Sirisena reinstates sacked minister in cabinet reshuffle

Sri Lanka’s president reshuffled his cabinet yesterday after the defection of several ministers from his party, but the changes did not impress some market watchers looking for an end to the country’s political uncertainty.President Maithripala Sirisena shifted 18 cabinet members, including reassigning posts once held by defectors from his ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).The president reinstated his justice minister, who was sacked nine months ago for publicly criticising a billion-dollar deal to lease a loss-making harbour to China.Former justice minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was sworn into cabinet with the higher education and culture portfolios, in a reshuffle prompted by the resignation of six ministers last month.Sirisena’s office did not say why Rajapakshe was brought back into the fold despite his sacking last August.Rajapakshe had been forced out of the cabinet after criticising the controversial $1.1bn lease of a loss-making deep sea port to China.He was also accused by his own party of delaying the prosecution of former government figures accused of murder and corruption under former president Mahinda Rajapakse, who led the country through the conclusion of a decades-long civil war until his ouster in a 2015 poll.The reshuffle came after 16 SLFP members of parliament, most of them ministers, joined the opposition last month after a failed move to oust Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe through a no-confidence motion.The motion was sponsored by opponents who blame the prime minister for failing to prevent an alleged scam in the bond market and anti-Muslim riots in March.After the motion failed, the 16 MPs decided to sit with the opposition, weakening the SLFP’s coalition with Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP).Investors had been waiting for a cabinet reshuffle since April 12 when Sirisena, in the wake of the failed no-confidence motion, suspended parliament until May 8.“The changes are very cosmetic. There is nothing to boost the market,” said a stockbroker in Colombo where the stock index ended flat yesterday.The coalition government and its reform agenda has been under pressure since a political party backed by Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapakse won a landslide victory in local polls on February 10.The government has struggled to deliver on its 2015 campaign promises to impose fiscal discipline as recommended by multi-lateral lenders, reform the constitution to give more power to the provinces, and begin an international probe in alleged war crimes during the final phase of Sri Lanka’s civil war which ended in 2009.“The country does not need a cabinet reshuffle at this point, but reforms to restructure the country,” said Victor Ivan, an independent political columnist.