By Chisomo Phiri
COLOMBO-(MaraviPost)-Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa says he is set to step down from the presidency on over the economic challenges the country is facing.
The county’s Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena confirmed of Rajapaska’s resignation promise on Saturdays evening saying the President will resign on July 13, 2022.
The announcement came hours after protesters, calling for the resignation of the President and his Government, stormed into the President’s House in the capital Colombo on Saturday July 9, 2022.
The protesters pushed through barricades at entry roads to the President’s House to reach the premises and occupied the premises.
The Speaker, in a video statement, stated that the President had agreed to implement the decisions taken at the meeting of political party leaders which was held soon after the protests.
The party leaders had arrived at the decision that the President and the Prime Minister must resign immediately.
The Rajapaska told the Speaker that he would vacate his position on July 13 to allow a peaceful transition of power.
However,Abeywardena appealed to the members of the Sri Lanka public to remain peaceful and advised all the public servants to ensure the smooth functioning of their day-to-day life.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also announced he would resign from his position after an all-party government is established.
The island nation of 22 million people is struggling under a severe foreign exchange shortage that has limited essential imports of fuel, food and medicine, plunging it into the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.
Soaring inflation, which reached a record 54.6% in June and is expected to hit 70% in the coming months, has heaped hardship on the population.
Political instability could undermine Sri Lanka’s talks with the International Monetary Fund as it seeks a $3 billion bailout, the restructuring of some foreign debt and fund-raising from multilateral and bilateral sources to ease the dollar drought.
Many blame the country’s decline on economic mismanagement by Rajapaksa and there have been months of largely peaceful protests demanding his resignation.
Discontent has worsened in recent weeks as the cash-strapped country stopped receiving fuel shipments, forcing school closures and rationing of petrol and diesel for essential services.
