The Power to Remain in Power: Sri Lanka's 37 steps backwards

Despite promises of lean and frugal government, Sri Lanka's President Ranil Wickremesinghe last week appointed 37 state ministers to the executive branch. The list of appointees reads like a who's who of some of the most controversial figures in the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, the party of the Rajapaksa's. Former PM and SLPP Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa's son, Namal Rajapaksa, has announced that a new alliance is to be established under his father's leadership. What does this mean for political stability and the democratic legitimacy of the government? What do the actions of the Wickremesinghe government portend for the 'aragalaya', or people's struggle, that drove the Rajapaksa's from power? Has the pre-aragalaya political status-quo been restored? These are the questions we are pondering on episode 20 of the Doghouse. Follow our coverage on the protest movement here - Incident Report - The Mirihana Protest, a Timeline The SLPP Attack on GotaGoGama: a Timeline The Attack on GotaGoGama: The Aftermath The Protest Tracker Download the Watchdog App for Android! Music - Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License. Cover art generated through Stable Diffusion