Look into President’s land law revelations

The President’s speech revealed the existence of a “Corridor of Deceit” to pass important Statutes surreptitiously in spite of protests by the President and the Cabinet.

Every apolitical citizen in this country should be alarmed at the revelation made by the President regarding the capricious manner followed by a few elected members of Parliament to make laws, through this path to deal with the capital assets of our country, mainly land.

In his speech to the nation on October 26, 2018, the President said, “Emergency Cabinet papers were presented to award tenders and massive construction awards were given despite objections at the Cabinet. One such example is the Kandy Highway project. Another is the Land Ordinance Special Act, which was presented to Cabinet last week. Then there was the paper on establishing a Land Bank. I lodged strong protests and postponed those Cabinet papers. Majority of Cabinet Ministers were against these projects.

“If the last week’s Land Ordinance Special Act was passed by the Cabinet and then by Parliament, all the lands of our Motherland could be bought outright by foreigners without any difficulty. All the Agricultural settlements established by Honourable leaders like D S Senanayake, Bandaranaike and Gamini Dissanayake will be destroyed. This bill presented under the political and economic vision of Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe adversely affects the land rights of the country and must be totally blocked by us.”

This is a dreadful disclosure. Sri Lanka has an abundance of professional organisations such as the Organization of Professional Associations, Bar Association, Law Society and many more which should have followed up when such situations were developing and initiated timely action to prevent them. I hope they are now alerted to study the statutes that the President mentioned, especially the Port City Act, Act to Grant Absolute Title to State Land and the Act to provide for the State Land Bank.

I had read in the newspapers that the statues relating to land have been drafted by teams of foreigners who were engaged on excessive fee structures. The public is not consulted. See Indian Express

http://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2016/aug/13/Englishlaws-to-Apply-to-Colombo-PortCity-Says-Lankan-PM-1508855.html

English-laws-to-Apply-toColombo-Port-City-Says-Lankan- PM- which is being built with Chinese funds and expertise, . Indian Express 13.8 2016 and the Sunday Times Sri Lanka

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/170827/business-times/constitutional-amendment-required-forport-city-laws-256014.html

It was reported that Hong Kongbased consultancy Baker McKenzie is to draft new laws on various sectors including the CIFC, Colombo International Financial City. A corporate and tax law expert had told the Business Times that while amending the Constitution is inevitable in this scenario, changing the Constitution won’t be an easy exercise.

Western agencies and corporations compile and draft policies opening up the Sri Lankan economy to outside domination. According to newspapers, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a US Government body has a project unit established in the PM’s office to provide expertise to draft statutes and policy for the Government

I am appalled to realize that the now existing “Corridor of Deceit” is a smooth vehicle that can easily pass through Cabinet, Attorney General and the Legal Draftsman to enact statutes, without the knowledge of the people of this country! Where are these statutes? Can we get them? Should we not study them? Over to the previously mentioned professional organisations of Sri Lanka.

Land is the invaluable capital asset of any country to be guarded jealously to sustain the sovereignty of the country. Will the existing procedures now in place change with the changing of the PM? Bandula Liyanage Via email