Sri Lanka’s leader of Opposition and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa has said that the no-confidence motion will be brought against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa during the next session of parliament.
Premadasa made the announcement while speaking at the commencement of the fifth day of the ‘Samagi Bala March’ organized by the SJB against the government in Yakkala yesterday. Premadasa said the Rajapaksa government, which has taken the country to the brink of collapse within two years, should be sent home immediately.
Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since independence with food and fuel shortages, soaring prices and power cuts affecting a large number of the people, resulting in massive protests over the government’s handling of the situation.
The recession is attributed to foreign exchange shortages caused by a fall in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as reckless economic policies, like the government’s move last year to ban chemical fertilizers in a bid to make Sri Lanka’s agriculture “100 percent organic”.
Due to an acute shortage of Foreign exchange, Sri Lanka recently defaulted on the entirety of its foreign debt amounting to about 51 billion US Dollars. The economic situation has led to huge protests with demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.