By: A concerned citizen
1993. When President Premadasa was assassinated not long after very senior party leaders had either died or had left the party, Ranil took over as Prime Minister.
1994. When the rank and file of the party urged him to welcome back Gamini Dissanayake to the party and make him the party’s presidential candidate, he agreed.
1994. After the presidential candidate was assassinated and the replacement candidate, Srima Dissanayake, suffered a heavy defeat, He took over the leadership of the party following President D B Wijetunga’s retirement from politics.
1994-1999. He held the party together under the most adverse of circumstances.
1999. He was defeated narrowly by President Chandrika Kumaratunga in an election fraught with violence and malpractices. Many analysts argue that he was the real winner.
2001. He led the UNP to victory at the General Election.
2001-2004. He inherited an economy that was recording negative growth and turned it around and strategically agreed to a ceasefire with the LTTE to give the economy some breathing space, even though the executive president at the time spared no pains to scuttle his every move.
2004. The UNP government were brought to an abrupt halt when the president, using executive powers dissolved parliament.
2005. Again, fighting a presidential election under the most adverse of circumstances He was narrowly defeated, this time clearly because hundreds of thousands of voters in the North and East were prevented from going to the polling booths by the LTTE, on account of a scandalous pact between his opponent’s party and the LTTE.
2010. The rank and file of the party insisted that Sarath Fonseka contest the presidential election on the UNP ticket. He stepped aside and supported his candidature.
2015. The rank and file of the party insisted that Maithripala Sirisena contest the presidential election on the UNP ticket. He stepped aside and supported his candidature.
2015-2019,. Again, having inherited an economy in shambles, he took decisive steps to turn things around in his capacity as the Prime Minister.
2019. The rank and file of the party insisted that Sajith Premadasa be nominated as the UNP’s presidential candidate. He stepped aside and supported his candidature. Despite that he broke away from the UNP and split the UNP.
2020. Unfavorable political conditions and long years out of power, understandably resulted in disappointments which led to many senior party members defecting from the party. He did not stand in their way. Neither did he criticise them.
2022. Unprecedented hardships brought about by gross mismanagement and corruption created an economic crisis unlike any the country has known since Independence. The nation was left without a leader. Those who thundered from political stages and promised heaven on earth overnight fell silent. No one was brave enough to take over and put things right. Ranil did!
2024. We are still not out of the woods yet, but we are going in the right direction. It is Sri Lanka’s moment. He has done his best, but the best he can do will be considerably enhanced if all our people stood with him. Together he can recreate the land of prosperity that is so within our grasp that has been eluding us for years. Ranil is the man for the crisis.
