendran was responsible for the biggest financial scam in the country over the Central Bank’s issuance of bonds.A probe had found Mahendran guilty of providing insider information to a dealer linked to his son-in-law.”He (Mahendran) is absconding and Ranil Wickremesinghe knows his whereabouts,” Sirisena said, adding that he would appoint a special probe on Wickremesinghe’s three years as prime minister, accusing his government of being corrupt.The President described Wickremesinghe as a proponent of destructive neo-Liberal economic policies which are not suitable for Sri Lanka.”How can I work with a government leader who was ridiculing an attempt on my life,” Sirisena said, accusing the ousted prime minister of trying to undermine a probe on an alleged plot to assassinate him.