Do we need a new constitution?
Posted on December 19th, 2016
By Fr. J.C. Pieris
December 18, 2016, 9:17 pm
What are the needs of the country? Isn’t finding out what the country urgently needs is where we should start off from, to put things right in the country? Let us begin. In my opinion the top priority need is elimination of poverty. Do we need a new constitution to eliminate poverty in the country? Will the new constitution (NC) eliminate poverty in the country? As long as the over 200 thieves and crooks in the Diyawannawa are in charge of the country along with their crony civil servants, officers, judges and shady business concerns, you can bring a NC made in heaven by angels but poverty will not be eliminated. Corruption is the cause of poverty. And elimination of corruption is the elimination of poverty too. Only if we have men and women of integrity and honesty, governing this country, can we eliminate poverty not a constitution new or old. The same goes for all the other needs of the country. There is no national problem that cannot be solved with the present constitution. We can always amend it when there is a need as we have already done nineteen times.
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What the country needs is not a NC but a new set of legislators, ladies and gentlemen of integrity, devoted to the people and the country. The present set like the previous set are not ladies and gentlemen. The dictionary has some naughty words to describe them but I refrain from putting them down here out of respect for the ladies and gentlemen who are reading this and the editor of The Island.
Et tu Brute?
On the 8th of January the president came forward and won the elections as a party-less common candidate. Sixty two lakhs of people voted for a party-less common candidate. If he knew the meaning of the word ethics he should have remained so. He should have remained the party-less president of each and every citizen in this country. But he freely chose to be the chairman of a particular political party, the SLFP. Sixty two lakhs of people did not vote for the SLFP. He was their last hope for good governance. They were betrayed and taken for a jolly good ride. The present presidential situation clearly shows a conflict of interest. Now sixty two lakhs of people can only ask him like dying bloody Julius Caesar; et tu Brute?
Forget the meeting with Mahinda Amaraweera after taking oaths as the president of the country when he gave his word to protect the R family as narrated by Malith Jayatilake in his book, ‘The 8th of January I saw’. Forget bringing in to the cabinet from the back door called the national list crooked politicians rejected by the people. Forget the sabotaging of the judicial investigations when the net was closing in on the corrupt politicians. Forget his brother, forget his son. It is disgusting and a waste of ink writing about these things. All these go to show what we need is not a NC. With the same people at the helm the NC will be as useless as the present one.
Once upon a time the prime minister was known as Mr Clean, not any more. The Central Bank bond scam has tarnished him unrecognisably. The more he tries to protect and safeguard the governor and the son-in-law and their shady, conflict of interest deals the more unrecognizable he becomes. He reminds me of the rabbit and the ‘koholla baba’. Forget his trying to keep the parliamentarians within the flock by becoming their unethical Santa Clause. Forget his protecting people with multiple illegal passports. What truly makes him unsuitable for the position is his behaviour in the parliament. For him it is not a place of serious discussion of the country’s problems and their solutions. His interventions look more like after dinner jokes sessions. Will a NC give us a better premier? If not what is the use of a NC?
The monkeys
Take most of the rest of the parliamentarians well paid, well protected, well fed, well looked after post retirement, hardly working, happy lot; each and every one of them is guilty of all the corruption that went on previously and going on now either as partners in crime or as they remain silent, blind and deaf like the shameless three monkeys, allowing the nefarious activities to go on. If these people are going to continue at Diyawannawa, of what use is a NC?
The previous constitutions
Look back and we can see that in this country a NC came in to force when there were strong governments like in 1972 and in 1978 with 2/3 and 5/6 majorities. The then governments were unshakable and rock steady. The support of the majority of the people was guaranteed and a referendum would not have created a problem. Can we say that with the present so called ‘unity’ government? Is it not built on sand? There is not much of a chance for a NC to come in to force given the present situation. The whole thing seems to be an exercise in futility. It seems to be a need of somebody else not of the people of this country. Doesn’t the NC look largely like a red herring?
The real need
The real need of sixty two lakhs of people was Good Governance (GG). That was their demand on the 8th of January, nothing else. That was the change people wanted. After two years, in that regard, there is nothing to show. No change has taken place. Rather not only are the thieves of the previous regime protected by the current regime but the present ones are also stealing with impunity. People primarily asked for GG not a NC. Anyway without GG a NC is worthless.
What next?
The betrayed and frustrated citizens of this country are looking for and waiting for another rainbow coalition of peoples’ forces to bring in to Diyawannawa a new set of legislators, honest, clean and with the welfare of the people and the country in their hearts. None of the present legislators of the government or of the joint opposition, not a single one of them should be allowed to come back to Diyawannawa.
Almost all the civil societies and organizations, peoples’ movements and other groups who actively brought victory to the present government are still intact. Some political parties who haven’t sullied their hands either with the previous government or with the present one are waiting for an invitation. The sixty two lakhs can be mobilized again if respected ladies and gentlemen of good character come forward to lead the nation. Though we do not have the charismatic leadership of Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero, I’m sure he will bless us if we do not give up but go ahead again with his plan to clean up the administration of this country.
All right thinking, concerned citizens must keep their eyes and ears open, discuss, exchange ideas and bring about another rainbow coalition of a broad spectrum of people whose main concern is not ideological differences but GG, elimination of poverty and the welfare of the country.
Do we need a NC now? The answer is an emphatic NO. Under these rotten politicians the NC too will be a rotten constitution. When you read the reports of the parliamentary sub-committees on various topics of the draft of the NC you can see how rotten it is going to be. The urgent need of the hour is GG, punishment of the crooks and recovery of the loot. After that give GG time to mature and become a national tradition. Then we can have either a NC or the present one or even go ahead without a written constitution like in the United Kingdom.
December 19th, 2016 at 2:22 pm
NPC wants a POWERLESS EUNUCH as Nominal Governor; not an Executive Governor!
Why have a “Governor”at all??
We might as well save the money and abolish the NPC!
REPEAL the13th Amendment!
DISSOLVE ALL Provincial Councils!
REPLACE with DISTRICTS administered by a District Governor APPOINTED by the CENTRAL NATIONAL Government!
NEVER DEVOLVE any part of the NATIONAL Government’s power to any SUB-NATIONAL unit of administration!
These BUGGERS want to CON US into gifting them a proto-EELAM!
And, the Yamapalanaya will be only TOO HAPPY to GIVE IT!
God DAMN the Yamapalanaya TRAITORS!! They shall REAP LATER what they SOW NOW!
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NPC wants nominal governor with no executive powers
By Amali Mallawaarachchi
DailyNews.lk
Monday, December 19, 2016 – 06:30
The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) has requested the government for a nominal governor instead of one with executive powers.
NPC Chairman C.V.K. Sivagnanam speaking to the Daily News pointed out that their request is not to abolish the post of governor.“We have not requested for an abolition of the post of governor. What we have really suggested is that it to be a nominal head appointed by the President or the government. It is not a matter of reducing or enhancing the powers of the governor but that we need a nominal governor, instead of an executive governor,” Sivagnanam said.
TNA’s M.K.Sivajilingam said reducing the powers vested in the governor is not applicable only to the Northern Province but for all Provincial Councils.
“The powers vested in a governor in Sri Lanka is too much. Not even the governors in India are vested with such powers. The powers that a governor here has equals to executive power. Our suggestion is not limited to Northern province only, but to the whole country. We do not have a personal vendetta against the governors. We, as the NPC forward this proposal along with few other proposals,” Sivajilingam said.
“We also propose that there is no need of a title as ‘governor’. Our suggestion is that it should be a title meaning ‘an agent of the central government,” the MP said.
“We also forwarded proposals for the new constitution steering committees on a federal state and making North-East region a single administrative unit within which the Muslims shall have an autonomous region,” Sivajilingam added.
December 20th, 2016 at 9:48 pm
Bullshit!
This Yamapalanaya was brought in by Western Powers in a Regime Change operation colluding with every minority nursing a grudge and greedy to get MORE OF THE NATION’S WEALTH THAN the other citizens, especially the Sinhala Buddhists who are still the poorest in the nation!
Good Governance my FOOT!
Just as the chanted mantra of “Human Rights”, “Democracy” and “Corruption” was used through unceasing propaganda and oiled and greased with foreign funds flowing into NGOs to overthrow the stable established governments of the Arab Spring countries, the war-winning MR/UPFA government that had ushered in an ear of unprecedented peace, stability, national development and property was overthrown!
As China was pouring in BILLIONS every year for National Development, the USA gave $25 million a year for “democracy development” to its pet NGOS and fifth columns to engineer the regime change. Not one cent of money was given by the Western Powers for any meaningful national development in Sri Lanka. All monies given by them were for cresting and sustaining 5th columns and for empowering Sri Lanka’s internal enemies; DIVIDE & RULE strategy to the very end!
I grant you that a fraction of the Sinhala Buddhists were weaned away from their own interests and patriotism by the chanted mantra of “Corruption”, “Corruption, and “More Corruption” to forget who had the guts and determination to eradicate terrorism and to cast their votes for the TRAITORS who had mocked the war effort and never sent one son to serve in the armed forces to defend the country. It is a DAMN ING TESTIMONY to the CONGENITAL IDIOCY of those Sinhala Buddhists that today those TRAITORS have seized POWER and are crafting New Constitution to DISMANTLE the nation and to make PERMANENT their hold on power by DIVIDING & RULING the Sinhala Buddists and their Motherland.
I totally REJECT the THESIS of this author that those Sinhala Buddhists in the 66 lakhs who voted in this disastrous Yamspslanaya government will ever again vote for it.
Instead, they are ITCHING for an OPPORTUNITY to rectify their grievous MISTAKE!
The Yamapalanaya knows this, and is DESPERATELY TRYING EVERY MEANS of preventing their OUSTER.
This includes setting up large foreign embassies and military bases eith India and Western powers within the country, dividing and empowering separatists, raiding the national treasury and setting up hoards of money for future political struggles, bribing every politician in sight with various financial and job inducements, appointing known traitors to sensitive government/police/military positions, imprisoning security personnel and dismantling and undetmkning intelligence organizations, prosecuting military heroes and dismantling military camps from former war zones, defaming and prosecuting leaders of the previous government on fake allegations they cannot yet prove, and changing the Constitution of the nation to undermine and demolish the unitary sovereign character of the nation, and handing over its Provinces to awoved separatists.
YES, we do not need a New Constitution, but neither do we need the people who supported the regime change operation to do that again in any shape ofr form to bring about a SIMILAR DISASTER in the name of “Good Governsnce”!
We already had the MOST EFFECTIVE GOVERNMENT Sri Lanka ever had since INDEPENDENCE in the MR/UPFA government.
We want a SIMILAR PATRIOTIC GOVERNMENT again that is unafraid to stand up against any and all enemies, internal and external, of Sri Lanka and protect the inalienable rights of our people!
To HELL with this BULLSHIT of Yahapalanaya and good-governance that always WAS and IS only an underhand strategy of minorities to seize power by CONNING and BRIBING enough people in the majority community!
December 21st, 2016 at 2:10 am
We don’t NEED a new constitution. SCRAP 13 amendment and our existing constitution is GOOD.
December 21st, 2016 at 6:16 am
Rev.Fr. is wishing feathers from Tortoises. Were’nt Maduluwawe Sobhitha thero and the lot who wished GG from this lieing bunch of crooks fools?
Sirisena Started to lie even before he became the president and when he got caught he denied to lieing rather than admit it and correct it. How silly it is to expect GG from that type of a person?
Even though Ranil W’s men called him Mr. clean the whole world knew he was soaked in Batalanda blood and and his co-habitaion with ‘Gonawala Sunil and his underworld activities.
How idiotic it is to expect GG from a person like that?
Ravi Karunanayake was an accused in a money laundering case that was proceeding in the SC and the money was sent by none other than LTTE fund manager Raj Rajaratnam.
How crazy it is to expect transparency from a person like him?
The sixty two lakhs were taken on a right royal tour up the garden path and they swallowed it hook line and sinker and are now bemoaning their blunder.
Is there any point in continuing this?
Now it is upto those who brought in this corrupt government to get rid of it,not keep lamenting about it. We who opposed it from the very beginning will give our best.
The silly 62 lakhs who went looking for a pristine clear Lily white clean government should realize now that there are no such governments and learn to be happy with a lesser corrupt government.