A Scholarly Assessment of the AKD Administration
As Sri Lanka marks two years under the presidency of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, commonly known as AKD, academic observers are beginning to take stock of what his administration has delivered — and where it has fallen short. Professor S.I. Keethaponcalan, a respected scholar on South Asian and Sri Lankan affairs, has offered a measured analysis of the presidency's trajectory, drawing attention to both its promises and its limitations.
High Expectations, Complex Realities
AKD swept to power on a wave of public frustration following Sri Lanka's devastating economic crisis, which saw widespread shortages of fuel, medicine and essential goods. His campaign centred on anti-corruption pledges, systemic reform and a break from the entrenched political dynasties that many Sri Lankans blamed for the country's collapse. Those promises generated considerable optimism, particularly among younger voters and the urban middle class.
However, Professor Keethaponcalan notes that governing has proven far more complicated than campaigning. Structural economic constraints, international debt obligations and longstanding institutional inertia have tested the administration's ability to translate rhetoric into meaningful policy outcomes.
Economic Governance Under Scrutiny
Sri Lanka continues to navigate a fragile recovery under the terms of its International Monetary Fund programme. The administration has maintained broad continuity with fiscal consolidation measures agreed upon by the previous government, a stance that has disappointed some supporters who expected a more radical economic departure. Critics argue that ordinary Sri Lankans continue to bear a disproportionate burden through high taxes and reduced subsidies, while structural reforms remain slow to materialise.
Ethnic Reconciliation and the Tamil Question
Professor Keethaponcalan, who has written extensively on ethnic conflict and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, pays particular attention to how the AKD presidency has handled the longstanding grievances of the Tamil community in the north and east. Progress on political devolution, accountability for wartime abuses and genuine power-sharing has remained limited, reflecting persistent sensitivities within the Sinhalese-majority political base that AKD cannot afford to alienate.
Foreign Policy Balancing Act
On the international stage, the administration has sought to maintain Sri Lanka's traditional non-aligned posture while managing delicate relationships with regional powers India and China, as well as Western partners. Navigating these competing interests has required careful diplomacy, and the government has thus far avoided any sharp deterioration in key bilateral ties.
Looking Ahead
Professor Keethaponcalan's assessment suggests that while AKD has brought a degree of credibility and relative transparency to the presidency, the deeper structural transformations that many Sri Lankans hoped for remain a work in progress. With the midpoint of the presidential term now passed, pressure is mounting on the administration to demonstrate that its reform agenda is more than aspirational.
For a country still healing from one of the worst economic crises in its post-independence history, the stakes could hardly be higher.
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two years already and price of rice still same. what changed exactly?