DEFEAT 20 A AND MAKE PRESIDENT THE WINNER
20A is a compliment to the confidence placed in President that provided him with practically unregulated supremacy over PM and legislature: it is reflective of the trust and confidence placed in President Rajapaksa by the framers and by the cabinet of ministers that approved of the proposed law unanimously.
The people’s hope is that Gotabaya will be different from political leaders and will truly take national interests in priority. He has reached the zenith in the land from outside of politics—he is fresh and uncontaminated by the concessions that politics is involved with. The past leaders failed miserably in solving the people’s problems and resurrect the country to the trail of self-sustenance and development. President Rajapaksa has become the focus of people’s aspirations.
True, 19A was never properly understood within political parties or by the people. The relationship between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe broke down leading to the 52-day constitutional crisis of 2018, which exposed the threats caused by the amendment. The evils of executive power-sharing introduced by it led to the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised the electorate to scrap it and re-introduce a powerful Presidency.
19A created an elected President who even after receiving an unprecedented majority couldn’t replace the IGP who is under investigation over dereliction of duty causing the Easter Sunday bloodshed that destroyed the lives of over 270 persons. Further it debarred the Executive from holding the all important Defence portfolio. The Constitutional Council appointed under 19A made the erroneous choice of a Police head-innocent devotees had to pay a huge price for their irresponsible conduct. If not for the Supreme Court’s ruling on several sections of the original draft of 19A, it could have paralysed the country altogether.
The people were particularly disappointed because both Sirisena and Wickremasinghe failed to deliver on the undertaking in the name of Good Governance [Yahapalanaya]. The prosecution of political criminals for corruption, gigantic waste, robbery, violence, and murder appear to have been purposely neglected by the two leaders for obvious reasons. A few millions who voted for Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremasinghe in 2015 were very much disillusioned.
19A initiated vital changes, like Independent Commissions, Right to Information and restrictions on legal immunity of the Executive, the number of terms to two, reduction of six-year term of rule to five among them.[independent commissions, though, particularly the Police and Elections have let down the nation.] As admitted by the chief architect, Dr. Jayampathy Wickremaratne, the disastrous ‘power sharing by two heads’ under 19A, though not intended, but caused due to Parliament’s disregard of Supreme Court’s ruling on holding a referendum. Delivery of a halfbaked amendment; ‘neither here, nor there’, caused utter chaos creating two heads who were at loggerheads with conflicting thoughts sharing power; obviously resulting in disastrous consequences. The unjustified and potentially risky draft was passed on 20th April, 2017 with a record number voting in favour.
Authoritarian policies of t he
Mahinda Rajapaksa regime’s [2010
1014] second term compelled the floating voter and youth, who in the absence of an alternative to vote for ‘Hansaya’ on January 8, 2015. The 19th Amendment made an executive who was helpless when the country was being given out in pieces to power blocks. The economy was in tatters; masses lived in poverty. A particular class and politicos lived in the lap of luxury: development came to a standstill; Corruption and robbery were rampant; Law and order weakened and intelligence net work deteriorated. Individual selfish powercrazy humans in high positions as two heads could not hold equal or parallel powers within a single administration, for that matter in any institution. They may function smoothly in new roles only for a limited period. Yahapalanaya suffered under the frame work of 19A.
The error needs to be corrected, no doubt, but the proposed 20 A is not the answer; there is already a committee appointed to draft a new Constitution. It is very unlikely that a clash of above nature would crop up between President and PM. Much has been spoken about the
adverse impact on democracy or detrimental effects of 20A, but it was expected to reverse the negatives of 19A and take the country forward.
The proposed scrapping of the Constitutional Council (CC) and replacement by a Parliamentary Council (PC); the erasure of Audit Services Commission and National Procurement Commission (NPC) are most unwelcome features in the draft. Appointments to higher judicial establishments directly by incumbent; exemption of the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office from Auditing; appointments to National Procurement Commission; Immunity applicable to the post of EP are some of the unacceptable features of 20A.
These amendments cannot be revoked easily. A future President with a weak government to back him can use these powers to the detriment to democratic administration. Gotabaya’s track record in leadership; as the Defence Secretary he played a decisive task in crushing the most deadly terrorist organisation in the world to an end, the 30-year war that claimed over 60,000 lives. His pledge on security bore fruit as the island recovered from the Easter Sunday bombings, and in controlling the Covid virus - he prevented it from causing disaster, despite it running riot through the developed world.
The proposed scrapping of the Constitutional Council (CC) and replacement by a Parliamentary Council (PC); the erasure of Audit Services Commission and National Procurement Commission (NPC) are most unwelcome features in the draft
The relationship between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe broke down leading to the 52-day constitutional crisis of 2018, which exposed the threats caused by the amendment. The evils of executive power-sharing introduced by it led to the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks
With a powerful government with 2/3 majority to back, and with no prospective leader in the vicinity who can pose a threat to his authority and popularity in the contemporary political landscape, he need not hide himself behind constitutional amendments which are detrimental to a future state
The error needs to be corrected, no doubt, but the proposed 20 A is not the answer; there is already a committee appointed to draft a new Constitution. It is very unlikely that a clash of above nature would crop up between President and PM. Much has been spoken about the adverse impact on democracy or detrimental effects of 20A, but it was expected to reverse the negatives of 19A and take the country forward
The President must be protected politically too. Gotabaya Rajapaksa has earned an immense position with a powerful perspective, or massive support among the youth unlike any previous or parallel leader since we gained independence 72 years ago; they volunteered in numbers in all parts of the island armed with paint brushes, in an unprecedented show to attach the trappings of a celebrative ambience to the walls and structures in streets, honouring the election of him. With a powerful government with 2/3 majority to back, and with no prospective leader in the vicinity who can pose a threat to his authority and popularity in the contemporary political landscape, he need not hide himself behind constitutional amendments which are detrimental to a future state. Members of the government have a sacred duty in safeguarding their leader who has proved his credentials. In his policy statement at the opening of Parliament, he said, “…The people of this country gave me a clear mandate …. granted because of the trust the people had in me.” He is still at the peak of popularity. Gotabaya is not a coward who needs constitutional safegaurds to give him a moral boost, or a weak leader who cannot win over his MPS or suspicious of them to collect
undated letters of resignation.