Significant issues may arise after the 20th.
Who is the lady behind Rajapakse family’s reunion?
About 11 months ago, the current Foreign Minister Mr. Ali Sabry, who served as the Minister of Finance during the government of former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, submitted the applications to obtain a comprehensive credit facility for Sri Lanka from the International Monetary Fund. Mr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, the then Governor of the Central Bank, and Mr. Mahinda Siriwardena, Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, accompanied Sabry to the headquarters of the Monetary Fund in Washington. Accordingly, from that day onwards, the government kept announcing deadlines and said that Sri Lanka would receive the loan money within 3 months. In many cases, the government had to extend the period by two months, three months, etc. because the government had to face a crisis in meeting the conditions presented by the financial fund.
IMF Guarantee
The most serious condition was that the financial fund expected a guarantee that all foreign creditors would agree to the restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt. Apart from this, the financial fund also presented 15 conditions to be fulfilled by the government. These are the changes that should be made within the country. Accordingly, the government increased the price of oil, electricity bill, water bill, and taxes to fulfil those conditions throughout the past period without paying attention to the huge public opposition that arose from within the country.
Chinese debt restructuring
However, despite fulfilling all those conditions, the government was facing a big crisis regarding the guarantee to be obtained from the creditors. The reason was that Sri Lanka’s largest creditor, China, did not agree to such debt restructuring. It was said from China’s side that it could not agree to such a debt restructuring because it has not been done before and if it goes to such a debt restructuring, other countries that it has given loans to may also demand such debt restructuring.
However, due to the fact that Sri Lanka’s other creditors, India, Japan, and European countries have given assurances that they agree to restructure the debt for a period of 10 years, it was also seen that strong countries including the United States exerted great influence on China to do the same.
China agrees
Accordingly, China took steps to send a letter to the government about a month ago that it is also ready to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt. At that time, it was seen that the government and the ministers of Pohottuwa were very happy and once again announced the dates and issued statements that the loan facility would be permanently provided by the financial fund. It was also seen how the majority of the media in this country took all those statements out of the box and propagated them morning, noon and night without any accountability or further investigation.
False news
However, as in all cases, the’ Rajya Rahas’ column presented true information to the country from the beginning and pointed out many problematic areas one by one, fulfilling the responsibility of true journalism as a responsible media. There we continuously pointed out that the government and the media have taken steps to present false facts to the country, and unlike other countries, China may have been reluctant to restructure its debt.
Also, we told the country more than once in this column that the news published by the government is completely false. It was mentioned here that the Rajya Rahas column has received a lot of information that certain people are paying money to a certain group and publishing these news and in the future we are ready to make a special disclosure about the groups that gave the money and about the group that published false information after receiving the money.
Two years instead of 10
However, the government was excited about receiving the Chinese guarantee, but the ‘Rajya Rahas’ Column said that since China had agreed to restructure the debt only for a period of 2 years, a crisis could arise based on that letter. As we said, the financial fund immediately informed the government that it is absolutely unacceptable that China has agreed to a debt restructuring for a period of 2 years, and that like other countries, China should also agree to a 10-year debt restructuring.
Short comings
Apart from this, the financial fund had also pointed out some other shortcomings in the letter. The first was that although the letter was supposed to be issued by the Chinese government, it was issued by the Export-Import Bank of China, or Exim Bank. The IMF informed the government that China should do the same as all the other creditor countries had issued letters by their respective governments.
The other point was that this Chinese letter should be submitted directly to the IMF. Because they had given that letter addressed to the Government of Sri Lanka by the Chinese Exim Bank. The IMF informed the government that it is not acceptable and that China should address the International Monetary Fund and forward the relevant letter. Accordingly, President Ranil Wickremesinghe tried to discuss this matter with Chinese President Xi Jinping on numerous occasions, but we had taken steps to reveal to the country two weeks ago through this column that all those occasions failed.
Breaking news
Under such a background, last week suddenly all the media published a ‘breaking news’ saying that China has issued the debt restructuring certificate as expected by the IMF. Pohottu’s ministers made statements about this inside and outside Parliament with great enthusiasm and said that China has submitted the loan guarantee letter as expected, and the first instalment of the $2.9 billion loan to be provided to Sri Lanka by the Financial Fund will be issued by March 20.
It can be expected that it will be done. The President also immediately came to the Parliament and made a special statement stating that China has given the loan certificate as required and the loan amount will be approved soon. It was seen that the picture of the Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Mr. Shanhon giving the relevant letter to the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Mr. Mahinda Siriwardena was also published it in the media.
First instalment March 20th
Accordingly, last week, the Rajya Rahas column also conducted a special investigation on whether the President’s story is true, whether China has forwarded the relevant loan certificates as expected by the IMF, and whether Sri Lanka will receive the first loan portion of the IMF on the 20th of March as the government says. One of the things we confirmed was that China had addressed the relevant letter to the International Monetary Fund itself, as the government said and as reported by the media. From that point of view, that fact is completely true.
But in this investigation we have seen that there are many facts that are not revealed by the government and the media. There was no big difference between the first letter sent by China and the second letter sent last time. There were only two changes. The first change was that instead of the letter addressed to Sri Lanka, this letter was addressed to the International Monetary Fund. The second difference was seeing only a slight change in one sentence of the article. The sentence read, we are ready to consider other options.
No difference in the two letters
Accordingly, there was not much difference between the first letter sent to China and the second letter. Like the first letter, the second letter was not sent by the Chinese government, but by the China Export Import Development Bank or Exim Bank. The second letter also stated that the debt restructuring certificate was issued only for a period of two years. But the government says that based on this letter, it will give a positive response on the loan amount to be released to Sri Lanka by the International Monetary Fund on March 20.
Accordingly, this letter is to be presented to the Executive Council of the International Monetary Fund on the 20th, and what will be their response there? The information we have says that the financial fund will only announce its agreement to release the relevant loan amount using this letter. But the most serious problem starts from there. Because from then on, the financial fund will take steps to start debt restructuring discussions with Sri Lanka’s foreign creditors. The problem is that in those discussions, a controversial situation arose with the 10-year loan interest concession expected by the IMF and the two-year loan interest concession given by China.
What happened in Zambia and Ghana?
The best examples are Zambia and Ghana. Earlier, Zambia and Ghana also requested the assistance of the International Monetary Fund in the face of the serious financial crisis in the country, and the IMF also agreed to give those loans. But their problem arose in the debt restructuring program with China. There, China had agreed to release the money due to its disagreement with the debt restructuring program expected by the International Monetary Fund, but the release of the money has not yet taken place. Accordingly, a serious problem has arisen as to whether the same thing will happen to Zambia and Ghana after starting negotiations with China regarding Sri Lanka’s debt.
Chinese condition
China has also notified another special matter through the relevant letter. That is that the discussions on the loan should be held only between the representatives of China and Sri Lanka. In other words only between Sri Lanka and Chinese Exim Bank. Through that, they say without saying that China is not ready to negotiate with other countries about Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring. Although many thought that this term would be removed from the second letter sent by China, it can be considered as a special fact that the term was included once again.
Chinese debt tactics
Meanwhile, information was reported last week about a certain tactic that China is ready to use in the debt restructuring negotiations. It is planned to raise some arguments in the discussion based on the number of countries that have been given loans by China and the International Monetary Fund and their debt restructuring. China is considered a senior in the field of international finance due to the fact that China has given loans to about 79 countries in the world.
In addition, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, etc. have provided loans to around 192 countries in the world. Accordingly, it has been learned that in these discussions, China is ready to suggest that the IMF, World Bank and Asian Development Bank should first show the program of debt restructuring with the countries that have given loans. According to that, it has been seen that China is resorting to a program to create another new issue through the issue of Sri Lanka with the international community. That is through planning to drag the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank into a big mess regarding debt restructuring. No media is currently reporting on any of this, but the international media may be seen reporting special information about this from time to time.
Reuter reports
In the beginning, although some Reuter’s news reports from Sri Lanka published false news about the discussions of the financial fund, it can be seen that the Reuters reports from other countries have reported balanced information about these discussions. Looking at those neutral reports, it can be seen that the discussions regarding the financial fund are being pushed to a very dangerous place, no matter who mentions what.
Accordingly, in order to subdue the election heat that was emerging in the country, the government is inflating through the media saying that the discussions of the financial fund are ‘successful’, but it will undoubtedly explode at any time.
Rajapakse reunion?
On many occasions in the past, we have taken steps to report information about the serious political crisis that has emerged within the Rajapaksa family through the ‘State Secrets’ channel. There we said that with former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa leaving the presidency and fleeing the country, the disagreements within the Rajapaksa family came to the fore. In particular, we reported on this column how Mr. Chamal Rajapaksa, the senior member of the Rajapaksa family, started a separate journey with his son Mr. Shashindra Rajapaksa while staying in the government, how Basil, Mahinda and the group were publicly scolded, and how the members of the Rajapaksa family were not on good terms.
Photograph together
However, suddenly, last week, a photograph of many members of the Rajapakse family together at one table appeared in the media. Because there is an opinion within the country that there are serious political disagreements between the Rajapaksa families, as soon as the photo showing the Rajapaksa family reunited was published, many people started to find out if the Rajapaksa family members have reunited and started a new political journey. Due to the fact that the picture has been given a lot of publicity through the media, we have also taken steps to find out the story behind the scenes of the Rajapaksa’s coming together at one table.
There we came to know that the steps to reunite the Rajapakse family, were taken by a sister of the Rajapaksa family who had recently returned to Sri Lanka from abroad and her married husband. This they had introduced as reunion. For that, they had arranged to invite all the Rajapaksa family to a dinner party at their private home in Colombo. For that, she had taken steps to invite former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and his wife, all of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s family, and all of Basil and Chamal’s family.
Mahinda to Tangalla
However, despite everyone’s agreement for this dinner, it was seen that it was disrupted at the last moment. That is because suddenly Mahinda, Shiranthi and Namal left for Mahagedara in Tangalle. Although this may seem like a coincidence, various rumours that had spread in the political sphere said that Mahinda did not attend this dinner and left for Tangalle on the strong request of Shiranti and Namal. Accordingly, the dinner was held without Mahinda, Shiranthi and Namal. However, the most special event to be seen there was the presence of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife Mrs. Ayoma Rajapaksa at the dinner.
Second invitation
Even though the first attempt of reuniting the Rajapakse family was thwarted, the Rajapaksa family’s sister and her husband did not give up the effort. Accordingly, after Mahinda, Shiranti and Namal returned to Colombo from Tangalle, she once again planned to host a dinner for the Rajapaksa family at her home. She also took steps to invite all the Rajapaksas to it like the previous time. The result was that after some time, all the seniors of the Rajapaksa family once again had the opportunity to enjoy a meal together at one table. Mahinda, Chamal, Basil, Namal, Shashindra were present, and only Gota and Ayoma were not present at the table. However, the opposition to Gota within the Rajapaksa family came out because some members of the Rajapaksa family took steps to severely criticize Gota’s actions during the dinner.
Mahinda as PM again?
However, three weeks ago we revealed information about an operation launched in Pohottua to reinstate Mahinda along this belt. Below is our note about it.
There is news that Pohottuwa has launched another political operation these days. That is the operation to re-appoint former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to the post of Prime Minister. The reason for this is that the leaders of the party have realized that if any elections are held without the post of President or the post of Prime Minister, Pohottuwa will face a very dangerous fate. In order to alleviate the situation to some extent, Basil and others are of the opinion that Pohottuwa should get a high position in the government.
Dinesh the obstacle?
But the main obstacle for this is none other than Dinesh Gunawardena, who is the current Prime Minister. Since Dinesh is a senior member of the government, he cannot make such a proposal suddenly, but by last week, the Rajapaksa family had arranged to give him this message unofficially. It was said that Mahinda should be given one more chance to serve as Prime Minister.
As Dinesh had given a silent response in the first instance, several members of the Rajapaksa family have informed Dinesh unofficially about the same message. But Dinesh has come to know that there is no ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to it till now. But it is also reported that the Rajapaksa family has not given up on that mission yet.’
The Rajya Rahas column has heard that this matter which we have mentioned has been discussed again at the dinner that day. Dinesh did not respond when the information was reported through the state secret channel, but later Dinesh issued a statement saying that there will be no change in the position of Prime Minister. It has been learned that information was discussed within the Rajapaksa family in this regard as well. Accordingly, it was possible to see that through the operation to reunify the Rajapakse family, the operation to reinstate Mahinda as Prime Minister had come out.
Political threat to Pohottuwa
Under such a background, Mr. Basil Rajapaksa, the national organizer of Pohottuwa, has also made a slight change in his political plan. The reason for this is that Basil has received information that a group of ministers who are close to the president have launched a political operation to dissolve the pot. Under this situation, as a political ploy, Basil has decided to quietly keep his head down and continue his work for some time. Basil’s calculation is that in order to play a game within the government, first the Rajapaksas should be strong and stand straight.
Astrology and Rajapakse family
Apart from this, the Rajapaksa’s are a political family that strongly believes in astrology. It is the custom of the Rajapaksas to act according to astrology whether won or lost or before doing any political work. According to the information we have, we have received advice from astrologers that the Rajapaksa’s will have a chance to regain power by next May. The Rajapaksa family has decided to remain silent until then, and the family plans to actively resume political activities by the end of April.
Mahinda PM after May?
Apart from this, there is news that the astrologers have informed the Rajapakse family about a prediction that Mahinda can sit in the prime minister’s chair again for a short period of time after the month of May. It is a special event that together with these astrological instructions, a dinner has been prepared at the home of the Rajapaksa family’s sister and a reunification operation has been launched.
March 9th to April 25th
Last week, the Election Commission decided to hold the local government elections scheduled for March 9th on April 25th due to the dragging of feet of various parties in the government. Accordingly, according to the interim injunction order given by the court prohibiting the withholding of the money allocated from the budget for the election, the Election Commission last week called the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the Chief Press Officer and the Inspector General of Police to the Election Commission for discussion.
Mr. Mahinda Siriwardena did not participate in the discussion saying that he had to participate in an emergency Security Council meeting on the Tuesday when this discussion was called, and the press officer who was present told the commission that all the remaining postal ballot papers can be printed within 05 days, and the ballot papers will be printed between 20 and 25 days. It can be printed in time.
NEC is ready!
Accordingly, even though the Election Commission is preparing for the election, the government has not yet decided to implement plans to postpone the election. Accordingly, the latest plan of the government is to prepare the necessary background to postpone the election through the report of the Delimitation Committee. Mr. Mahinda Deshapriya, the former commissioner of the Election Commission, is acting as the chairman of that commission. The plan of the government is to get this report from Mahinda Deshapriya as soon as possible, pass it in the cabinet and submit it to the parliament as an act.
Mahindadeshapriya as EC?
Meanwhile, another new information about Mahinda Deshapriya was reported to the media. That is that Mr. Mahinda Deshapriya, who retired after serving in the Election Commission for over 35 years and spent time with his children and grandchildren, has once again submitted an application for the position of Chairman of the Election Commission. Apart from Mahinda Deshapriya, the current chairman of the commission, Mr. Nimal Punchihewa, has also submitted an application for it again. However, the available information says that the Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya has the support of the government.
Ranil Loyal?
In general, Mahinda Deshapriya was considered to be close to Basil and Rajapaksa in the past. But by now, it has been seen that Mahinda Deshapriya has become very close to President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Accordingly, the government has planned to pass Mahinda Deshapriya’s limited report in the parliament as soon as possible and then cancel the election. After doing so, it is known that the government has planned to appoint a new election commission that is friendly to them.
New acting General Secretary SLFP
Last week, party president Maithripala Sirisena took steps to appoint a new Acting General Secretary to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Mr. Sarath Ekanayake, a former governor of the Central Province, was so appointed. When the media asked Maithri about this appointment, ‘Isn’t it a cut for Dayasiri?’, Maithri laughed and said that there is no such thing, and that since Dayasiri is abroad, an Acting General Secretary has been appointed for that purpose.
Maithri laughed and said that there was no crisis within the party, but Dayasiri had been very disappointed for some time. Dayasiri went abroad for his son’s graduation with the same political frustration. The cause of Dayasiri’s disappointment was the fact that Maithrie had once again made a deal with the government.
Maithri’s change
Also, information had been reported to Dayasiri that Maithrie has resumed negotiations with Duminda Dissanayake and the group who broke away from the SLFP and joined the government, and that Maithrie is ready to rejoin the government as a party with all of them. Many of the people who talked to Dayasiri had taken steps to inform him that Maithrie had changed after the verdict of one million compensation for the victims of the Easter attack. Also, the information that Maithrie had spoken to the President from time to time, and Basil on another occasion had also spread in the political field.
Dayasiri’s next move?
Under this situation, Maithri was first ready to play the role of the opposition in alliance with the Free People’s Alliance, but when the representatives of that alliance reported this change of Maithri, he was removed from that alliance. But it is reported that Dayasiri has decided to continue participating in the negotiations of the Freedom Alliance. According to this, Dayasiri, who is currently abroad, is ready to take some tough political decisions after coming to Sri Lanka.