What’s next for crisis-ridden Sri Lanka?

A dramatic weekend in Sri Lanka’s Colombo has passed, where protestors stormed into President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s official residence. Some were seen taking a swim in his pool, while others torched Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence, demanding the leadership to resign.

What happened on Saturday is a culmination of months of protests by hundreds of thousands against an unprecedented economic crisis that has wrecked the country, left the government bankrupt, subsequently defaulting on $51 billion external debt and failing to provide the people with enough supplies of medicines, food or fuel.

Both the president and the prime minister have agreed to step down, but under the Sri Lankan constitution, a president is required to resign by writing a letter to the speaker of the parliament, which Rajapaksa is yet to do.

Gehan Gunatilleke, lawyer and senior partner at LexAG - Legal Consultants, says there have only been announcements of resignations by Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe, but it will be a positive outcome if they are secured.

“It is important that the situation should be de-escalated, and the new leadership is given the space to focus on bringing normalcy back into the country.”

To have stability, Gunatilleke says, the party that holds the majority of the seats in the parliament – Rajapaksa’s Podujana Peramuna party – must stand down and not block any crucial reforms. 

“They must provide confidence and vote in favour of reforms and in favour of budgetary allocations until the next election is held.”

As the country faces a deep financial crisis and thousands of protestors still gathered at the colonial-era presidential palace, what will be the future course of action for the 22 million-strong island nation?

“The only path forward is to reinvent itself,” says Sasanka Perera, sociology professor at the South Asian University in New Delhi, India. “That means it needs a set of competent leaders to stabilise (the) government as well as to deal with the economy.”

While Perera doesn’t think there are any able people in the current cadre of the parliament, he says “one has to work with these tainted people in the short run if the country will work within the constitution”.

At this crucial juncture, Colombo is relying on the International Monetary Fund for a bailout, but experts say discussions would be difficult following the default and in view of the ongoing political instability. 

The IMF, meanwhile, awaits for a resolution of the ongoing crisis to reinitiate dialogue.

Perera, who is also an author of several books, says moving forward a series of “very rational and mostly unpopular” economic decisions will have to be made, along with creating a mechanism to benefit the people who suffered through the economic crisis.

“From restructuring the public sector, radically expanding the industries, jumpstarting the tourism and service industries and crucially putting in place a social safety and social justice network to make sure the most acutely affected from this crisis are looked after until they are back on their feet,” he says.

“It has sent a clear signal that the culture of tolerance people in Lanka have lived in so far is over.  A more critical, reflective and younger generation have shown that enough is enough.”