Destabalizing Sri Lanka – Was 19a part of the regime change plot in Sri Lanka?
Posted on April 21st, 2018
That regime change took place aligning a bevy of political parties, personages, over 50 civil society groups in an effortless coup against the previous government was evidenced in January 2015 and the string of actions & decisions taken thereafter put into context has spelt doom & destabilization for Sri Lanka. How many people have now realized whether the gameplan was to put their man in power tweaking the puppet President’s powers by introducing the 19th amendment booby trap?
The 19a Bill was passed in Parliament on 28th April 2015 with a 2/3 majority after 174 amendments. 212 voted in favor, 1 abstained, 10 were absent and 1 voted against. We mention with admiration the sole person who voted against it – Admiral Sarath Weerasekera. With so many amendments we would like to know whether the 19a Bill passed was the same as what was debated in Parliament on 16th March 2015 or was it a different version? Who will answer?
The only thing against the 18th amendment giving three or more term limits to the Presidency was the fact the former President could have nullified the 13a or diluted its powers before doing further amendments. What voters need to realize is that while a President had the right to contest for 2 or more terms, the voters had every right to reject him and this is exactly what happened to the former President seeking a third term in office. Therefore, there was nothing detrimental for the state or voters in the 18thamendment. (Clause 4 of the 19th Amendment, Article 31(2) of the Constitution)
However, 19a was assured to answer all problems. Needless to say it has created more problems than even the politicians can handle and the President who has warmed his presidential seat is beginning to find that he has been taken for a right royal ride and there is absolutely nothing he can do about it constitutionally.
We have a President who only in his third year has realized that six years Presidential term was cut down to 5 through the 19a (Clause 3 of the 19th Amendment, Article 30(2) of the Constitution)! Obviously a clue that he was brought in clueless about what his job role was. It was only in his third year did the same President realize he could not remove the Prime Minister because of 19a. There are more surprises for the President – he cannot even change the Prime Minister, a possibility that a President had without even having to notify parliament, the public or even the Prime Minister for that matter. Clause 9 of the 19th Amendment, Article 46(2) of the Constitution prevents the President removing the PM at his discretion – why was this clause inserted? for whose benefit?
It is a known secret that the PM is a poodle of the West. Until 1993 he was virtually a nobody, then Premadasa was assassinated & he became the PM. It is also curious that LTTE attacked and killed virtually all of UNP’s best of leaders including military heads who had aligned to UNP & were tipped to be presidential candidates. Gamini Dissanayake, Lalith Athulathmudali, Gen. Algama, Gen Janaka Perera. Thus, the present PM has remained head of the UNP since 1994 with no alternative leader insight.
In the event the post of President falls vacant before the term of office ends as per 19a any parliamentarian with the most support can become President and with the manner the PM managed to buy over PMs, the previous obstacle before the 19a has also been removed!
The President should by now have realized that he cannot even dissolve Parliament because of 19a. Not only that he cannot even remove the PM at his discretion (Clause 9 of the 19th Amendment, Article 46(2) of the Constitution)
So you have to wonder were all these insertions in the 19a pre-planned to ensure their man the present PM could not be removed while also clipping the President’s powers? Something everyone needs to now seriously think about.
Another puzzling question is why would 19a drafters wish to include clause (19) after repealing Article 85(2) that removes President’s power to put to a referendum any Bill (not a constitutional amendment) which is rejected by Parliament.
The Supreme Court opined that Clause 11 and 26 required referendum plus 2/3 majority for below items.
Quite a few confusing clauses prevail
Article 42(3) proposed PM to be head of Cabinet
Article 43(1) proposed PM to determine number of Ministers & Ministries & assignment of its subject & functions
Article 43(3) proposed PM to change assignment of subjects & recommend to the President changes in composition of the Cabinet
Article 44(2) proposed the PM to determine subjects & functions of non-cabinet Ministers
Article 44(3) proposed the PM to change subjects assigned to non-cabinet Ministers
Article 44(5) proposed that any cabinet minister at the request of the PM could by gazette delegate power, functions to any minister by cabinet minister.
However, Clause 9 of the 19th Amendment, Article 43(2), 44(1), 45(1) and 46(3)(a) of the Constitution demands the President to act on advice of the PM when appointing or removing cabinet, non-cabinet or even deputy ministers.
Yet, Clause 9 of the 19th Amendment, Article 43(1), 44(2) of the Constitution says the President can consult the PM ONLY IF S/HE considers it NECESSARY to determine number of cabinet ministers/non-cabinet ministers & subjects assigned to them. Note number of Deputy Ministers, their functions are not included.
So one may ask, exactly what powers the President is left with! All he was left with was some bizarre foreign PR slogans – ensure constitution was respected, promote national reconciliation & integration, ensure functioning of the constitutional council, advice the election commission – and the hilarious part is that none of these entities are even bound to listen to him after appointment Clause 5 of the 19th Amendment, Article 33(1) of the Constitution
Clause 26 proposed through Article 104B (5)(c)
Gave powers to the Election Commission to appoint a competent authority to take over State or Private broadcaster/telecaster which violated regulations issued by the Election Commission. All political broadcasts were to come under them.
Now connect this to the manner the present election commissioner has been functioning where he failed to even release the total election results officially and has been openly functioning with bias as seen by the statements he is making against the majority populace.
Let’s all recall that the present government came into power claiming that they would save the nation from the corrupt former government.
We would like to pose an open question to the 50 civil society organizations who went out of their way to campaign 24×7 to bring yahapalana government to power, why they are so silent now? They decried about lack of good governance of the previous government but are deaf, blind & dumb to the illegalities & irregularities being committed by the very people they brought to power. How can any citizen rely on these 50 civil society organizations?
The voters were promised yahapalana or good governance & citizens were painted a picture of a dreamland dawning for Sri Lanka with a coalition of non-corrupt rulers taking over. However, that the people were being fooled by fancy slogans & well-oiled statements was seen by the manner that the Presidential election that elected a President resulted in the appointment of a PM (sans a General Election) without removing the sitting PM and the establishment of a fake government that came to be called a ‘national unity government’. In so creating this bogus ‘national government’ it justified the denial of Opposition to the SLFP & paved way to appoint a 16 member TNA which has LTTE links to be appointed as the country’s Opposition & the TNA head as the Opposition Leader who is using his position to speak on behalf of the LTTE cadres & Tamils for political reasons only.
The drafters of the 19a were so cunning and their intentions to maintain a jumbo government at the cost of the citizens did not matter which is why they put wool over the citizens by promising a 30-member government but included the national unity clause into the 19a to use as a carrot & bribe to dish out appointments to selfish MPs & shut them up from joining the opposition. Thus the national unity government by virtue of the 19a allowed 45 Cabinet Ministers and 55 Non-Cabinet & Deputy Ministers. It would be good for someone to check if they have violated these figures in lavishly giving away portfolios for any Member pretending to jump ship!
The obvious task of this fake national government is to be used to pass Bills & a new constitution that the people of Sri Lanka have not asked for, want or need but aligns to the bigger agendas of those drawing the strings of the traitors put into power and the treacheries that are now taking place.
With all its alleged ‘corruptions’ against the previous government, Sri Lanka was 79th in the Global Corruption Index in 2014 by 2018 Sri Lanka has been placed 91! The Sri Lankan rupee against the dollar was Rs.133 in 2014 it is now Rs.156. Forbes Magazine declared Sri Lanka as one of the 10 coolest places to visit in 2014. Those screaming murders & disappearances against the previous government are silent on the shocking crime statistics of late – in just 4 months there have been 17 murders while kidnappings, daylight gun violence, robberies have increased as well.
All these added up and every action that has taken since 2015 have destabilized Sri Lanka and caused not only tensions among communities but have made the entire country vulnerable and economically volatile to end up with not even a begging bowl to now beg with.
Shenali D Waduge
April 19th, 2018 at 4:29 pm
Our constitution has many conflicting clauses. Examples include unitary status/federal devolution, fundamental rights/racist laws restricting them, presidential powers/restriction of presidential powers and “concurrent list” of federal provincial powers.
Ultimately the politician who controls the supreme court prevails.
Although presidential powers are restricted, nothing happens if the president violates the constitution. The president can violate the Constitution at will and there is nothing anyone can do anything about it. The only way to punish them president is if 2/3 of parliament and the Supreme Court decide so and the parliament again votes 2/3 to remove the president. It will never happen.
Executive presidency must be abolished.
April 19th, 2018 at 8:38 pm
Thank you Shenali for the detailed analysis and exposing My3’s unawareness of the 19a. This is understandable and it is not a surprise. He is just as clueless as he was. The stupid statements he makes are disgraceful to the nation.
My biggest question is, why then JO promotes GOTA as the presidential candidate in 2020? Don’t they also know that the Presidents wings are all clipped by the 19a? Why should the country lose the opportunity of making the most of this fine leader?
This is a serious issue which requires attention of the team who support and promote Gota for the presidency.
In the meantime, what happens with JVP proposed 20a? Is it further cutting the left over powers of the President, if there are or are they proposing a total abolition of presidential power? I read today in the daily newspaper that JO is supporting JVP’s proposed 20a.
How can the country get Gota to the topmost post?
The paper also says My3 is contesting for the 2020 election from SLFP as told by Duminda Dissanayaka. This may be to mislead Gota supporters portraying importance of the position to mislead them whereas there is no value in this role anymore.
On the other hand it is good for GS calibre person in My3 but this is an utterly useless position for a visionary leader in Gota.
PM position is not for a gentleman like Gota. He should sit above the parliament where hooligans dominate.
We should get the executive presidential powers back to make use of Gota. Will MR and the team do that is a question ?
April 19th, 2018 at 9:51 pm
What else would you expect in an Indian Colony? Run by India and Indian Colonial Parasites.
April 20th, 2018 at 3:09 am
Dilrook and Christie,
We can not risk of giving the life of Mother Lanka to a bunch of selfish hooligans in the Parliament. They can be bought by anyone.
We need a patriotic and powerful Executive President. Then only we can re-establish all our values and also travel towards a prosperous country. Parliament is a fools paradise.
We need the Executive presidential powers back again to help Mother Lanka.
April 21st, 2018 at 5:06 pm
Did we have a President with Executive powers from 1948 t0 1956?
That was when the foundations for a prosperous country was laid and Sinhalese were given the opportunities that they never had under the British Indian Empire.
April 21st, 2018 at 6:21 pm
Thank you Shenali for starting this discussion. Agree with Hiranthe and Dilrook. If Sri Lanka did not have the executive Presidency we will still be fighting the LTTE and probably by now, they might have won. However, the executive Presidency is not sufficient by itself. We had several executive Presidents before Mahinda Rajapaksa and none of them could do what MR did. If we get an ignorant, weak or a corrupt executive President then it would be worse for Sri Lanka than having no executive President at all. So much depends on the man or the woman in that position. It has to be someone like MR who really cares for the country, loves the people and has the courage to stand up to international pressure, and has the sixth sense to do the right thing at the right time. Sri Lanka was very, very fortunate to have MR at the time we did. However, many people became very jealous and became concerned that the Sinhalese were getting their act together. Our enemies such as the former Colonial masters and their ‘fetch and carry boys’ were not happy the way things were progressing in Sri Lanka. So they put in their plan to bring the country under their control by putting a weak President in power and a PM who was a lifelong puppet of theirs.
To wag Sri Lanka is to wag India too.
April 22nd, 2018 at 2:13 am
Hi Shenali
Very fine article with facts and analysis, as you professionally do always. Amendment 19 was the master mind of Jayampathi Wickremaratne, an intelligent but cunning President Counsel.
We cannot blame him, even JO supported it, at that time, heeding to public sentiments. More sad days are ahead for Sri Lankans, especially to Sinhala Buddhists, if executive presidency is abolished.
Hopefully, more to write on this subject, a separate write up is on its way. Thank you for your fine article.
April 23rd, 2018 at 3:22 am
Thank you once again Shenali for being the patriot you are, a breed rare in our country today.
My point on the issue at hand the attempt to remove the Executive Presidency – is this the best time to do this when the power is in the hands of Christian Ranil Wickramasinghe? Even with a lame duck Executive President in office he has done enough damage to our motherland with unconcerned and unconcealed arrogance taking the whole country hostage to his and his band of thieves’ daylight robberies!
At the moment, the nation has a fair chance of getting Gotabhaya Rajapakse elected as the next President of Sri Lanka and with that a chance it will not be politics as usual. We have a chance of getting rid of the old political coteries and into the hands of a new generations of politicians. I believe we must give that chance a go. On the other hand with Mahinda Rajapakse as the Prime Minister could be politics as usual and who know more of the same that led to his humiliating defeat in Jan 2015.
It is time our Motherland embarked on a journey abondoning the ‘dog eat dog’ politics of racial and religious hatred and bigotry with equal justice to all and special favours to none.