'Youth are calling for a change': Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe invites protestors to join governance

Under political reforms to solve Sri Lanka's political crisis, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has invited the protesting youngsters to join governance.

Clipping the power of the president and strengthening those of parliamentarians, Wickremesinghe said ''The youth are calling for a change in the existing system.''

''They also want to know the current issues. Therefore, I propose to appoint four youth representatives to each of these 15 committees,'' according to Wickremesinghe.

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Sri Lanka, which has a population of 22 million, is experiencing the worst economic crisis since it gained independence from Britain in 1948.

Youngsters in Sri Lanka are protesting against the shortage of fuel, electricity, and other basic facilities and have been camped out outside the president’s office for more than 50 days.

Holding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family responsible for the country's economic crisis, they want an overhaul of the system of governance and are demanding his resignation.

Sri Lanka, which is on the brink of bankruptcy, has already defaulted on its foreign loans of nearly $7 billion with its remaining foreign currency reserves capable of purchasing only two weeks of needed imports.

Planning to appoint youngsters to the ''youth parliament'', Wickremesinghe said “The methodology used to choose these individuals can be decided by the youth organisations themselves.”

Although broader reforms such as reducing presidential powers would need the approval of the Supreme Court and a two-thirds parliamentary majority, setting up new broad-based parliamentary committees apparently can be done under the current constitution.

Seeking an economic bailout package from the International Monetary Fund, Sri Lankan officials have been mulling an economic reform plan.

(With inputs from agencies)

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