Namal, the SLPP and a revival derailed by a narcotics scandal

By Kassapa

When Namal Rajapaksa and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) were trounced at the last presidential election, securing just 2.5% of the votes, critics were quick to write the party’s political obituary. The party and the Rajapaksa dynasty is dead and buried for all practical purposes, they said. Their subsequent showing at the general election two months later appeared to vindicate this claim.

Eight months later, at the local government elections, their vote had increased by 600,00 votes, representing a 6% increase. Coupled with a more than two-million-vote drop in the ruling National People’s Power (NPP), ‘Pohottuwa’ acolytes were quick to herald a resurgence for the party.

Certainly, SLPP stalwarts, lulled into a stunned silence after their rout at the presidential and general elections, were recently beginning to make their presence felt again. They were appearing on television talk shows and offering ‘voice cuts’ criticizing the government. Namal Rajapaksa, the heir apparent to the party leadership, was busy on TikTok, trying to reinvent himself as a man of the masses and doing his best to impress the youth of the country. It wasn’t a spectacular resurgence, but it was a definite start.

It came to a point where Namal et al began mocking the government for the daily gangster style shootings that were being reported on a regular basis, costing lives. Where is the promised land of law-and-order, they asked, perhaps rightly so.  

Then came the news that five alleged underworld gang leaders were detained in Indonesia and were being flown back to Sri Lanka. Their names (or rather, their nom de guerres) were familiar to Sri Lankans. That was when Namal Rajapaksa jumped the gun.

It is difficult to fathom what the young Rajapaksa was thinking  – or whether he was thinking at all – but he said that there may be an attempt to link him and the Rajapaksas to the apprehended suspects. He needn’t have said that. Unfortunately, those words turned out to be quite prophetic.

Reports suggest that the apprehended alleged underworld leaders are now spilling the beans while in custody. They are held in different locations and are being interrogated separately. What we have heard so far is sensational: that there was a plan to manufacture the street drug ‘Ice’ (crystal methamphetamine) in the country, and chemicals had been imported in bulk. Investigators following these leads came up with a staggering find: 50,000 kilograms of chemicals buried in a land linked to a SLPP local government candidate at the recent election, Sampath Manamperi.

The party has tried its best to dissociate itself from Manamperi’s activities, suspending him forthwith. Whether that will resonate well with the public remains to be seen. It has now come to light that Manamperi was a suspect in the murder of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj, but was later released. He has been involved in narcotics-related offences before. The question that arises then is whether the SLPP was aware of all this and still appointed Manamperi as its candidate. If it did, that is telling. If it didn’t, it would be worse, though few would believe that excuse.

Namal Rajapaksa has spoken since then. He has tried to deflect any accusations against the party to the individual concerned and asked for a speedy and impartial inquiry. He has also accused the government of attempting to politicize the discovery of chemicals. Rajapaksa attempts to link the detection with the release of over three hundred containers from the Colombo Port in January, which led to a controversy and raises questions about whether this is a deliberate attempt to implicate the SLPP.

It is obvious that Rajapaksa has been handed a very difficult brief. One of his party members has been implicated in what appears to be a mass-scale operation to produce and distribute the deadly narcotic Ice in the country. The chemicals were discovered in Middeniya, only a few kilometres away from Medamulana, which is Rajapaksa heartland in the deep South. The general perception is that in this region, nothing happens without the tacit approval of the Rajapaksas. 

Already, fairly or unfairly, social media has erupted in posts mocking the Rajapaksas and the SLPP for their alleged links to the narcotics trade. It is eroding the party’s credibility and standing by the day.

Namal Rajapaksa may feel he should target the government at this time.  However, accusing the government of incompetence and bias when it has just made what is arguably the most significant breakthrough against the narcotics trade sounds a bit hollow.

Rajapaksa needs to first understand why the public is reacting in this manner. For long, politicians associated with the SLPP have been rumoured to have links to the narcotics trade. The names of Duminda Silva and Nimal Lanza have been bandied about regarding this, although they have never been found guilty in a court of law. With such a history behind them, the reaction of the public is only to be expected.

Much though will depend on the progress of the investigations. It is now up to the authorities to pursue the leads uncovered in the initial interrogation and come up with evidence that will stand the test in a court of law. The reality is that the hitherto unknown Sampath Manamperi may not be the kingpin of the narcotics trade; there could be more important, well-known personalities involved.

This is also why Namal Rajapaksa should be extremely careful about what he says and who he defends. The Rajapaksas have watched powerlessly while the Rambukwellas, Chandrasenas, Aluthgamages, Nalin Fernandos and their own Shashindra Rajapaksa have been marched into custody. There is no reason to believe that the outcome would be any different if more SLPP politicians are found to be embroiled in this operation and face arrest and detention.

The stock of the SLPP was at a low level to begin with. What these latest developments have done is to diminish it even further. Namal Rajapaksa needs to remind himself that fools rush in where angels fear to tread.   

-This article was originally featured on counterpoint.lk