Five Reasons why Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe should retire now
Posted on January 14th, 2018
by Eranda Ginige, Founder of Social Enterprise Lanka | Former Head of Partnerships and Innovation at the British Council in Sri Lanka
29Articles by Eranda Ginige. https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/erandaginige
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.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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…
- 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 your 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.
I wrote this after watching the humiliating incident yesterday (10 January 2018) at the parliament, partly with sympathy and partly with a genuine wanting to tell the Prime Minister what he needs to hear at this critical moment. You can’t behave like a child at this very serious moment. I wish no disrespect to the Prime Minister. I sincerely hope this will help him to stop and reflect. Maybe we’ll meet one day when you’ve retired and talk about this over a good cup of black coffee.
January 14th, 2018 at 4:57 pm
I agree Ranil must retire now. Two decades ago he was grilled by the Batalanda Commission and today by the Bond Fraud Commission. Ranil was the prime minister on 3 separate occassions and everytime his terms were shortlived due to his unsound decisions. He was in politics for way too long for 41 years. It is time to retirement.
Mahinda first entered parliament 48 years ago and he has passed his retirement! He must retire at least now.
The nation needs new thinkers in leadership roles. By 2020 a generation would have passed since the Baby Boomer Generation took power in 1994. It is time to pass it on to the next generation (Gen X) in 2020.
Out of the 3 main parties, the party that retires aged leaders and replace them with a Gen X leader first has a definite advantage.
January 14th, 2018 at 5:17 pm
When Ranil shouted ** Kavuda Hora** in Parliament, he undressed himself in public, and showed what an Idiot of a Prime Minister he is, in the history of Sri lanka, and in the History of the Sri Lanka Parliament. Whatever little respect he has, can be equated to **The Aging Colonel with a Red Cap, leaning on two sagging sand bags. ** HE SHOULD RESIGN FORTHWITH, AND LIVE IN HIDING, BEFORE HE IS ARRESTED FOR COMPLICITY IN THE ALLEGED BATALANDA TORTURE CHAMBERS. **
January 14th, 2018 at 7:29 pm
Give him some credit guys – he has demonstrated his skill in dancing the Baila.
January 14th, 2018 at 9:56 pm
GO TO HELL RUN-NIL!
Tell me ONE THING RUN-NIL got right??? Everything is a failure!!
He digs his own grave with every passing year.
January 15th, 2018 at 3:32 am
Tell me ONE THING RUN-NIL got right??? If not his CFA with VP & co still We would have Eelam war IV !!!!
January 15th, 2018 at 4:03 am
This is what happens when a person who is elected to office time and time again through Sinhala Buddhist votes betray their trust and tries time and time again to deny their culture, established religious norms and history. He has worked all along with forces inimical to the long term good of Sri Lanka. He has worked tirelessly to hand over Sri Lanka on a platter to the Western Christian nations and failing that to India. He has worked tirelessly to bring disrepute to the war heroes that rescued the nation from a 30 year Tamil Racist insurrection that killed over 30,000 of our war heroes and overall killed over 125,000 Sri Lankans. He has made every effort to bring back those who aided and abetted the LTTE.
Arjun Mahendran the disgraced former head of the Central Bank and the Kumaraswamy the current head are both LTTE financiers.
It is a great fallacy that Ranil Wickramasinghe comes from an aristocratic family. They are not aristocrats , just some families that rose to prominence having helped the Britisher capture the Sinhala Kingdom. That traitorous blood still runs in his veins and that is the exact reason why he is so determined to make Sri Lanka a failed state and then go for balkanization with the help of the political wing of the LTTE – the TNA.
All what Ranil Wickramasinghe had done since fraudulently being appointed the Prime Minister in Jan 2105 are to make Sri Lanka a failed state.
We all wish to see him suffer for his crimes against Sri Lanka before he dies!
January 15th, 2018 at 5:53 am
E G
I’m really disappointed by you heaping praise on thambi mudiyanselage jr@ who destroyed our country for good
by implementing 13, 13A. It was the foundation stones for break up. Now the 350 mile-long (not 3,500, no roads,
no phones, vast country, several time zones) island has governments every 50 miles to please its ardent supporters
tamils, mussies, catholics and the catholic west. Then the traitor alugosuwa (to Sinhalese only) killed Sinhalese
Buddhist jaathidhrohee vermins’ party aka jvp supporters mercilessly; Batalande Wadakagaraya, headless corps
in rivers, bodies burning in town centres etc. while the real terrorists catholic run UNPatriotic party’s catholic
buddy barrel man hitler mala paharan’s catholic tigers of tamil drealam were mollycoddled and sacrificed
150,000+, mostly Buddhists, including Buddhist monks, tri forces personnel, police, men, women and childlren.
Thambi mudiyaselage jr@ was dancing to the tune of the west and wanted to break up Sri Lanka to create a
catholic country. Calling a monster a great man? Either you’ve been on another planet or you’re a supporters of
this anti Buddhist, anti Sinhalese and anti Sri Lanka gang of murderous thieves.
Catholic run UNPatriotic get into
power to murder Sinhalese, destroy Buddhism and Sri Lanka. It’s plunder, plunder, murder, murder! Then
disappear to enjoy the loot and come back with some brand new lies (mega) fool Sinhala modayas and get into
power and? Plunder, plunder, murder, murder (Sinhalese only please, it’s so easy, nobody utters a word against
it). Please don’t defend these destroyers of our culture, Sinhalese race and Sri Lanka.
Now to the thambi mudiyanselage jr@’s nephew biggest traitor ever in the history of Sri Lanka (probably only
second to jr@ in the treachery scale) die hard catholic token Buddhist mega thief mega thakkadiya Bay Gal Karaya Batalande Wadakaya Pol Pot r@nil wickrama Sinhala killler. Batalande Wadakaya’s treachery against Mother
Lanka, Sinhalese race and Buddhism knows no limits. Its life time ambition is to create a catholic country in Sri
Lanka to please its beloved religion, catholic west and the catholics in Sri Lanka. That’s why the wadakaya
and the catholic run UNPatriotics prolonged the war for 30+ years saying the catholic tigers of tamil drealam
were invincible. MR came terras were running for their lives. Sri Dalada Maligawa attack, Aranthalawa Bikku
massacre, Sri Maha Bodhi massacre still no action. Wonder why? Any thoughts Sinhala modayas? Then the
Wadakaya gave half the country on a plate to its catholic buddy barrel man hitler mala paharan. Still no separate
country. Then sent millennium city intelligent officers to the catholic tigers of tamil drealam bullet. Still no.
Now the trator chief has a real chance to achieve its lifetime ambition of breaking up the country along the
religious lines through the new constitution; one for tamils who will swallow up Anuradhapura etc. and one for
mussies who will grab Polonnaruwa etc. and one for catholics. Sadly Buddhists don’t feature in the Wadakaya’s
plans. Once all Buddhists cornered to the south, then slow demise of them can be started. If Sinhalese
Buddhists are to survive in the island, they have to get rid of the Wadakaya now before its too late and
eventually this anti Sinhalese, anti Buddhist, anti Sri Lanka catholic run UNPatriotics party. Sinhala modayas
still support this murderous thieves. Is there any chance then them to survive? Even leading Buddhist monks like
thibbotte bathgotte (guardians/destroyers of Budddhism?) support these murderous thieves. Ever heard the
phrase digging your own grave Sinhala modayas?
January 15th, 2018 at 5:59 am
Ranil will go when India kicks him out.
January 15th, 2018 at 6:02 am
Please click in the following links to see why the catholic run UNPatriotics dragged the war for 30+ years.
You won’t see these in so called Buddhist (on paper) Sri Lanka. It was a SINHALESE CULL! Just like the
Bheeshana Samaya which got rid of 60,000+ with the support of the top catholic police brass! So much for a
religion! A religion of convenience. These religions of conveniences don’t regard killing, stealing, lying, drugs/
alcohol abuse, sexual misconduct etc as sins while all the honest people including all the law courts under the
Sun. Buddhism’s five precepts cover all the misdeeds you can think of under the Sun. We all know Charles
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution explains how the two legged creatures came to being. Earth’s size is a grain of
sand in the vast universe. This god is a clever man to chose the ‘grain of sand’ from all the places in the
vast universe! Religions to be true they have to pass the science test!
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2016/05/27/ranil-wickremasinghes-new-unp-3/
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2017/08/09/ranil-wicremasinghes-crimes-against-sri-lanka-and-its-people-for-forty-years/
http://ltte-christian-ties.blogspot.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV6_o9txURc
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2015/08/05/christianizing-of-sri-lanka-unps-betrayal-of-buddhism/
http://www.lankagrid.com/soma-thero/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_eJ1gX_fuU
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2016/09/26/ltte-terrorism-church-links-can-someone-explain-these-photos/
January 16th, 2018 at 5:42 am
E G
Sorry I missed out few more points.
Alugosu (to Sinhalese only) lk porisada also a great man of course. Killed Buddhist jvpers mercilessly, headless
corpses in rivers, bodies burning in town centre. a mother going looking for her son who was taken away by the
Peliyagoda police find his burnt out body eaten by crows by the roadside. Great man? Very very great man!
Please read Batalande report.
Gave weapons to catholic tigers of tamil drealm to kill our own tri forces personnel. Sent 600+ policemen in the
east to catholic tigers of tamil drealam. It is okay because they were Sinhalese? Sirima B took just two weeks to
put down the insurgency, rounded up the culprits, rehabilitated and released back to the society. Catholic run
UNPatriotic party? Rehabilitation? What rehabilitation? They were Sinhalese. So the BHEESHANA SAMAYA went on
for 6 years. With the UNPatriotic party’s C grade (brigade) police and deshapaluwan 60,000+ Sinhalese gone.
A Sinhalese cull!
Some of these ‘great presidents’ + die hard catholic token Buddhist Batalande Wadakayas’ (monsters) great acts
of treacheries to destroy Sri Lanka, Sinhalese race and Buddhism from Sri Lanka.
*Thambi mudiyanselage jr@ 13, 13A to break up the country along religious lines (Buddhists don’t feature in the
3 country programme)
*giving half the country to catholic buddy hitler mala paharan
*sending millennium city intelligent officers to catholic tigers of tamil dream bulllet to expedite the cause by r@nil
*opposing FREE education bill by CWWK knowing Sinhalese going to benefit more
*giving arms to catholic tigers of tamil drealam to kill our own soldiers
*dragging the war for 30+ years to get rid of 100,000+ mainly Sinhalese. A Sinhalese cull!
*giving citizenships to 650,000+ estate tamils who were prepared to go to tn under Sirima Shastri pact in 1963.
Jr@ gave citizenships and halted it to secure their votes.
*Only a few months ago r@nil gave land deeds to 2500+ estate tamils in tea estates to destroy social fabric in the
upcountry and be part of a greater drealam
*when Wadakaya was education ministers stopped teaching history in schools; new generations don’t have a clue
about their proud history
*destroyed a very well run transport system to give work to henchmen. Today roads are cluttered with 1000s
and 1000s of private buses with not enough ‘fish’ to catch.
*never built an inch of motorways. While using MR built motorways which benefited tourism and filling their
stomachs with the money coming from it and have the audacity to say the work we do you can’t see
*breaking into CB with catholic buddy maha horandran and get away with 5585 billion rupees. Getting away is
very very easy. Appoint a commission of yes men. Put up some posters (lajja) baya nathi aga matta. Get their
henchmen tv, newspapers to call MR hora, all whitewashed!
*As soon as YAMA PAALANAYA started Buddhism went out of curriculum
*Now the ultimate betrayal; 3-country new constitution for the 3 groups by the wadakaya (Buddhist don’t feature
in the programme. Sorry!
Traitor catholic run UNPatriotic party’s list of treacheries against Sinhalese race, Sri Lanka and Buddhism is
endless. My advice to Sinhalese, if you are Sinhalese please please don’t support these UNPatriotic party gang of
thieves who are only good at destroying Sri Lanka, Sinhalese race and Buddhism.
January 16th, 2018 at 10:23 am
This man has destroyed our country for 40 years. It is high time he resigned or was forced to resign. His white masters want him there but the people of the country do not want him.
Please see: http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2017/08/09/ranil-wicremasinghes-crimes-against-sri-lanka-and-its-people-for-forty-years/