Dr Sudath Gunasekara 15.1.2018.

Welcome and Congratulations to Supreme Court. It has proved that the court is supreme and the law is above all including the President. A big consolation for the people of this country.

Now going by the constitutional provisions (19^th Amendment) this is common sense. Anyone who knows the ABCD of law can understand it although the President Sirisena could not understand it. The truth is he did understand it. But I believe he has been misled by his close unofficial political advisor to seek a ruling from the Supreme Court. Faizer Mustafa has been identified as the man who gave this dead rope to President. Irrespective of from whatever sources it comes; instead of agreeing to go to court AG should have given him the correct advice since he is the chief official legal advisor to the Government on legal matters President’s Secretary also cannot be absolved for not briefing the President on the legal position and should have advised him not to seek the opinion of the SC as the position is so obvious. As President Council Manohara Silva has pointed out in his submission to court 49(1) a of the Amended Constitution has explicitly laid down the law.

The relevant provisions in 19 A to the Constitution.

Article 49(1)(b) in the transitional provision says that the President holding office on the day proceeding 22 April 2015 (referring to President MS) shall continue to hold such office after such date, subject to the provisions of the Constitution as amended by this act (19A). So how can anyone argue for a 6 year term unless he/she is blind legally or otherwise?

No fool can say that the president did not know it. The truth is he knew it more than anybody else. But he wanted to try his luck on Fizal’s legal advice and his inner dictates perhaps.

I think even his Secretary should resign for failing to give the correct advice to the President, without bringing disgrace to the Sri Lanka Administrative Service as it is his job as the Head of the Public Service

On the top of all now the AG should resign before everyone else as he has proved beyond all reasonable doubts that he is not fit to hold that Supreme public post. I can’t believe that he did not know the Law. The idea must have definitely occurred to the President on somebody’s advice and requested the AG to try his luck. Being the Prime Ministers man he may have advised to go ahead to satisfy the PM or the President or both with an eye on the Supreme Court? That makes things even worse.

People of this country also can remember how the AG conducted before the CB Commission when he personally led evidence of Ranil.  The whole country saw how he was struggling to protect his master, forgetting the fact that the PM or the President are not his masters. AG should have known that he holds that post on behalf of the people of this country and he represents the interests of all the people in this country.  It is the people’s rights as a super public Servant the AG has to protect and certainly not those of the President or the PM

Adding insult to injury now he has committed a second serious blunder by advising the President to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court on a matter the Constitution has no ambiguity. These two incidents make him utterly unfit to hold that public post as a public servant.

The job of the Attorney General is to give the correct advice to the Government to protect the public interest as he is employed and paid by the Public and not by the President or the Prime Minister.

Unfortunately in this country today we don’t have a Government or a Public Service either. It is total anarchy whichever way you look. Actually this was the real situation prevailing in this country right from Jan 2015. Today the he Government has become the biggest contractor, where the Ministers and MPP have become shareholders of that contractor. All the so-called Public Servants have got reduced to the level of domestic servants of the contractor in power (Government) under the present political culture. As such you don’t have a Public Service or Public Servants either, in this country. No wonder a politically appointed employee of such a system giving dead ropes like this.

As such what we have in this country today is A Government by politicians and their domestic servants, A Government of the politicians and their servants and a Government for the politicians and their servants”. Together they, rob, plunder and bring misery to the people while enjoying life at public expense and the country at large.

In spite of this appalling situation people line up once in every five years like cattle and elect these rogues named by the party leaders. Those few exceptional gentlemen in Parliament I hope will pardon me for saying so.