Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa says three main issues that he was unable to address during his tenure will have to be looked into by the future leader of Sri Lanka.
Outlining them, he said firstly it was the issues that got him elected to power, such as the fact that the Sinhalese and particularly the Sinhala Buddhists are being taken for granted, ignored, sidelined, and downtrodden by various foreign and local parties.
Secondly, the deterioration of the economy and the massive indebtedness of the country.
And lastly, the total failure on the law and order, national security and intelligence fronts.
“These unaddressed issues will have to be dealt with by another leader in the future. My fervent hope is that Sri Lanka finds this leader sooner rather than later,” he added.
Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa made the remarks in his newly released book ‘The Conspiracy’, in which he shared the ordeal he had to face during his ouster from the Presidency due to anti-government protests in May 2022.
Excerpts from the book;
As stated earlier, I also dealt head-on with Sri Lanka’s external debt problem and became the only Sri Lankan leader in post-independence history to actually reduce external debt from USD 54,811 million at the end of 2019 to USD 48,731 million by the end of June 2022 – a reduction of 12%.
Even though some people alleged that I had abandoned a sinking ship, Sri Lanka was certainly in no danger of going under at the time I resigned. The steps necessary to alleviate the shortages of gas, fuel, medicine and other goods that were experienced in early 2022 had been taken during my tenure and that of former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa thanks to the unstinting support of India and the World Bank Shipments of fuel and other essentials were arriving even in the days that I resigned. It is these supplies that eliminated the queues and stabilized the economy in the weeks and months after I resigned. As for the massive pile-up of foreign commercial debt which brought this country down, I have explained in an earlier chapter that neither I nor my brother Mahinda had anything to do with it, and those who bear the responsibility for that are those who ran the country between 2015 and 2019.
What I failed to get on top of was the foreign and local conspiracy to oust me from power which was strategically launched in March/April 2022 just when the country was beginning to recover from the pandemic. As stated earlier was not worth risking even the loss of a single life just so that my departure from office has left unaddressed the three main I could remain in power for a couple of years more. However, issues that got me elected to power, the fact that the Sinhalese and particularly the Sinhala Buddhists are being taken for granted, ignored, sidelined, downtrodden and ball by various foreign and local parties, the deterioration of the economy and the massive indebtedness of the country the total failure on the law and order, national security and intelligence fronts. These unaddressed issues will have to be dealt with by another leader in the future. My fervent hope is that Sri Lanka finds this leader sooner rather than later. (NewsWire)