The poli-tricks of a National Government

Discretion was the better part of political expediency on the part of the UNF Government when it decided to put off the move to form a National Government even if it has not entirely dropped the idea.

Very few would buy into the argument trotted out that the UNF wanted a National Government for the purpose of “development”. That is a much abused word of politicians to ram through partisan political agendas otherwise detrimental to the nation. That compares with the oft-misused cliché “national security” cry of not so long ago.

Unlike in January 2015, and the formation of the then National Government with the country’s two main political parties, this time, to foist a so-called National Government on the people between the UNF (which goes as one party as it contested as one), and a solitary MP from another ( which is already in the Government as a partner of the UNF) seemed a bad joke. The UNF itself can be considered a coalition and an argument may hold that it is, therefore, a National Government by itself, though not for the purposes of the much criticised 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

The aim of the temporarily aborted move this time was clearly to get some SLFP MPs to cross- over and create a “stable” Government with a Parliamentary majority of its own without having to rely on TNA or JVP support to prop it up. But the President seems to have torpedoed the crossover with his rather inappropriate comment during his Independence Day address to the nation, slamming the proposed National Government. The SLFP MPs seem to have developed cold feet thereafter as our Political Editor says in his column today.

The UNF Prime Minister was clearly under intense pressure from within his party’s backbenchers to expand his Cabinet. They had backed him twice last year -- i.e. at the Vote of No-Confidence and during the period when he was sacked in October. They wanted something in return for the support they gave him. The 19th Amendment that limits the number of the Cabinet to 30 was the barrier preventing them from fulfilling their ambitions of a Cabinet portfolio.

So, the Government has come up with this desperate exercise in trying to pull the wool over the public’s eyes. It has made the very concept of a National Government, usually brought forth in a multi-party democracy at times of national emergencies, a somewhat flippant everyday manoeuvre to tinker with the Constitution for parochial gain. This Government will have to live with the fact that it is a minority Government and seek the support of the TNA and the JVP for its majority if push comes to shove. Otherwise, with the 100+ MPs it has to outvote the Opposition’s 90+ MPs, the UNF may face the possibility of a defeat if the TNA and the JVP ever side with the Opposition on a vote.

That said, any Government is meant to be a “National Government” in its true sense working for the national interest at all times. And the move to bring additional Cabinet Ministers does not have the people’s support as it is they who have to ultimately carry the burden of paying for the expenses.