Ranil Wickremesinghe. File
| Photo Credit: N. Ram

COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe has drawn sharp criticism over his government’s defiant response to a recent Supreme Court decision, which senior lawyers and critics say, amounts to “wilful disregard” of the Constitution.

The attack comes in the wake of an interim order issued by the island nation’s top court on July 24, 2024, in regard to the President’s appointment of the police chief.  

The order restrained Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon from continuing in the post and asked Mr. Wickremesinghe to appoint a suitable official to the post for the period of the stay.

The Supreme Court’s ruling followed nine Fundamental Rights petitions challenging the IGP’s appointment, mostly on constitutional grounds.

The senior police official’s appointment has remained controversial also because the Supreme Court in December 2023 held him personally responsible for torture in a 2011 case.

Following the recent court order, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told Parliament that the government refused to accept the decision. The post of IGP was not vacant and therefore prevented the President from appointing an acting IGP, he contended.

His remarks drew flak from Opposition politicians who termed the government’s response “reckless”.  

Taking to social media platform ‘X’, Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa said: “When a President defies the Supreme Court, he attacks the very fabric of our democracy. At a time when we are striving for justice and progress, his reckless actions and political chess games risk plunging us into chaos and oppression.”

Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who leads the Opposition National People’s Power (NPP) alliance, vowed to take legal action against IGP Thennakoon if he continued functioning in the post. Further, he challenged PM Gunawardena to make his statement rejecting the Supreme Court decision outside the House, without the protection of Parliamentary privilege.

Meanwhile, President Ranil Wickremesinghe on July 28 called upon the Parliamentary Speaker and the Chief Justice to hold discussions to resolve the issue.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), a prominent professional body of lawyers, said it “strongly condemns” the efforts of the government to “subvert the course of justice”.

“The claim that the Supreme Court does not have power to call into question appointments made by the President which are approved by the Constitutional Council is totally untenable,” the BASL said in its statement, even as the executive appears to be on collision course with the judiciary.

“It is essential for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary that the executive and legislature respect the judgments of the courts of the land,” it said.

The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a Colombo-based non-governmental organisation, noted that the President is “duty bound” to uphold the Constitution.

“Wilful violation of the Constitution, including by refusing to do what the Constitution requires him to do, is a ground on which a President can be impeached,” it said in a statement. Contrary to claims made by sections, the SC’s interim order had “no impact” on the conduct of Sri Lanka’s presidential elections scheduled for September 21, 2024, the CPA noted. “While the order leaves it open to the President to make a suitable acting appointment to the post, in the event he does not, the Election Commission could, as per the Constitution, give necessary orders to the hierarchy of the Sri Lanka Police to perform functions relating to the election,” it said.

This handout photo released by Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s Office on March 27, 2024 shows Sri Lanka’s PM Dinesh Gunawardena (left) with Chinese President Xi Jinping, before a meeting in Beijing.
| Photo Credit: AFP

China has said it would continue to support Sri Lanka, as the crisis-hit island nation’s Prime Minister on March 30 wrapped up a visit to Beijing to try to finalise a debt restructuring deal.

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena arrived in China on Monday for a visit that included meeting President Xi Jinping and an appearance at the Boao Forum, a high-profile international meeting.

Sri Lanka’s years-long economic crisis was high on the agenda during Mr. Gunawardena’s trip, with China accounting for around 10% of the South Asian country’s total foreign debt.

China is willing to “continue supporting its financial institutions to actively negotiate with Sri Lanka, maintain friendly communication with other creditors, play a positive role in the International Monetary Fund, assist Sri Lanka in financial relief,” Beijing’s Foreign Ministry said in the Chinese version of a joint bilateral statement released on March 29.

The two sides agreed to “make every effort to promote the Port City Colombo and Hambantota Development Project, turning them into flagship projects of the Sino-Sri Lankan joint construction of the ‘Belt and Road'”, the statement said, referring to Xi’s massive Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative.

The southern sea port of Hambantota was considered among the white-elephant projects launched by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who ruled the country for a decade until 2015.

Rajapaksa borrowed heavily from China for projects that many criticised as a debt trap that led to the worst economic crisis in Sri Lanka’s history. Unable to repay a huge loan taken from China in 2017 to build Hambantota port, Sri Lanka handed it over to the state-owned China Merchants Group for $1.12 billion on a 99-year lease.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its $46 billion external debt in April 2022 after it ran out of foreign exchange to finance even essential imports such as food, fuel and medicine. It secured a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout last year, with the programme conditional on a debt deal that satisfies foreign creditors.

China had agreed “in principle” to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt in December, but neither Colombo nor Beijing had given details and the two are yet to finalise an agreement. Sri Lanka’s government said in January that a foreign debt restructure would be finalised by the beginning of April.

Dinesh Gunawardena. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena arrived at Beijing on March 25 for a six-day official visit during which he will hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang on ways to further deepen bilateral ties.

“Mr. Gunawardena was received on his arrival by Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister and former Ambassador to India Sun Weidong,” Chinese official media reported.

This will be the first visit by a Sri Lankan leader to Beijing after Colombo put a moratorium on recurring visits by Chinese research ships to Hambantota port, reportedly due to India’s security concerns. Colombo’s move had drawn angry reactions from China.

Earlier this month, however, Sri Lanka said it would allow foreign offshore research ships for replenishments at its ports despite a one-year ban on such vessels.

Some of China’s infrastructure investments in Sri Lanka drew global concerns over Beijing’s debt diplomacy especially after China took over Hambantota port on a 99-year debt swap.

Mr. Gunawardena’s visit also comes days after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reached a staff-level agreement with Sri Lanka for the next phase that would enable it access to $337 million from the nearly $3 billion bailout approved in 2023 for the cash-strapped country.

In 2022, Sri Lanka announced a default on over $51 billion foreign loans, following which India pitched in with about $4 billion in assistance to enable the island nation to recover from a deep economic crisis.

According to Sri Lanka’s official data, China tops the list of its creditors with 43% followed by Japan with 23% and India with 15%.