Maithripala Sirisena never vowed to abolish the Executive Presidency
Maithripala Sirisena may have promised the sun, moon and stars to the Great Sri Lankan public. But, contrary to popular misconception, he never promised to abolish the executive presidency.
TRUE, that with the nation’s aspirations coiled in his breast, Maithripala Sirisena placed his hand upon his manifesto and vowed to bring in a new constitution. But he never promised a rose garden where the perennial thorn of an executive presidency would cease to exist there.
TRUE, he had stated: “We were unable to constitutionally change the Executive Presidential system that has been in force since 1978 though we promised the people and the country to do so from 1994 up to date. Our inability to achieve that objective was a great failure on our part. It cannot be delayed any longer. “
TRUE, he had spelt out in detail the obstacles he might face in ‘abolishing the Executive Presidential System with Unlimited Powers‘and the manner in which he will overcome them.
TRUE he had said: “The President needs the assistance of Parliament to change the post of Executive President. That is because it is Parliament which has the power to amend the Constitution. Yet the Parliament was unable to effect this change for the last twenty years. It is the President as leader of the main party who should provide the leadership to pass the required Constitutional Amendment with a twothirds majority. For that the President should take the initiative to reach an accord among the main political parties. It is to fulfil this task that I decided to come forward as the common candidate of all the people at this Presidential election. “
TRUE, He had even revealed the plan he envisaged to obtain the two third majority in Parliament – and do so within hundred days of being in office - when he stated”
“I can obtain the support of the Members of Parliament of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party that has the majority in Parliament. The United National Party has signed an agreement with me to effect this amend- ment. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna has since 1994 agreed with our Party to do this. The Jathika Hela Urumaya has signed an agreement with me to support this measure.
TRUE, he had promised to deliver a tailor-made constitution that would be cut to fit the public’s shape and size, and TRUE, too, that he had sworn to sign, seal and deliver lock, stock and barrel within hundred days of assuming presidential office, a whole brave, brand new constitution that would be more apt to face the challenges of the 21st century, when he had declared
“Therefore I will have discussions with other parties and pass this amendment without fail within a hundred days. In order to change the Executive Presidential System I am taking as background material agreements for abolishing the Executive Presidential system reached by the Movement for a Just Society headed by Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera as well as the proposals contained in the Draft 19th Amendment compiled by the Pivithuru Hetak Jathika Sabhava headed by Ven Atureliye Ratana Thera, which proposed a Constitutional alliance of the President and the Prime Minister. I will also consider the changes proposed to these proposals by the United National Party.”
But FALSE that he had ever stated in his political Bible that he will abolish the Executive presidency. In the final clincher paragraph in his manifesto in the chapter in which he outlines his “My Way” forward, he had merely stated that:
“The new constitutional structure would essentially be an Executive allied with the Parliament with the Cabinet instead of the present autocratic system Presidential System of Government. Under it the president will be equal with all other citizens of the law. I guarantee that in the proposed constitutional amendment I will not touch any Constitutional Article that could be changed only with the approval at a Referendum. “
And to underscore, underline, to highlight in blue or yellow, his intention not to abolish the Executive Presidency, he had for good measure added in the above paragraph his declaration “I guarantee that in the proposed constitutional amendment I will not touch any Constitutional Article that could be changed only with the approval at a Referendum.“
That should have sent the alarms bells ringing; but in those heady days of toppling the seemingly invincible Rajapaksa regime, perhaps it slipped the minds of many to read between the lines and to discern that what Maithripala was offering was a reformed presidency, not its total abolishment.
Like the Mahawamsa has been woven around the heroics of King Dutugamunu, the JR constitution of 1978 has not only been weaved around the powers of the executive presidency but wickered to fortify his stranglehold on the other two estates of the realm. To have a constitution without the role of an executive presidency would have been akin to staging Hamlet without the Prince. A referendum, and not a mere two third majority in Parliament, would have to be called for to give legitimacy for such a radical change, a metamorphosis of the constitution.
All that Sirisena had promised was to cull some of the executive powers of the presidency, which he did to some extent in the 19th Amendment. Whether it went far enough or not is a matter of subjective debate. But his promise was not to make the presidential dinosaur extinct but only to ensure its survival by making it adapt to the demands of the changing environment.