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by S. Francis Perera

Long after Ranil has made his last bow on the political stage men will remember him as the politician who made the largest number of prophesies that failed to materialize.

Neither did the rebels lay down and surrender arms, nor did they vacate the territory they held. School children continued to be abducted. The rebel ‘government’ continued to function, extorting money from civilians, operating banks and radio stations, holding courts and assassinating political opponents.

He predicted that the S.L.F.P. and the J.V.P. would never form an alliance. Not only did the two parties align themselves, but what is more, this alliance inflicted a severe drubbing on his party.

Another prediction was that the alliance would be defeated, but the reverse proved to be the truth. With so many false prophesies to his discredit it is not to be wondered at that his words have lost their credibility.

It is the duty of the civic-minded citizen to probe the reasons for Ranil's failure so as to be able to be aware of his drawbacks.

1. Notable among the causes for Ranil's failure is his paucity of the qualities needed in a leader. A leader, as Disreali waggishly but truthfully said, must lead, but Ranil is more led than leads. His ministers misuse state funds, ignore his orders and act in an arbitrary manner, while Ranil looks on lacking, as it were, the will or the gumption to cry halt.

Or, perhaps, he fears the errant ones if punished will form a cabal against him. His political impotence, inaptitude and vacillation are not the stuff of which great leader's are made. Dr. Peter Drucker, that great authority on management says that there are three great qualities indispensable to a leader: namely, initiative, dynamism and intuition.

During two years in office Ranil gave irrefutable proof that he lacks them all. (A) During the two months of the election campaign, day in and day out, Ranil cried himself hoarse that he ushered in an age of peace.

He claimed it as his handiwork. On the other hand, Jayalath Jayawardene traversed the length and breadth of the Gampaha district claiming responsibility for negotiating a ceasefire and restoring peace to civil society. He made it quite clear that the whole process was his brain-child and no one elses. So much for Ranil's claim to possess initiative. Are we to dismiss the claims of both or are we to resort to the judgement of Soloman in the question.

(B) Let us now examine Ranil's credentials for possessing dynamism. It was one of Ranil's avowed intentions on assuming power to impeach President Chandrika and see her ousted from office.

In spite of there being legal luminaries to advise him, and seasoned Parliamentarians to back him, his well laid plan was a flop. Possessed as she is with true dynamism and drive the President forestalled him when she prorogued Parliament. (C) As for intuition, if Ranil had so much as a very small measure of this quality he would not have tried to beguile unemployed youths with the promise to lavish trinkets on then such inane talk smacks of Marie Antoinette's level of intelligence.

Thus it is clear that it is not talent that has raised him to leadership. His sole qualification for leading the UNP is his ties of kinship with J. R. Jayewardene. The late J. R. Jayewardene, the superlative humbug that he was, assured the public that he had no son with political ambition to succeed him. But he failed to tell them that he was grooming a nephew to whom he would pass on his mantle!

(2) In talking about a non-existing peace Ranil is either labouring under a delusion or is uttering a political inexactitude to bolster the waning fortunes of his party. The ceasefire is observed more in the breach than in the letter and sprit. Let us consider the factors that induced the LTTE leaders to enter into a secret agreement with the UNP With the Sri Lankan Navy having the upperhand in our territorial waters, all communication between the LTTE leaders and their foreign arms suppliers has been cut off now for quite some time.

The rebels lacked not only arms and ammunition but also fighting personnel. There is Karuna, the Eastern rebel-leader to substantiate the foregoing statement. The rebels were reduced to abducting school children to fight for them.

At a time when their movement was in a moribund state Ranil's agents went to plead with them to enter into a secret pact with the UNP. To this day the public are ignorant of the terms of the infamous pact.

Nowhere else in the world has a government elected by the people like the one headed by Ranil, granted such absurdly generous terms to a rebel group in return for agreeing to a ceasefire. Ranil like Neville Chamberlain, will be branded by posterity as a political weakling who nearly sold the birthright of his people to a ruthless rebel group.

The status quo that prevailed before the ceasefire was to be maintained intact. The international conventions governing conditions for signing a ceasefire were flouted by both parties - the rebels by their truculence and the Government leaders by their poltroonery.

Neither did the rebels lay down and surrender arms, nor did they vacate the territory they held. School children continued to be abducted. The rebel 'government' continued to function, extorting money from civilians, operating banks and radio stations, holding courts and assassinating political opponents.

They even had the temerity to open up camps on government held territory. While the opposition protested the Prime Minister and his henchmen went about their business as though all were well 'in the best of all possible worlds'. Which prompted a wag to say that even if the LTTE rebels choose to set up a camp on Temple Trees premises, Ranil's response would be to turn a Nelsonian eye!

After the ceasefire came into operation the rebels killed a large number of Muslims and rendered a larger number of them homeless. Tamil leaders who did not meet with their approval were also killed. While foreign nations and the opposition have condemned the killings, Ranil alone has maintained a deafening silence. To such an abject state has Ranil been reduced. So much for his pseudo-peace.

(3) When the people protested against spiralling prices of consumer items, all Ranil did was to talk of a non-existent peace. None, I think, can equal this politician in the role of Artful Dodger. It was the common people who voted Ranil to power in 2001; they as it were, were the back-bone of the UNP. Instead of inquiring into their grievances and seeking ways and means of redressing them, he took to flattering and fawning the business community.

Under the UNP regime they were the most pampered lot. Numerous are the concessions that have been granted to them. Tax holidays, tax exemptions and tax amnesties were showered on them without taking into consideration the parlous financial situation in the country.

It was fortunate that the Supreme Court intervened to point out that the Tax Amnesty Bill was inappropriate. Instead of attempting to solve the unemployment problem it was aggravated under the UNP regime with their reckless measures. One of the charges levelled against them by their opponents is that during their period of two years in office, they had not granted any employment.

On the other hand, they said 65,000 government or semi-government employees were retrenched. Ranil says that two years is not enough to pull out the country from the economic morass. Yet on coming to power he assured the nation that he would deliver the first fruits of his stewardship at the end of a hundred days.

(4) Under the UNP Government bribery, corruption and shady deals were the order of the day. There is no tangible proof that Ranil was involved, but the same cannot be said of some of his colleagues. Embezzlement of state funds, laying violent hands on government servants, the use of scurrilous language at public meetings and contempt shown to law courts are some of the more serious charges brought against UNP ministers, Ranil's respect for the rule of law amy be judged by the fact that he granted nomination to men involved in court cases, with serious charges against them.

(5) A backlash against UNP misrule came in the form of a spate of strikes, fasts unto death and protest marches. They hired hoodlums to attack those taking part in strikes but to no avail. The State sector was tottering and the government leaders knew not what to do. the nation was spared the agonies of anarchy, thanks to the fact that the President dissolved Parliament and called a general election.

(6) With the executive President from one party and the Prime Minister from another there should have been cohabitation between the two. From the time that Ranil assumed office the President showed her willingness to cooperate.

But the former proved to be a stumbling block. He neither consulted nor kept her informed. The media heads taking the hint from Ranil treated the President with scant regard. The President's official pronouncements were published belatedly or not at all.

Even when published they were not given the prominence that was their due. Some private channels failed to provide time to the President's addresses to the nation. Like leader, like lackeys.

(7) The main reason for the failure of the peace process was the exclusion of the President from the negotiation table. Ranil is one of those obscurantist politicians who does not learn from history, and who in the words of the historian Carlyle, lived to repeat history.

Time and time again history has shown that unless the leaders of the two main parties are of one mind, trying to find a permanent solution to the ethnic problem will be a futile exercise. The President was amenable but the Prime Minister was adamant. The President's repeated offers to cooperate were spurned.

Now in the backwoods of the opposition Ranil can like Shakespeare's Cardinal Wolsey reflect on why adversity has overtaken him. Like that worldly-minded religious dignitary he will see that the fault lies with him, for he did not serve his masters (the voters) with half the zeal he served the business magnates. Nowhere else in the world in recent times has a party once backed by the masses with so much euphoria been dismissed by them in so short a time as two years, in such ignominy.

With Ranil's exit we have good fortune to have an able and honest man at the helm. Mahinda Rajapaksa is armed with the right credentials to be Prime Minister.

At no time in his political career has his name been associated with scandal. In him we have a secular saint-like figure. He is happily married with three sons; one does not see him in the company of women of easy morals or handsome playboys - whether on or off duty.

Nor have the public heard that Mahinda has ever gone abroad at government expense accompanied by a host of women or boys under the pretext of discharging State business.

People very much care to have a happily married leader with children. Such a person, so they believe, can be depended on to know the problems people are face with.

In an age in which the institution of the family is assailed on all sides. Mahinda exemplifies conjugal fidelity. We have the right man to guide the destinies of the land.

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