Meera Srinivasan  Courtesy The Hindu

Motorists waiting to buy fuel from Lanka IOC fuel station in Colombo on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: AFP

Govt. tells non-essential staff to work from home to save fuel; social media saw many accounts of families being unable to access emergency medical care due to the lack of fuel

Sri Lanka has decided to seek fresh assistance of $500 million from India to augment its fuel imports, as the island reels under a crippling economic crisis manifesting in persisting shortages of essentials.

For weeks now, citizens are spending long hours lining up outside fuel stations — at times all day or night — to pump petrol or diesel, currently in short supply, as crisis-hit Sri Lanka runs out of dollars to pay for imports.

Public transport has been stalled due to the unavailability of fuel, businesses have been hit, and schools were forced to remain closed as students are unable to commute. Over the last few days, Sri Lankan social media saw many accounts of families being unable to access emergency medical care due to the lack of fuel. The government has asked non-essential” staff to work from home, to save on fuel consumption.

The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval for the proposal submitted by the Minister of Electricity and Energy to obtain a series of short-term loan facilities worth another $500 million with the assistance of the export–import bank of the Indian government in order to purchase petroleum products required by the country settling the foreign exchange shortage existing at the moment,” the government said in a statement following the Cabinet meeting on Monday.

Fuel prices saw a record hike on Tuesday as diesel, earlier sold for LKR 289 ($0.80) a litre, now costs LKR 400, reflecting a 38 % jump. Petrol prices rose from 338 to 420 Sri Lankan rupees, threatening to further increase costs of all essential commodities whose prices are already skyrocketing.

For several months now, Sri Lanka has been amidst an unprecedented economic downturn, sparking street protests by citizens across the country. A group of demonstrators are camping outside the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo for 46 days in a row, demanding that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who they hold chiefly responsible, quit office. 

Amid a heightening crisis, the government announced last month that it would pre-emptively default on the country’s foreign debt totalling $51 billion as the last resort”, and is currently negotiating a package with the International Monetary Fund. However, Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe on Monday noted that it was difficult to give a timeline of Sri Lanka’s economic recovery that, he said, was contingent on the success of the measures taken by the government.

Much of Colombo’s initiatives so far have been about tapping external help from bilateral partners and multilateral lenders. India has already extended credit lines worth $700 million so far for fuel imports —as part of the total $3.5 billion assistance extended so far since January — and delivered over 5 lakh MT of fuel, including the latest shipment of 40,000 tonnes of petrol that reached Colombo on Monday. Meanwhile, the government is also considering various options to expand Sri Lanka’s domestic energy sector, including with foreign investment. Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera on Tuesday announced plans to advertise plots for studies on oil exploration in the Mannar Basin, where Cairn India was earlier involved in exploration.

Courtesy Pakistan Today

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the people of Sri Lanka that he will fulfil the promises he had made to them when he assumed office last week after the fall of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government.

In his first TV address after assuming office, Wickremesinghe listed the grave challenges ahead of him, but assured the people of his determination to meet them successfully. He also suggested the formation of a National Assembly comprising all parties, to arrive at solutions. There may be an example for him. He can overcome the crisis by following Bangladesh’s ‘PM Sheikh Hasina Model’- Advertisement –

Sri Lanka is currently going through an extreme economic crisis. Foreign exchange reserves have fallen so low that some school examinations have been postponed indefinitely due to a lack of imported paper. In addition to cooking gas, there has been a shortage of kerosene and petrol.

The situation is so dire that due to inflation, high unemployment, and shortages of almost all necessities, many Sri Lankans are fleeing their country in the hope of a better life abroad. Countless Sri Lankans are now being forced to do something other than their main occupation as not everyone can afford to leave the country.The country has never been in such a bad situation since Independence in 1947.

To cope with the situation, the Sri Lankan Government has asked for a new loan of $1.5 billion from neighbouring India. When Sri Lanka faced problems, Bangladesh provided $250 million for the first time. This was the first loan from Bangladesh for any country. Sri Lanka again asked for a loan from Bangladesh. Besides, it has been repaying loans of different countries through the exchange of goods.

Sri Lanka had good human resources and was quite capable of internal prosperity. Then why this situation? Sri Lanka has undertaken several mega projects in their country for more than a century. These include seaports, airports, roads, and other projects that are currently considered unnecessary and redundant. Different governments of Sri Lanka have taken loans from different sources at home and abroad. As a result, their foreign exchange reserves gradually ran out. Instead of foreign investment, various governments have focused on borrowing.

The country’s government has issued sovereign bonds since 2007 to raise money. This type of sovereign bond is sold when the expenditure is more than the income of a country. Such bonds are sold in the international capital market to raise money. That is what Sri Lanka has done.

The once-self-sufficient country is also in dire straits due to tax cuts, reduced income from tourism remittances, and unplanned decisions in agriculture. Different countries have to learn from this situation. The world economic situation has begun to change rapidly since the Russia-Ukraine war, at which time any country could fall into a new crisis. Hopefully,  Sri Lanka will soon be able to return to normalcy with the help of various countries and organizations around the world.- Advertisement –

On the other hand, Bangladesh is currently a wonder of development. It is Hasina Wazed’s contribution that has made a least developed country such as Bangladesh a developing country now, going by economic indicators. Sheikh Hasina changed Bangladesh from a basket case to a middle-income country. Strong leadership is one of the main reasons behind the ‘Bangladesh model.

Bangladesh has improved its quality of life, economic strength, prosperity, education, and research in every field. Due to the global coronavirus pandemic, Bangladesh’s growth has slowed down. But where the growth of all the developed countries of the world was negative in these years, the achievement of Bangladesh was also noticeable.

The implementation of big projects is now just a matter of time. City facilities have also been ensured in the villages. A Metrorail will be launched in a few days. The long Padma bridge is not a dream now, it is real. The implementation of such a project with the government’s own funding was at one time unimaginable. The country is moving forward with a sound plan.

On various indicators of human development, Bangladesh had shown significant improvement,” she has said, adding, Life expectancy in 2019 was 72.6 years, a gain of over 7 years since 2000, years of schooling were up from 4.1 to 6.2, and the country’s human development index value climbed from 0.478 in 2000 to 0.632 in 2019. As a result, Bangladesh’s index ranking is now 133rd out of a total of 189 countries.”

The High Commissioner pointed out that Bangladesh’s growth stems largely from its success as an exporter of readymade garments, which account for 83 percent of its total exports, and remittances from overseas, which amount to over seven percent of GDP. However, the principal driver of growth is investment, which have risen from 24 percent of GDP in 2000 to 32 percent in 2019. When asked about Bangladesh’s amazing rise and economic growth, she put it down to the Sheikh Hasina factor”.

The High Commissioner emphasised that during the Covid-19 pandemic, the government offered a two-percent incentives bonus for Bangladeshis sending remittances back to the country, creating $2 billion to keep the growth going. In addition, the Bangladesh Government under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina provided an exponential stimulus to the economy to protect the marginal fringes of the workforce. She also highlighted that completion of the Padma Bridge will make a huge contribution to the economy.

Nobody disputes the economic credentials of Sheikh Hasina’s government- the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is the latest member of a growing list of international institutions attesting to Bangladesh’s economic success. The ADB ranked Bangladesh as the fastest-growing economy in the Asia-Pacific region, eclipsing China, Vietnam and India. At the same time, our improvements in many socio-economic indicators are another object of envy to our neighbours.

When she returned to power in 2009, Sheikh Hasina knew that the energy shortage first needed to be mitigated to a tolerable extent, before embarking on long-term plans. As a temporary measure, she decided to allow private companies to build small-range power plants, known as quick-rental power plants. The decision received a barrage of criticism from many quarters— from opposition parties and economists to the press and think tanks— intimidating many in the bureaucracy.

But Sheikh Hasina refused to back down from what she thought was the right step forward. She defended her decision forcefully, making necessary amendments to clear any legal ambiguity, and focused on its implementation. Nearly 10 years on, no one doubts that the decision was instrumental in solving the persistent energy crisis.

While in power, Sheikh Hasina has opened up many sectors traditionally reserved for the public sector to the private sector, including health, banking, higher education, TV and even export processing and economic zones. At the same time, her government has substantially widened and expanded welfare programmes to lift the poorest and most neglected section of the population and increased subsidies for other crucial elements of the economy such as agriculture. Her development philosophy is a blend of capitalistic and socialistic virtues.

Propelled by a robust manufacturing sector and an enormous boom in infrastructure, Bangladesh has set a target of becoming a developed nation by 2041 to coincide with the platinum jubilee of its independence. Many commentators have called the goal ambitious, but even the government’s staunchest critics would think twice before questioning its plausibility.

The present government in Bangladesh has shown great prudence and foresight in the progress of Bangladesh. The current Bangladesh regime has ensured political stability in the country, zero-tolerance policy against terrorism and illegal narcotics dealing, empowerment of women, liberalization of the economy, social welfare policy towards the people, capacity building through training, inclusive economic growth policy, timely bold decisions etc. For this reason, there is nothing to be afraid of seeing the situation of any country as a nightmare.

Around 100 economic zones are being formed. Investment is coming from different countries. Foreign exchange reserves are adequate (US$ 45 billion, January 2022), and remittances are satisfactory. It can be said that every economic foundation of Bangladesh is still in a strong position. The economy of Bangladesh was also active during COVID and emphasis has been laid on revenue collection and the agricultural sector of Bangladesh is very strong. Bangladesh is in a positive position in terms of foreign exchange reserves, remittances, and export earnings.

Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves now stand at more than $45 billion, despite rising import costs, making it able to meet the import cost of six months. Bangladesh’s growth rate was way above Pakistan, even before the pandemic; in 2018-19 it was 7.8 percent compared to Pakistan’s 5.8 percent. Various international organisations, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, and the Economic Intelligence Unit, have identified Bangladesh’s economic development as a wonderful puzzle”. While the current economy of Bangladesh is $410 billion, the size of Pakistan’s economy is about $260 billion.

Bangladesh has improved its quality of life, economic strength, prosperity, education, and research in every field. Due to the global coronavirus pandemic, Bangladesh’s growth has slowed down. But where the growth of all the developed countries of the world was negative in these years, the achievement of Bangladesh was also noticeable.

Premier Sheikh Hasina has achieved full potential to move from a least developed country to a developing country. It has been possible because of people’s hard-working, strong leadership. Political stability, the flow of FDI, empowerment of women, unique poverty alleviation model, inclusivity of economy, etc. That is the story of a South Asian country: ‘Bangladesh’ is a ‘miracle story’.

Courtesy USNews

COLOMBO (Reuters) -Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Tuesday he will present an interim budget within six weeks, slashing infrastructure projects to re-route funds into a two-year relief programme for the crisis-hit island nation.

Wickremesinghe, who took office two weeks ago, warned that inflation would rise as the government gets down to tackling the crisis, and that there could be more protests on the streets.

He said he hoped any unrest would not get out of hand, adding that funds would be made available to help the most vulnerable of the country’s 22 million people.

“Looking at the hard days ahead, there has to be protest. It’s natural when people suffer, they must protest,” Wickremesinghe said in an interview at the colonial-era prime minister’s office in the commercial capital Colombo.

“But we want to ensure that it does not destabilise the political system.

“With the interim budget, it is just about cutting down expenditure, cutting to the bone where possible and transferring it to welfare.”

The country located off India’s southern tip is reeling from its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, as a shortage of foreign currency severely curtailed imports of essentials including fuel and medicine, triggering months of unprecedented protests.

Much of the public ire has been targeted at President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family, whom protesters blame for mishandling the economy.

The roots of the current crisis also lie in the COVID-19 pandemic, which devastated the country’s lucrative tourism industry and sapped foreign workers’ remittances, and populist tax cuts enacted by the Rajapaksa administration that drained government income.

“We have no rupee revenue, and now we have to print another (one) trillion rupees,” Wickremesinghe said, warning that annual inflation could rocket past 40% in coming months, putting further pressure on Sri Lankan households already grappling with high prices.

For full report

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-05-24/exclusive-sri-lankas-prime-minister-says-will-slash-expenditure-in-new-budget

Courtesy CNA

WASHINGTON : The World Bank on Tuesday said it is not planning to provide any new financing to cash-strapped Sri Lanka until an adequate economic policy framework has been put in place.

In a statement, the multilateral development bank said it was repurposing resources from previously approved projects to help the Sri Lankan government pay for some essential medicines, temporary cash transfers for poor and vulnerable households, and other support.

It said recent media reports had inaccurately stated that the World Bank planned to provide Sri Lanka with a new bridge loan or other loan commitments.

Courtesy News18

A natural gas field was reportedly discovered for the first time here in 2011, but the country has not yet capitalised on this treasure trove, which could potentially solve Sri Lanka’s energy requirements, news portal Ada Derana has reported.

he crisis-hit Sri Lankan government is planning to undertake a feasibility study on oil exploration in the Mannar Basin, a shallow bay part of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean, which has about 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to meet the energy needs of the island nation for the next six decades, a media report has said. A natural gas field was reportedly discovered for the first time here in 2011, but the country has not yet capitalised on this treasure trove, which could potentially solve Sri Lanka’s energy requirements, news portal Ada Derana has reported.

During a media briefing on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting, Sri Lanka’s Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said that the government is planning to advertise plots for studies on oil exploration in the Mannar Basin following research conducted in the area last year. According to the findings of the Committee on Public Accounts held in 2016, the Chief Accounting Officer said there were about 5 billion barrels of fuel and about 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Mannar Basin, which is enough to meet the needs of about 60 years, the report said.Advertisement

The Ada Derana report said that deposits could be used to increase the country’s power supply to 1,130 kilowatts and the natural gas supply could bring approximately USD 200 billion to the country over the next 25 years. Officials stated that difficulty in finding reliable investors and the lack of staff at the Sri Lanka Petroleum Development Authority were the reasons for the delay in chalking out a formal programme to explore this resource-rich area, it said.

So dire has been Sri Lanka’s current situation that the country has been witnessing power cuts for up to 12 hours a day due to lack of adequate supply of fuel. The Sri Lankan Cabinet on Tuesday has approved seeking a USD 500 million loan from the Exim Bank of India for the purchase of petroleum products amid a severe foreign exchange crisis that has crippled the island nation.

The country is grappling with an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948. It is struggling with a shortage of almost all essentials, due to the lack of dollars to pay for the imports.

The economic crisis has also triggered a political crisis in Sri Lanka and a demand for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The crisis has already forced prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the elder brother of the president, to resign on May 9.

An inflation rate spiralling towards 40 per cent, shortages of food, fuel, medicines and rolling power blackouts have led to nationwide protests and a plunging currency, with the government short of the foreign currency reserves it needed to pay for imports.

Courtesy Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will closely work with other donors such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, G7 countries, and other stakeholders to support Sri Lanka during this extraordinarily difficult period, the agency’s administrator Samantha Power has assured Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

During a telephone conversation with PM Wickremesinghe, Samantha Power has discussed how the USAID is responding to the island nation’s political and economic crises. 

Administrator Power expressed her sympathy for the Sri Lankans who were killed or injured in the political unrest earlier this month.

Pledging her support to the people of Sri Lanka, she has stated that USAID would help the country weather the crisis.

Administrator Power meanwhile stressed the need to urgently undertake political and economic reforms to gain the trust of the Sri Lankan people. 

She has underscored that USAID is pivoting its ongoing programs in Sri Lanka to help address the urgent needs of Sri Lanka’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities as they experience the economic shocks, compounded by rising food, fuel and fertilizer prices due to Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine.

Courtesy Adaderana

The World Health Organization (WhO) has assured its fullest support for Sri Lanka to come out of the ongoing medical crisis.

The organization has also agreed to provide USD 2 million to the island nation as a part of the initial phase of this assistance program.

This was conveyed by WHO Representative to Sri Lanka, Dr. Alaka Singh who called on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The meeting took place at the Prime Minister’s Office in Colombo earlier today (May 24).

Dr. Singh has said she is confident that Sri Lanka would be able to resolve the medicine shortage by July or August based on the new health program implemented by the current government.

She further stated that the WHO is committed to improving the nutritional needs of infants and expecting mothers.

The prime minister has appreciated the support extended by the World Health Organization for improving the health standards of Sri Lanka.

Chairperson of the special committee appointed by the Prime Minister to propose measures to alleviate the shortage of medicines Ruwan Wijewardena, Secretary to the Prime Minister Saman Ekanayake and Medical Technical Services Director of the Ministry of Health Dr. Anwar Hamdani have attended the said meeting.

Shenali D Waduge

Anything done in haste is wasted and both 19^th and 20^th amendment as well as 18^th amendment were clearly not done with country interest but with personal interest. This is undemocratic and unhealthy for a country & it is reason for so many confusions and contradictions and heated debates. These are all uncalled for and unnecessary. 21^stamendment should not fall into this same category. The country is in an economic crisis, it soon led to a political crisis, we do not wish to enter a constitutional crisis as well. Therefore, Parliament & the President must stop being selfish in their tug of war for power and for once put the country first. While 19a is not the perfect amendment as is being made out to be, 20^thamendment is not so great either. To understand this, it is important to briefly look at what 19a attempted to do (transfer powers of the President to the PM) while 20a attempted to reverse these changes.

The Parliamentary Elections was won by SLPP in August 2020.

The Presidential election was won by Gotabaya Rajapakse in November 2019.

The President appointed a 5 member committee to draft 20a.

1. GL Pieris
2. Dinesh Gunawardena
3. Nimal Siripala de Silva
4. Ali Sabry
5. Udaya Gammanpila.

First reading of the Bill was on 22 September 2020 & 39 petitions were filed in SC

5 Judge SC bench – CJ Jayantha Jayasuriya, Justice Buvaneka Aluvihare, Justice Sisira de Abrew, Justice Priyantha Jayawardena & Justice Vijith Malalgoda.

Judges ruled that Clauses 3, 5, 14, 22 of the 20a Bill was inconsistent with Article 3 & 4 of the Constitution & required approval of the People at a referendum (as stipulated by Article 83 unless amended)

The rest could be passed with a 2/3 Majority in Parliament without a referendum.

Clauses requiring referendum unless amended were

Clause 3 – duty of President to conduct free & fair election

Clause 14 – Dissolve Parliament within a year

Clause 5 – Presidential Immunity which excluded FR challenges against acts of the President

Clause 22 – Repeal of constitutional duty on public officers to adhere to directive of Election Commission & failure to do so constituting an offense.

20^th October 2020 – Supreme Court made its Special Determination after 2 day debate in Parliament.

20a was passed on 22 October 2020 by Parliament – 156 votes in favor and 65 against.

8 from Opposition voted in favor.

20a was to retain 19a changes

2 term limit of a President,

5 year term for both President & Parliament

Right to Information

20a changes to 19a

• Constitutional Council replaced by Parliamentary Council comprising only MPs (3 eminent persons selected to CC in 19a was removed)
• Parliamentary Council could give their observations to the President who was not bound by them.
• National Procurement Commission & National Audit Commission abolished
• President given powers over PM, Cabinet & Parliament.
• Urgent Bill provision reintroduced (why?)
• Time duration a Bill opened to Public reduced from 2 weeks to 7 days

Cabinet made 3 changes to 20a Bill 

• Limiting Acts brought as Urgent Bills to those pertaining to national security & disaster management
• Limiting number of cabinet ministers/retaining maximum number under 19a
• Auditing of state institutions under 19a to continue

Qualifications to Elect President

19a – 35 years

20a – 30 years (what was the rationale for this?)

Dual citizenship

19a – Dual citizens cannot become President or MP

20a – repealed /Dual citizens can contest as President & MP

This was totally uncalled for

Duties of President

19a – Constitution respected & upheld (Article 33(1)

20a – repealed

19a – Promote national reconciliation & integration

20a – repealed

Constitutional Council/Parliamentary Council

19a – Ensure & facilitate Constitutional Council

20a – repealed & replaced with Parliamentary Council (3 eminent persons removed) Parliamentary Council only makes observations to nominations made by President but President is not bound to comply.

President/PM

19a – President cannot remove PM

20a – President can remove PM at any time at President’s discretion (Article 47(2)

19a – President required to act on advice of PM in appointing, removing any Cabinet, Non Cabinet Minister or Deputy Minister

201 – repealed / President may consider consultation if necessary

19a/20a – Actions of President remains subject to FR jurisdiction of the SC

20a – while holding office as President no proceedings shall be instituted or continued against him in any court or tribunal in official or private capacity (Article 35(1)

19a – President cannot hold portfolio

20a – President can hold Ministerial portfolios

Dissolution of Parliament

19a – President can dissolve Parliament only after 4 ½ years or with 2/3 majority in Parliament

20a – Repealed /

• President can dissolve after 2 ½ years –
• he can dissolve Parliament earlier if Parliament by resolution requests President to dissolve Parliament
• If President does not dissolve Parliament after Appropriation Bill is rejected, President has to dissolve Parliament if next Appropriation Bill is rejected.
• President shall not dissolve Parliament if Statement of Government Policy is rejected after General Election
• President shall not dissolve Parliament after Speaker entertains resolution calling for impeachment of President (Article 38 of Constitution)

Urgent Bills

19a – Urgent Bills revoked

20a – Urgent Bills” provision to pass legislation reintroduced. Amended to only to apply to ‘interest of national security or for purpose of disaster management’ & President can refer Bill to SC for determination on Constitutionality giving SC 24hours to determine. Urgent Bill cannot be used for any Bill as amendment, repeal, replacement, alteration or addition to any provision of the Constitution or repeal and replacement of Constitution.

Duration for a Bill made accessible to Public

19a – 14 days (before placing on Order Paper of Parliament)

20a – reduced again to 7 days (why?)

Any amendment proposed to a Bill during Committee Stage, cannot deviate from merits & principles of such a Bill. But an Act of Parliament enacted in violation of process is protected by Article 80(3)

Appointments to Judiciary

19a – Nominations to Courts including SC is by Constitutional Council

20a – President can appoint CJ, other judges of SC, President of Court of Appeal & other judges of Court of Appeal at his discretion.

Judges of SC increased from 11 to 17 judges.

Judges of Court of Appeal increased from 12 to 20

President may appoint any 2 judges to SC as members of the Judicial Service Commission at his discretion subject to their seniority & judicial experience.

The 20a should not have re-introduced dual citizenship, reduced the 14day provision to 7 days for People to make observations on a Bill, reintroduced urgent bills” which SC required amendment, increased the judges of the Courts and reduced the age to contest as President from 35 to 30years.

Shenali D Waduge

Shenali D Waduge

21a is re-attempting to transfer the powers of the President to the Prime Minister. Ranil is only a caretaker PM. The newly appointed cocktail cabinet are only care taker Ministers. They are not part of the Government elected in 2020 which still has the numbers though the PM of the Govt was forced to resign. A caretaker cabinet & PM should not be allowed to change the constitution with amendments. The President has to make this clear & stop wasting public funds and time on constitutional amendments. PM Ranil was brought to solve the economic crisis. If he cannot solve that he must be removed. He cannot be allowed to change the constitution. 21a is an attempt to do what could not be done by 19a – transfer Presidential Powers to create an Executive Prime Minister. The people must oppose this.

19a is not as gaga as is being presented & anyone who has read it would see the confusions and contradictions in a hurriedly passed amendment.

20a may have insertions that are unnecessary, but these are not dangerous to the State. In short, we do not need to waste time and public money on constitutional amendments. PM Ranil was not made PM to be changing the constitution.

The President has to come out & clearly make this known to them

However, 21a is re-attempting to transfer powers from a President elected by 69lakh people to a Prime Minister who lost his seat, could not secure 10,000 votes and sheepishly and undemocratically entered through the backdoor from the National List.

How can a person who has been elected by 69lakh people have the powers delegated to him by the People, transferred to a person who has entered to Parliament undemocratically to become the Executive Prime Minister?

This is what Parliament, the Judiciary & the Citizens of Sri Lanka should be asking.

The current cabinet is the 2^nd cabinet appointed by the President.

Initial cabinet had 4 ministers & Mahinda was PM

2^nd cabinet is currently have 13 Ministers with Ranil Wickremasinghe as PM.

This 2^nd cabinet is made up of a coterie of people from SLPP, SLFP, SJB – therefore, they are not from the Government that came to power in 2020 August. More importantly, the majority of the Cabinet Ministers were those that left the Government in April 2022 and chose to sit independently. One particular Minister was even sacked from his portfolio months earlier.

Another poignant and noteworthy issue is that the majority of these Cabinet appointees have never handled or have no knowledge about the portfolio given to them

Nimal Siripala – Ports, Aviation, Naval all critical areas

Tiran Alles – no knowledge of Law & Order/Public Security

Nalin Fernando – a critical ministry of food given without any experience

Harin Fernando – Land

All of the above have never handled such portfolios and raises questions on whose advice these portfolios were given. Their allocations, do reveal a different script, but this is another issue.

The point that needs to be made is that the PM and the Cabinet are not representative of the People in terms of vote or in terms of people’s mandate. Therefore, they have no moral right to be presenting anything as a Bill with the ultimate objective of usurping the powers of the President & transfer it to create an Executive PM.

This was an effort attempted in 2015 with the 19a and that unfulfilled task is again being attempted.

In 2015 the attempt was made by the same PM who was controversially appointed PM without removing the sitting PM after a Presidential Election. Creating a bogus national government” the 19a was passed as an Urgent Bill with people given no time to raise objections and legal counsels not having time to review the plethora of amendments that were being made. What was sent to SC for determination was not what was passed. If the same parties that passed 19a dubiously are in action again to pass the 21a, the people must object and Parliament MPs must also rise against it.

It is not difficult to identify the parties that supported the 19a are the same as those supporting the current 21a.

We must take changes on the merit as well as the principle behind the objective. The aim however, is to transfer Presidential powers (given that it is a tedious process to abolish the Presidency) to the PM. If this exercise was happening in a legal way, we can accept it, however, when a controversial PM is seated and is attempting to do what he could not do via 19a, we have to object. The spirit of the objective is wrong & undemocratic.

People must oppose 21a because a caretaker PM and a caretaker cabinet CANNOT and SHOULD NOT be allowed to make Constitutional Amendments.

Shenali D Waduge

ජයන්ත හේරත්

ආරගලිස්ට්ලාට

මාර්ගයේ එක පැත්තකට වී

හෝ

ගෝල්පීසයේ මුහුදු වෙරල මාඉමට  වී

සාමකාමිව විරෝධතා පවත්වන්නට

අවසර දුන්නත්,

මහජන පොදු දේපලවලට,

ව්යාපාර ආයතනවලට

අලාභ හානි කරමින්, 

බලහත්කාරකමෙන්

ඒවායේ දීර්ඝ කාලීනව රැඳී සිටීම

අවුරුදු දෙකකට නොඅඩු

බරපතල වැඩ සහිත සිර දඬුවමකට

සහ දඩයකට යටත් කල යුතුය.

සෑම ප්රධාන මාර්ගයකම

එක තීරුවක් පමණක්

ආරගලිස්ට්ලා වෙනුවෙන්

වෙන් කලාට වැරැද්දක් නැතත්

ගමනාගමනයේ යෙදි සිටින

වාහන හිටිගමන් නවතා

co2 ඇතුළු තවත් විස වායු 

අධික ලෙස පරිසරයට මුදා හරින්නට

හා

සීමිතව ඇති පැට්රල් /ඩිසල්

නිකරුනේ දහනය කරවන්නට 

ඉඩ නොදිය යුතුය.

තමන්ගේ පාඩුවේ

ඇවිදින මංතීරු වල

ඇවිදින අයවලුන්ට

බාධා නොකළ යුතුය.

තම දරුවන්

නිරාගමික ලිබ්බන්

වනු දැකීමට අකැමැති

කිසිම දෙමළ හෝ මුස්ලිම් මාපියෙක් 

තම දරුවෙක්

මේ කාලයේ

ගෝල්පීසේට නං යවන්නේ නැත.

එනිසා,

ඒ ළමයින්ට

ගෝල්පීස් සුලඟ

නොලැබීම

මානව හිමිකම් කඩවීමකි.

අද හෙටම

එංගලන්තේ

හෝම් සෙකට්රි ප්රීති, 

මෙවන්

අලුත් පැට’න්-අරගල තීරු

ප්රධාන නාගරික මාර්ගවල

ඉදි කරන්නට පෙළඹෙනු ඇත

නැත්නං

සලකුණු කර වෙන් කරනු ඇත.

එන්ගලාංතේ අලුත් පැටර්න්

කොපි කරන්නට බලා සිටින

ලංකා-ලොක්කෝ

එතකොට

ඒවා කොපි කරනු ඇත.

එවිට

මේ නොමනා හැසිරීම් ද

නැවතෙනු ඇත.

ප්රීති අපිට

අපි ප්රීතිට…//

ප්රධාන ප්රවාහන ජාලයන්ට

බාධා කරමින්

කරන උද්ඝෝශනද

නීති විරෝධී කර

වහා නතර කල යුතුය.

වාහන ගමනාගමනයට,

ඇවිදින මංතීරු වලට

බාධා පමුණුවන ආරගලිස්ට්,

විශ්ව විද්යාල සිසුවෙකු නම්

ඔහුගේ හෝ ඇයගේ සරසවි ශිෂ්ය භාවය

වහාම ක්රියාත්මක වන පරිදි

අහෝසි කල යුතුය.

ගෙවන ලද ශිෂ්යත්ව මුදල් ද ආපසු

අය කර ගත යුතුය.

ආරගලිස්ට් ආචාර්ය මහාචාර්යවරුන්ද

පට්ටම් ගලවා

ගෙදර යැවිය යුතුය.

නීතියේ ආධිපත්යය

වහා සුරැකිය යුතුය

ක්රියාත්මක කල යුතුය

නීතිය නොපිලිපදින්නන්

තරාතිරම නොබලා

බිරියානි බත් නොව

සිරබත් කන්නට සැලැස්විය යුතුය.

ප්රීති අපිට

අපි ප්රීතිට…//

By. P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, May 23 (Ceylon Today): When Sri Lanka was teetering at the edge of a politico-economic abyss, some wondered if it was on the way to becoming a failed state. But mercifully, a political consensus emerged this week, and the new Ranil Wickremesinghe government is attending to the economic problem which lies at the root of the crisis. 

 Nation-states fail because they are convulsed by internal violence and can no longer deliver positive political goods to their inhabitants. Their governments lose legitimacy, and the very nature of the particular nation-state itself becomes illegitimate in the eyes and in the hearts of a growing plurality of its citizens,” says Harvard Professor Robert I. Rotberg in his 2016 publication Failed States, Collapsed States, Weak States: Causes and Indicators.ADVERTISEMENT

States vary on the strong-weak scale according to the availability and distribution of public goods which are: political goods, economic goods and social goods, Rotberg says. In a strong state, citizens are able to resolve their disputes with the state and with their fellow inhabitants without recourse to arms or other forms of physical coercion. Modern, stable states provide predictable, recognizable, systematized methods of adjudicating disputes. And a key political good is the assurance that citizens can participate freely, openly, and fully in the political process. This calls for tolerance of dissent and difference; and assurance of human rights. Rotberg lists among political goods”, socio-economic goods like health care, education, good infrastructure, ease of doing commerce and a reliable financial system. 

Strong states perform well across these categories. On the other hand, weak states show a mixed profile, fulfilling expectations in some areas and performing poorly in others. The weakest states perform poorly across the range of criteria. Some of these could be categorized as failing and others failed or even collapsed states.  

Sri Lanka has been a mixed bag. It was having three decades of violence in the North and East and a few years of insurgency in the South. The state seemed to be weak. But even in the midst of these disturbances, the basic structure was working in most parts of the island. Social welfare and development was apparent in most places even as military operations and terror attacks were on. Therefore, a state could be failing in parts but not comprehensively. Rotberg also distinguishes between states with sporadic violence and those with enduring violence. In Angola, Burundi, and the Sudan, violence was enduring, making them very weak states. In Sri Lanka violence had not been enduring and therefore it was a stronger state comparatively.

Markers of Strong States

Strong states unquestionably control their territories and deliver a full range and a high quality of political goods to their citizens. They perform well according to indicators like GDP per capita, the UNDP Human Development Index, Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, and Freedom House’s Freedom of the World Report. Strong states offer high levels of security from political and criminal violence, ensure political freedom and civil liberties, and create environments conducive to the growth of economic opportunity. The rule of law prevails. Judges are independent. Road networks are well maintained. Telephones work. Snail mail and e-mail both arrive quickly. Schools, universities, and students flourish. Hospitals and clinics serve patients effectively. And so on. Overall, strong states are places of enviable peace and order.” 

Markers of Weak States

On other hand, weak states typically harbor ethnic, religious, linguistic, or other intercommunal tensions that have not yet, or not yet thoroughly, become overtly violent. Urban crime rates tend to be higher and increasing. In weak states, the ability to provide adequate measures of other political goods is diminished or diminishing. Physical infrastructural networks have deteriorated. Schools and hospitals show signs of neglect, particularly outside the main cities. GDP per capita and other critical economic indicators have fallen or are falling, sometimes dramatically; levels of venal corruption are embarrassingly high and escalating. Weak states usually honor rule of law precepts in the breach. They harass civil society. Weak states are often ruled by despots, elected or not.”

Criminal gangs take over the streets of the cities. Arms and drug trafficking become more common. Ordinary police forces become paralyzed. Anomic behaviors become the norm. For protection, citizens naturally turn to warlords and other strong figures who express or activate ethnic or clan solidarity, thus offering the possibility of security at a time when all else, and the state itself, is crumbling.”

Failed states exhibit flawed institutions. If legislatures exist at all, they are rubber-stamping machines, he says. Democratic debate is noticeably absent. And the judiciary is a derivative of the executive rather than being independent, and citizens know that they cannot rely on the court system for significant redress or remedy, especially against the state.”

There is a special category of weak state, in which there is peace and order, but these are based on rigid control. These are dictatorships. North Korea and Cambodia under Pol Pot are examples. These strong” states, hide their weaknesses. They are fundamentally weak but appear strong.”

Avarice is also a major contributor to a state’s failure. Cornering of privileges by an elite whether economic, social and tribal, creates antagonisms, disaffection, revolt and inequalities. All these make a state basically weak.  

In contrast to strong states, failed states cannot even effectively control their territories. Often, the expression of official power is limited to a capital city and one or more ethnically specific zones,” Afghanistan prior to the Taliban takeover was of this kind.

Failure is Preventable

But failure is preventable and recovery is possible says Rotberg. He cites Lebanon’s recovery from civil war as an example. Once a cease-fire was forged in 1990, Lebanon returned to normal after decades of strife. Cambodia also recovered after Pol Pot’s exit. Sri Lanka, which was teetering at the edge a collapse, is expected to recover, now that a consensus is emerging on the political set up, and violence has ended. 

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, May 23: The Sri Lankan cabinet, which met here on Monday, discussed a draft 21 st. Amendment of the constitution meant to reduce the powers of the Executive President and increase the powers of the parliament on the pattern of the repealed 19 th.Amendment.

The Prime Minister’s office said in a statement that the draft 21 st Amendment will be given to the leaders of the parties represented in parliament on May 27. Thereafter the cabinet will discuss the amendment and the observations of the party leaders on it.ADVERTISEMENT

There has been a persistent demand since the mid-1990s for the reduction of the gargantuan powers vested in the directly elected Executive President and increase the powers of parliament. The Executive Presidential system was created by the 1978 constitution authored by J.R.Jayewardene, who was keen on setting up a steady and strong central authority to carry out radical economic reforms. He replaced socialism by neo-liberal policies to bring about rapid economic development.

But successive Presidents tended to misuse the authority vested in them instead of using it for development or the welfare of the people.

However, from the time of President Chandrika Kumaratunga in the 1990s, attempts have been made by Presidents to tone down their powers either through a new constitution or an amendment of the existing one. But these attempts were half-hearted and therefore unproductive. In fact, President Mahinda Rajapaksa increased his powers by enacting the 18^th.Amendment.

When the ‘Good Governance’ government came into being under President Maithripala Siridena and Pime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2015, the 19 th.Amendment was enacted, reducing the powers of the President and increasing the powers of parliament and also introducing non-political Independent Commissions to oversee executive power.

But in 2020, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa replaced the 19 th.Amendment by the 20^th. Amendment which once again concentrated power in the hands of the Executive President. However, Gotabaya Rajapaksa messed it up his job so much that within two years into his term, he faced a massive and popular movement to get rid of quit. He would not quit but agreed to get his powers pruned.   

The 21 st.Amendment which is meant to do this job has been drafted by the lawyer MP and the present Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakshe.

New Economic Policies

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday met representatives from the Chambers of Commerce, the Treasury (Finance Ministry) and Economic Advisers to discuss a new budget and future economic plans.

Wickremesinghe said that a new budget would be presented which would significantly reduce capital expenditure. The money thus saved would be used for welfare programs. The Prime Minister further said that due to the war in Ukraine and also mismanagement by the previous governments, Sri Lanka is facing a food shortage. Government is trying to minimize the impact of the shortages.

The business representatives told the PM that the process of distributing relief to the people should be digitized. The Prime Minister said that government will work out the criteria for those eligible for welfare.

He further said that an economic policy framework that enshrines economic rights would be included in the proposed Constitution. He has asked the Finance Ministry to undertake structural reforms based on a competitive social market economy that can achieve development goals.

By Nadira Gunatilleke Courtesy Daily News

Colombo, May 23 (Daily News): The entire country watched live what had happened on May 9th and thereafter here in Sri Lanka. Since the entire country watched and listened to the main incident and its aftermath, it will be worthwhile analyzing the incidents.

In the past one and half years some private television channels have been provoking people using various hardships the people have been  facing from time to time. Such provocation became intense in the past three months. Every morning, the majority of television presenters were making the people feel that their channel has always stood by the ordinary people and voiced their hardships. Only one or two television presenters were not involved in this dirty and extremely dangerous act. Those one or two television presenters are educated and have a sound knowledge of their duty as communicators and journalists. The other lot did not have any formal education on media and journalism. They just came to the media field (maybe by accident) and are doing their job using common popular unethical tactics. They just blurt out whatever that comes to their minds.ADVERTISEMENT

They did not stop there. They distributed video clips of their ‘dirty morning job’  through the social media. Thus their dirty work would circulate all over the country within seconds. The YouTube channels run by some of these television presenters were engaged in another very harmful act. That is adding fuel to the already burning fire of Sri Lanka. They featured various kinds of crooks through their YouTube program and did their best to make the situation more complicated and dangerous. Earning money was their only objective. Such ‘journalists’ will do anything for money.

Why couldn’t they tell the people how to face hardships successfully?y? There are thousands of examples for how this could have been done. One fine example is the Derana Aruna telecast on May 21st Saturday at 6.30 am. The television presenter, who is a lawyer, made a request from the public to help students who sit for Ordinary Level Examination from today (Monday) by providing them lifts from bus halts to their examination centres whenever they see them standing on roadsides waiting for buses. He asked us to do this while we travel from our homes to our offices, school etc. What a brilliant idea? Schoolchildren are not thugs and you can give them lifts without any fear and without thinking twice.

No journalistic ethics

Every morning other television presenters would report about fuel queues and add their comments. But no one would tell people how to ease their burden. They never tell people to check whether there are staff in the fuel station who can tell them when to expect the arrival of a fuel bowser. This information will prevent customers from waiting unnecessarily and going back with empty fuel tanks.

Those television presenters never told people before joining a fuel queue to check the quantity of the load. Fuel loads are available as multiple numbers of 3300 litres (6600, 13200, 19800 etc) according to the size of the bowsers. Usually it takes at least 45 minutes to unload a large fuel stock from the bowser. Some more time is taken to obtain samples. Anyone can guess the number of vehicles ahead of him/her and the amount of fuel given to those vehicles. Then anyone can learn whether he/she can get fuel by waiting in that specific queue.

Those television presenters never told people that if a policeman is around, it is a sign that either the distribution has commenced or the fuel stock is going to finish soon. They never told people to keep some biscuits, water, glucose, two paracetamol tablets etc. with them, get ready for rain and hot sun.

If the television presenters who added fuel to the burning fire had told those things during their morning newspaper reading session, they could have saved the precious lives of the people who died while waiting in various queues. But what those television presenters did was adding more pressure and hatred to the minds of the already suffering people, making them physically and mentally sick and angry.

When considering the current style of handling mainstream media and social media in Sri Lanka, we cannot expect anything better. In 1988 and 1989 the entire country was set on fire by using simple things such as ‘Chits’ and rumors. But with the passage of time those tools have been modernized. Now social media is being used to set fire to the country. Sri Lanka cannot control this without creative tactics.

In simple words, what we experience here in Sri Lanka is an ‘artificial environment’ that existed in all State universities in the last few decades. Only one political party (this is the political party with a mere three percent representation in the country) and its breakaway party (which does not have a representation at all) dominate all Sri Lankan State universities. No other political party or independent group or individual has a voice in the State universities. According to this political party, all who do not support it are enemies who should be eradicated from the universities. If anyone or any group goes against them and starts to act against them, that would spell their end. First they threaten them and then they unleash violence on them. Several deaths were reported from State universities in the past few decades and hardly any murder got punished. In one instance 24-years-old D.K. Nishantha died in 2014 after being sexually abused by senior undergraduates. He had obtained three ‘A’ passes and entered the Arts Faculty of the Peradeniya University despite many financial difficulties.

It is very significant not because of the way he died. It is because of how the murderers faced the punishment given by the judiciary. They collected the Mahapola scholarship and all the other allowances received by undergraduates by force to pay legal costs to save the  murderers. This injustice and the pure violation of the law, rules, regulations, human rights, was not noticed by any authority or media.

Violent culture

It is the very same ‘control’ we saw here in Sri Lanka during the past one and half months since the undergraduates (they are the only group permanently residing in agitation sites and all the others just visit those sites) established three permanent protest sites, one in Galle Face another opposite the Temple Trees and the last one near Parliament. But the problem is not those protest sites.

The problem is the culture they gradually spread all over Sri Lanka especially in the Western Province with ongoing shortages of some essential items such as fuel, gas, electricity, milk powder, cement etc. That culture is hatred and taking revenge on strangers just like they do during ragging.

According to the Roman Dutch law here in Sri Lanka a person is only a suspect until he/she gets convicted by the judiciary. But this law does not apply in the case of this tiny political party which spreads violence across Sri Lanka. According to them, all who voted or supported the former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa are traitors and they need to be punished. After sensing this evil ‘trend’ several artistes etc. apologized for getting connected with the former Prime Minister and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). They did not commit any crime. Voting and supporting anyone we want is our right. Why don’t the bunch of ‘men in black’ tell this while speaking to the media?

The Constitution of the country cannot be the ‘Bible’ or the ‘Dhamma Pada’ for a political party at one time when it is helping them and become a piece of useless paper at another time when it does not support them?  Ordinary people understand these double standards very well and they remember things. Anyone should can to power through the vote of the people and not in any other way. But it seems some minor political parties have started to think that they can capture power of the country using ‘other tactics’. But the vote is much more powerful than these tactics. Silent people are more powerful than those who shout.

END

Courtesy Mint

An IMF bailout would depend on the country fixing its economy.

High school teacher S. Jeeva spent two days in the hot sun lining up for cooking gas in Sri Lanka’s capital. He’s been standing with thousands of others waiting for a delivery that so far hasn’t come. Many of his students have joined protests against the government at the waterfront along Colombo’s iconic Galle Face Green. Both are symbols of the economic and political crisis gripping the nation, the result of decades of corruption and financial mismanagement that pushed the country to default on 19 May. Those teenagers should be thinking about their future and preparing for university. Instead, they are worrying about how the island nation will ever emerge from its pile of debt.

What happens in Sri Lanka matters way beyond its borders. Global markets see it as a bellwether for a raft of potential defaults across the developing world as countries face a growing, post-pandemic debt burden.

So what does a country in default look like in 2022? Armed soldiers are on the streets and there’s days-long queues for gasoline and cooking gas. Harvests are down by 50% because farmers either cannot afford to cultivate crops or they’re only growing enough for themselves because there’s no fuel to transport what they’ve produced. Pharmacies are running out of medicine; and hospitals are short of lifesaving drugs and devices. Incomes are shrinking and inflation is accelerating above 30%. Parents are eating just one meal a day so their children can have three, while doctors report that patients are rationing essential drugs. There are also demonstrations throughout the country calling for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa; his brother Mahinda stepped down as prime minister on 10 May 10 after a spurt of violence. Police and security forces are pushing back with water cannons and tear gas.

How did Sri Lanka go from being named by Lonely Planet the world’s best travel destination for 2019 to a debt default? The warning signs were there from the moment the powerful Rajapaksa clan retook control of the country in late 2019. Their divisive dynastic politics, combined with questionable financial decisions—including heavy capital-market borrowing that accounts for some 38% of its debt—explain its path to ruin. Yes, the pandemic was a disaster for the tourism-reliant economy, and so too were the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019 that ushered in the Rajapaksa dynasty, but the rot had set in well before that. Sri Lanka’s interest payments on decades of borrowing are now almost equal to the principal.Importantly, Sri Lanka has lost its agency—with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and its bilateral lenders, China, India and Japan—if it ever had any to begin with. It has had 16 IMF agreements since 1965, though the situation this time seems more desperate than past episodes.

Other countries are struggling too. In South Asia, Pakistan is teetering on the edge economic peril. If the government doesn’t increase fuel prices, it is in danger of defaulting in just three months. It needs an IMF programme to avoid this eventuality. The World Bank noted in March as many as a dozen developing economies may be unable to service their debt in the next year. The biggest challenge for these nations, it says, is sovereign debt restructuring, just like the case of Sri Lanka.

On 19 May, the G-7 economic powers announced their support for debt relief efforts for Sri Lanka. Assistance may also come up at the Quad meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday, where the leaders of the US, Japan, India and Australia will hold talks on issues of regional concern. In the meantime, Sri Lanka is negotiating with the IMF for a bailout that will help it negotiate debt restructuring with its creditors. The country has previously said it needs between $3 billion and $4 billion this year to pull itself out of crisis, but the true extent of its debt has yet to be exposed. Last week, new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (in his sixth stint in this role) revealed a previously undisclosed debt of $105 million to a Chinese bank that had also fallen due. That means, as Lakshini Fernando, senior vice president and economist of Asia Securities, told me, Sri Lanka actually defaulted on $183 million, not $78 million as previously thought.

In the short term, the situation is only going to get worse, especially for daily wage earners who are most vulnerable to inflationary pressures. The only way the entire population is going to simmer down is when there is gasoline available and no more food shortages, and that is not going to happen any time soon,” she said. But because Sri Lanka is such a small economy, a large immediate infusion of US dollar aid could quickly stabilize the situation. Then it will be up to the government to ensure the structural reforms are in place to ensure Sri Lanka does not find itself back at the IMF for the 18th time.

Courtesy CNA

COLOMBO/LONDON: Sri Lanka has hired heavyweight financial and legal advisers Lazard and Clifford Chance as it prepares for the difficult task of renegotiating its debts, a trio of sources told Reuters on Monday (May 23).

The move is the latest development in Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948 and comes after the country was officially declared in default for the first time ever last week after it halted debt payments.

All three sources asked not to be named because the talks remain private. Spokespeople from Sri Lanka’s Cabinet and Lazard, which has handled debt talks for dozens of crisis-strained countries in recent years, did not immediately reply to requests for comment while law firm Clifford Chance declined to comment.

Experts and economists have been waiting for the appointment as the country looks to restructure over US$12 billion of overseas debt that had been building up for years but become unsustainable when COVID-19 hammered the economy.

The economy of around 22 million people began to show cracks in 2019 after large tax cuts by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government drained the country’s coffers. The pandemic then shattered the lucrative tourism industry, and rising global prices have left Colombo struggling for essentials such as fuel, medicine and food.

Violence between pro- and anti-government factions and police left nine dead and more than 300 injured earlier this month. That was followed by the resignation of former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

“By far the most important thing is to what extent the government will have the political will, and the ability, to deliver on the pre-conditions for the IMF programme,” said Gramercy’s co-head of sovereign research & strategy, Petar Atanasov.

“Governments are often willing to do the things that are required when their backs are completely against the wall.”

While there are hopes a deal can be struck to ease the economic crisis, it is unlikely to be straightforward.

A mix of loans from China, India and Japan, as well as all the bonds held by private investment funds mean long-resisted but now embraced talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could be complex, especially if social unrest worsens.

Other factors have included heavily subsidised domestic prices of fuel and a decision to ban the import of chemical fertilisers, which devastated the agriculture sector.

A group of Sri Lanka’s largest sovereign dollar bondholders has hired Rothschild as its financial adviser and another legal firm, White & Case, as its legal adviser.

“I think the new Cabinet would really have to show quick solutions to really pressing problems such as electricity and importation of goods to pacify the people,” said Carlos de Sousa, an emerging market strategist at Vontobel Asset Management which holds Sri Lanka’s bonds.

“They will try, but it is not clear to me whether they will be sufficiently successful. We will see.”

Courtesy Pakistan Observer

President SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry Iftikhar Ali Malik Sunday urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to work out timely bail out package to put defaulting Sri Lanka, a financially crumbled country, on track.

Talking to a delegation of women entrepreneurs led by Noreen Asim Siyal-an emerging youtuber, he said that main source of its revenue was tourism and deadly pandemic badly hit their tourism sector because of absence of foreign tourists which led to this ugly situation coupled with lack of good governance besides rising inflation.

He urged the world including SAARC member countries to come forward and save trembling Sri Lanka from total collapse.

He said being top leader of South Asia, he is confident that tourism will pick up again and worsening economic condition will be overcome in the days to come studed with good governance. He said Sri Lanka is seeking to restructure debts of more than $50bn its owes to foreign creditors to make it more manageable to repay. He said Sri Lankan government needs $4bn this year to little bit settle the score and bring the peaceful normal life.

Iftikhar Ali Malik, an octogenarian trade leader feared that Sri Lanka’s default is flashing a warning sign that surging inflation is set to take a painful toll in other developing nations.

Responding to a question of Noreen Asim Siyal, he said Pakistan will never become Sri Lanka, we have robust agriculture economy and colossal undocumented informal economy,which keeps the country sailing smoothly”. He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is known for working over time and under his dynamic leadership Pakistan will flourish and an era of progress,prosperity and development will usher in with the active participation of private sector which will play key role in strengthening the national economy by broadening the tax base.—NNI

Courtesy MailOnLine

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A woman sits beside liquefied petroleum gas cylinders on a street in Colombo. Fuel is in short supply across Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s inflation hit a seventh consecutive record high in April as a petrol shortage worsened and food prices rose sharply, official data showed Monday.

The National Consumer Price Index rose 33.8 percent year-on-year in April, more than six times the 5.5 percent inflation of a year earlier.

Annual food inflation stood at 45.1 percent, according to the latest data released by the Department of Census and Statistics.

Hammered by a foreign exchange crisis, the country’s 22 million people have been enduring acute shortages of essentials — including food and medicines — for months.

Protests are continuing outside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office demanding his resignation over the unprecedented economic turmoil.

Inflation is likely to rise further in May as fuel price hikes of 35 percent for petrol and 65 percent for diesel — commonly used in public transport — feed into the wider economy.

Petrol remains in short supply with long queues outside the few pumping stations still distributing the fuel.

Sri Lanka asked the International Monetary Fund last month for emergency assistance. The country has defaulted on its $51 billion external debt and is seeking international aid to revive the bankrupt economy.

The economy has collapsed since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, with a nosedive in tourism revenues and foreign worker remittances.

Courtesy India Today

Sri Lanka’s contentious 21st Amendment to the Constitution was denied Cabinet approval after the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) objected to it.

In a major blow to Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the proposal for the 21st Amendment to the Constitution to curb the unfettered powers of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, scheduled to be referred to the Cabinet on Monday, was not presented before it.

According to sources, the proposal was not presented in the Cabinet after parliamentarians of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) objected to it in its present form. They demanded that the proposed legislation be approved by the Attorney General before referring it to the Cabinet.

The 21st Amendment is expected to annul the 20A which gave unlimited powers to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa after abolishing the 19th Amendment which had made Parliament powerful over the president.

Watch | Sri Lanka Crisis: Can Ranil Wickremesinghe save Sri Lankan economy?

The constitutional reform was a major plank of the agreement between Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe when he took over the job of prime minister on May 12.

Rajapaksa had also pledged reforms in the Constitution in an address to the nation earlier this month.

The 21st Amendment would make it impossible for those with dual citizenship to hold a seat in Parliament. President Rajapaksa, who is facing growing demand for his resignation for mismanaging the country’s economy, had relinquished his US citizenship in April 2019 before contesting the presidential elections.

Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapaksa had earlier said that the 21st Amendment seeks to further strengthen the powers of the existing commissions and to make them independent as well.

In addition to the existing Independent Commissions, the National Audit Commission and the Procurement Commission will be amended as Independent Commissions under the proposed legislation.

The justice minister said the new amendment also proposes the appointment of the Governor of the Central Bank to come under the Constitutional Council.

Read | Sri Lankan crisis puts spotlight on debt, freebie culture in India

The powerful Rajapaksa family tightened their grip on power after their massive victory in the general elections in August 2020, which allowed them to amend the Constitution to restore presidential powers and install close family members in key positions.

In his 2019 presidential bid, Gotabaya Rajapaksa won a convincing mandate for the presidency during which he sought full presidential powers over Parliament.

Sri Lanka has been grappling with unprecedented economic turmoil since its independence from Britain in 1948.

A crippling shortage of foreign reserves has led to long queues for fuel, cooking gas and other essentials, while power cuts and soaring food prices have heaped misery on people.

The economic crisis has also triggered a political crisis in Sri Lanka and a demand for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The crisis has already forced prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the elder brother of the president, to resign on May 9.

An inflation rate spiralling towards 40 per cent, shortages of food, fuel and medicines and rolling power blackouts have led to nationwide protests and a plunging currency, with the government short of the foreign currency reserves it needed to pay for imports.

READ | Sri Lanka crisis: Ship carrying relief materials from India reaches Colombo

By N. Sathiya Moorthy Courtesy Ceylon Today

Ironic but true. At the end of Act II, Scene II (if that is what it is), the villain has turned hero, and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, against whom the whole world seemed to have turned, has proved that he has Parliament on his side. The 119-68 headcount on the combined Opposition motion to suspend the Standing Orders, for the House to take up their ‘censure motion’ against the President showed the Government had more than the 113 required for an absolute majority in the 225-member House.

This outcome also bettered the earlier pro-Government vote to elect Ajith Rajapakse as Deputy Speaker, 109-78 with 23 invalid votes, or those who did not want to be caught ‘abstaining.’ Former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and son Namal were absent for the entire day. Unlike the censure motion, the Deputy Speaker’s election did not show an absolute majority for the Government, indicating that more members wanted Gota to continue as President than the Opposition might have assumed.

Parliament’s Standing Orders help fix the House’s schedule. By seeking to have it suspended, the Opposition wanted the ‘censure motion’ against President Gotabaya taken up for debate and vote on an urgent basis. For all this, a censure motion is only to express the ‘displeasure’ of the House. It is different from an impeachment motion with two-thirds majority or 151 votes.

The Opposition strategy was bald. With earlier Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa out of office, the pending No-Confidence Motion (NCM) against the Government – entitled to priority debate and vote – had become infructuous when the House met on Tuesday (17 May). As Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe explained with his years of experience as Parliament, now the ruling SLPP can take the ‘suspension-motion’ route to scuttle future debates on the censure motion, whenever scheduled for vote in the normal course.

Lone outsider

If Ranil had thought of upstaging Gota in his own way by making a public suggestion for a woman Deputy Speaker and thus avoid a contest, it was not to be. Taking him on his word, or to test his equations with President Gota, or to expose his limitations in this ‘unholy alliance of unprecedented convenience,’ the Opposition fielded a woman, Rohini Kavirathna. As if to tell the new Prime Minister on who called the political shots in this hybrid system in which Ranil is still the ‘lone outsider,’ the ruling SLPP fielded Ajith Rajapakse, and he won.

Ranil should have learnt his early lessons. Again unilaterally, or so it seems, he had appointed four of his UNP colleagues to take charge of the ‘shortage-sectors,’ including food, fuel, and medicine. This he did when new Cabinet Ministers were expected to take charge of each of these portfolios, leading to avoidable tension and confusion.

Maybe, the President did not react as sharply to dislodge Ranil’s nominees. Instead, he appointed four new minsters, though not all of them would be taking back the powers of the four Ranil men. Of course, with Parliament’s session set to commence on schedule and the Cabinet expansion expected to be delayed, it made sense for Gota to have more ministers to represent the Government in the House. Of them, Dinesh Gunawardena continues to be the Leader of the House.

Now it looks as if the Gota-Ranil camp did better to take the fizz out of the public protest of the people’s movement at capital Colombo’s Galle Face Green waterfront, rechristened as ‘GotaGoGama,’ or simply G-3. In the midst of the emergency and nation-wide curfew, the Gota Government allowed the protestors to return to the venue after the 9 May attacks on them.

The protestors were still demanding the President’s exit and his Administration was facilitating their return to protest, as if to establish the Government’s democratic credentials for the whole world to see. PM Ranil took the cake – and also the wind out of the protestors’ sail, even more – when he named yet another UNP leader to head a team of officials to ensure a regular supply of food and water and attend to other creature comforts of the protestors, as if they were protesting against some third-nation leader, if not were attending a carnival.

Yet, Gota’s greatest tactical victory was in the way he forced his elder brother and political mentor Mahinda to quit as Prime Minister, making it look voluntary. The popular leader that he was/is Mahinda lacked the strategic skills of Gota, which had gone a long way in helping his government annihilate the dreaded LTTE in its time.

Political historians

Once the dust settles, political historians, for years to come, would be analysing how Gota could do this to Mahinda, and still conclude that it’s what politics is all about. In doing so, they would acknowledge how Gota also managed to turn the Nation’s ire towards Mahinda when he alone was to be held accountable for misadministration on multiple fronts – tax concessions, Chinese organic fertiliser, etc, etc.

By getting all other Rajapaksas, including Mahinda, out of the people’s way, somewhere Gota seemed to have concluded that he would be spared or he could overwhelm popular sentiment through Parliament.  He may have a point, but it needs to be tested, too.

That way, after the 9 May ‘Monday Mayhem,’ especially the unprecedented arsonist attacks on the homes and other properties of 75 ruling party personalities, the Government has the Police and the Security Forces where they should be. As Minister Kanchana Wijesekera recalled for Parliament’s benefit, the attacks on MPs’ homes had commenced as far back as 4 April, and not as ‘retaliatory hits’ on 9 May, when alone ruling party goons targeted the peaceful protestors at Galle Face Green.

It means, the mass protests could continue as long as the protestors wanted to vent their anger in whatever peaceful forms possible. But it should have to and would have to end there – whether or not Gota quits as President, whether or not Ranil continues as Prime Minister, early elections or not!

About the writer:

The writer is a Policy Analyst and Commentator, based in Chennai, India. Email: sathiyam54@nsathiyamoorthy.com

By N. Sathiya Moorthy

By Shirani ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

There is a strong opinion in Sri Lanka that we need educated people in Parliament. The conclusion of many is that our politicians are not professional and that is the bane of the country.

Heeding that call, a number of top professionals entered the political arena at the last 2020 General Elections. Among them were Ali Sabry, Dr Nalaka Godahewa, Dr Seetha Arambepola, Professor Channa Jayasumana and Yadamini Gunawardena. They were joined by other professionals as Dr Ramesh Pathirana, Udaya Gammanpila, Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon and Kanaka Herath who were already engaged in politics. They entered Parliament with the genuine objective to serve the country.

Already in successful careers many did not accept a salary nor even a ministry vehicle. On 9 and 10 May their properties were identified, looted, vandalized and destroyed by anarchists. Some were burnt to ground. These properties were not accrued by these professionals after they entered politics and as such not from any deals or commissions. It was from their hard earned money. There is an effort to portray these mobs as the impulsive reaction of an outraged public. However, the speed at which the violence spread across the country and the uniformity of violence indicates a more organiSed force. How they had fuel in their possession at a time the country was suffering from a severe fuel shortage is questionable indeed.

This outrage should have been met with outright condemnation. Yet, it was greeted with silence and even applause by many, including fellow colleagues and peers in the professional field. Social, religious and political leaders who call press conferences at the drop of a hat yet to utter a word of reproach.

Is provocative,peaceful?

The concerted effort to describe the mobsters as peaceful protestors has not been adequately challenged by the independent Media. Perhaps the protestors who gathered at Galle Face Green as well as other protest sites may not have always been violent, but whether they could be described as peaceful as implied by the definition of the word is debatable.

Until violence erupted in Mirihana, in front of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s private residence on 31 March, no one paid much attention to the sporadic protests that precipitated over the shortages of essentials as gas, fuel, electricity and imported commodities as milk powder.

Drama queen

When former parliamentarian Hirunika Premachandra came before President’s house with a group of women on 5 March, another group of women gathered in protest in front of Premachandra on 6 March protesting over Premachandra’s protest. While she was in power she did not visit her own seat Kolonnawa when the area went under in floods. She only appeared days after the crisis, well after the flood water were receding. The area residents did not give her a good welcome. Therefore, her appearance before the President’s house was more theatrical than anything else. The tit-for-tat protests were simply political jabs at each other.

Targeted violence

However, the protests that ended in violence on 31 March were of very serious nature and caught the authorities off guard. The violence erupted closer to midnight, which in itself was unusual for a protest. Usually, protests are very much a daytime affair. Though it was brought under control within hours, the area thereafter resembled a war zone with burnt carcasses of buses and demolished parapet walls littering the vicinity. It was very clear that something very serious was afoot threatening national security.

However, that glimpse of violence afterwards immediately disappeared. This was replaced with the Colombo yuppy crowd, clad in black with slogans that introduced them as the ‘messed with the wrong generation’. Usually, protests in Sri Lanka are by lower middle class youth whose slogans are in Sinhala. These protestors however were mostly from middle or upper middle class and the primary language of protest was English. Clearly, this was a sector of society who had their privileges at the tip of their fingers. The discomfort of been denied comforts as electricity, air conditioning, internet and fuel was something they were not prepared to tolerate.

Threatening national security

These protests that began as small groups in every nook and corner, suddenly in a well coordinated move shifted to the front of the Presidential Secretariat. The media glare attracted socialites, artists, religious leaders, sports personalities and other notable characters to the site to pledge their support. As the protests became a trend, the movement became boisterous and the demands outrageous.

The louder the protestors became the greater the effort was exercised to recognise them as the singular voice of the Nation. By this time the Government was seeking assistance from the IMF and the World Bank. As such, undue tolerance was bestowed on the protestors perhaps to impress on these two financial institutions that the Government was most democratic.

Misusing this freedom without boundaries the protestors began to agitate for the resignation of both President and PM Mahinda Rajapaksa. While the freedom to protest is without contest, the need for civility was never impressed upon the protestors by the social and religious leaders who supported and endorsed the protests.

Hence, the use of language deteriorated and the messages itself became appalling and obscene.

It came to a point where protestors publicly removed their underwear and hung on police barricades to underscore their disdain to the President. Neither the law nor community leaders reacted to this breach in civility as indecent expose. Throughout these increasing vulgarity the protests continued to be described as ‘peaceful’.

Calling violence peaceful

Even the Rambukkana incident on 19 March when the police opened fire at a group who were pelting the police with rocks, after forcibly halting traffic in both road and rail and attempted to set a bowser filled with fuel on fire was described by the media as ‘peaceful protests’. Marketing the mobsters as peaceful protests” continues unabated even after the brutal murder of SLPP MP Amarakithi Athukorala. If this was the result of a peaceful protest, then the lynching of a Sri Lankan factory manager at a Pakistan factory in Sialkot cannot be anything else.

Mobster Leaders to Parliament

Former Minister Sabry’s bitter words in Parliament on 20 May were, I will never look at this Parliament again, I do not need it. We did not enter Parliament to see such circumstances. I will never come back again. I have not come here to wage a war. I am afraid for my children and my parents. We have not stolen even 5 cents or engaged in any form of fraud. I have paid nearly Rs. 42 million as income tax over the last five years prior to taking up a ministerial post.”  Speaking further he noted that when his house was attacked by mobs, several colleagues from the legal profession and even his own relatives had approved it via social media. Sabry questioned, how can the country move forward with such brutality?”

This question should echo in our conscience. This overall attitude of ours dripping with callousness and jealousy would in the future prevent educated and professionals from stepping forward to manage our country. Instead, we can expect characters who have their own private paramilitary forces that do not honor the law of the land to come forth. After all, the future parliamentarians must have the capacity to protect his own family and property first.

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com

(The views and opinions expressed in this column are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CeylonToday)

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

SLPP MP Rear Admiral (retd.) Sarath Weerasekera says Prime Minster Mahinda Rajapaksa had not decided to resign on 09 May 09 although the SLPP MPs had been asked to bring supporters to Temple Trees for a meeting.Weerasekera said so when The Island asked him why he had skipped the Temple Trees meeting.One-time Public Security Minister said that the then PM Rajapaksa had, during a conversation with him on 08 May had denied reports that the latter was planning to resign the following day. MP Namal Rajapaksa, however, had asked a group of MPs and others to bring supporters to express support for the PM, MP Weerasekera said.

Weerasekera said he had been among those contacted by MP Namal Rajapaksa.The former Navy Chief of Staff said that the failure on the part of law enforcement authorities and the military to respond swiftly and decisively to a threat of breach of law and order had led to a disaster at time global attention was on Sri Lanka due to the deteriorating financial situation.MP Weerasekera questioned why police had refrained from firing at least once into the air when mobs arrived at some MPs’ houses, which were destroyed. For over 48 hours mobs had ruled the country, the MP alleged, demanding an explanation why shoot-on-sight orders had not been issued as soon as mobs started to attack MPs’ houses.MP Weerasekera said that serious accusations made by SLPP members, particularly Wimal Weerawansa, Dr. Ramesh Pathirana and Mahindananda Aluthgamage couldn’t be ignored. They accused some sections of the SLPP of conspiring to unleash violence and the police and the armed forces turning a blind eye to countrywide retaliatory attacks.

Newly-appointed Public Security Minister Tiran Alles said that he would order a thorough probe into the May 09 incidents. Minister Alles said so when The Island asked him what he would do against the backdrop of allegations of the police facilitating attacks on protesting public in the Kollupitiya and Fort police areas.MPs, Weerawansa and Dr. Ramesh Pathirana alleged in Parliament that Maj. Gen. Jagath Alwis, Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration and C. D. Wickremaratne, Inspector General of Police prevented Deshabandu Tennakoon, Senior DIG, Colombo from mob attacks on the protesting public.

Former Minister Weerasekera said that the government, the SLPP and the police should come clean on this matter. MP Weerasekera said that the government mishandled the challenge posed by those who cleverly exploited the economic crisis. Perhaps one of the major blunders was allowing the public to block roads. Now, it has become a style. Interested parties also exploit the media and social media. The government seems clueless,” MP Weerasekera said, urging the government to review the developments.MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage, too, told The Island, the top SLPP leadership ignored repeated warnings. The former Agriculture Minister questioned whether those who had advised the Cabinet of Ministers chaired by the President deliberately deceived them.

Courtesy Adaderana

Proposals for the 21st Amendment to the Constitution have been presented to the Cabinet of Ministers today (May 23).

Accordingly, the Cabinet has decided to forward the draft proposals to the party leaders for their comments by Friday (27). 

The first meeting of the new Cabinet was held today under the patronage of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says that a full report with the relevant amendments will be submitted to the Cabinet after consulting the party leaders on the 21st Amendment to the Constitution.

The Prime Minister said this while making a special statement regarding the relevant constitutional amendment.

He stated that the committee met today to discuss the 21st Amendment to the Constitution and that it was decided to discuss Minister Wijayadasa Rajapaksa’s draft proposal and present it to the Cabinet. 

The PM said they discussed this bill in the Cabinet and instructed to handed it over to all the party leaders in Parliament and instructed them to discuss with them and then report to the Cabinet.

Accordingly, Minister Wijayadasa Rajapaksa will hand over copies of the 21st Amendment to party leaders in Parliament. After that we hope to meet on Friday and get those ideas. Thereafter a full report will be submitted to the Cabinet along with the amendments,” he said.

We are looking at expeditiously publishing this amendment first in the Gazette and then allowing those who want to go to the Supreme Court. Present it to Parliament and pass this amendment immediately with the full support of all.”

Courtesy Adaderana

Minister of Mass Media, Transport and Highways Bandula Gunawardene has been appointed as the new Cabinet Spokesperson.

Meanwhile ministers Mahinda Amaraweera, Manusha Nanayakkara and Kanchana Wijesekara have been appointed as Co-Cabinet Spokespersons, the Govt. Information Department said. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has reportedly been transferred. 

It is reported that the Minister of Public Security has accepted the request for a transfer made by the DIG of the CID W. Thilakaratne.

The request had been made around two weeks ago while he has been transferred to the VIP Security Division. 

Meanwhile it is also reported that the DIG in charge of Nuwara Eliya, Prasad Ranasinghe is to be appointed as new DIG of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Courtesy Adaderana

The appointing of eight more Cabinet Ministers of the All-Party Government took place before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa this morning (23).

The new ministers were sworn in at the President’s House in Fort, the PMD reported. 

Mahinda Amaraweera has been sworn in as the Minister of Agriculture, Forest Resources and Wildlife while Roshan Ranasinghe has been appointed as Minister of Irrigation, Sports and Youth.

Bandula Gunawardena has been sworn in as the Minister of Mass Media, Transport and Highways while MP Vidura Wickramanayake is appointed the Minister of Buddhashasana, Religious Affairs and Cultural Affairs.

Douglas Devananda is re-appointed Minister of Fisheries while parliamentarian Ahamed Naseer has been sworn in as the new Minister of Environment.

Keheliya Rambukwella has been appointed Minister of Water Supply in addition to his portfolio as Health Minister while Ramesh Pathirana has been appointed Minister of Industries, in addition to his portfolio as Plantations Minister. 

New Ministers:

1. Douglas Devananda – Minister of Fisheries 
2. Mahinda Amaraweera – Minister of Agriculture, Forest Resources & Wildlife 
3. Roshan Ranasinghe – Minister of Irrigation, Sports and Youth 
4. Bandula Gunawardena – Minister of Mass Media, Transport & Highways
5. Vidura Wickramanayake – Minister of Buddhashasana, Religious Affairs and Cultural Affairs
6. Keheliya Rambukwella – Minister of Water Supply 
7. Ramesh Pathirana – Minister of Industries
8. Ahamed Naseer Zainulabdeen – Minister of Environment 

Thirteen cabinet ministers including Rambukwella and Pathirana had been appointed on two previous occasions. Accordingly, this brings the total number of cabinet minister to 19.

Shenali D Waduge

Everyone is parroting system change but everyone is reluctant to point out where to start the change.

The present parliament is already elected. We cannot make changes to the present Parliament. But we can make sure the next Parliament makes the changes we want.

What are the changes that we want.

1. Re-allocating seats proportionately for each province by population (delimitation commission) – some provinces having undue number of seats enabling people with few thousands to enter Parliament.

1. We are all in unison that the current electoral system of preferential representation is a failure. People with a few thousand votes enter Parliament and become kingmakers & deal makers. This has to stop by reintroducing the First Past the Post System 

1. Criteria to become a MP to stand for Parliament should be a basic degree / for other entities it should be Advanced Level.

1. Mandatory to declare assets & liabilities

1. No criminal record or prison sentence – anyone exonerated may apply

1. Anyone to stand for election must be resident of area contesting for minimum 10 years

1. Status of National List – recommended that the 29 seats be given only to professionals who would act as an advisory body divided into key subjects (finance/Health/education etc) – they would not be given status of a MP. This way they will not hold any Ministerial portfolio. As professionals they are not politicians and should be utilized for their expert knowledge for strategy only.

We can add to this criteria but the basic requirement is to make the system change to bring in direct voting system where MPs are accountable to the people who vote for them. This can be done only via the First Past the Post system.

The allocation of seats needs to also be done so as to have equitable representation from a province.

More importantly, all those bellowing to remove 225 are completely silent about how to get about CHANGING THE SYSTEM and where the changes should be made to start off with.

Thus, this should be priority if people are serious about dealing with corruption, ensuring quality people enter Parliament & guaranteeing proper representation proportionate to a province

While the slogans and placards calling for system change are many, very few have presented a new electoral system that is representative of the population, where MPs are directly elected and are accountable to the People and puts to an end the current manner that corrupt deal makers & kingpins enter Parliament.

Shenali D Waduge

Shenali D Waduge

It was clear that 19a was drafted taking into consideration the President in power & the hurriedly appointing Ranil Wickremasinghe who was Opposition Leader as PM without removing the sitting PM (D M Jayaratne) The legality of this remains unanswered. 18 FR petitions were filed in SC. There were amendments to amendments with little time for Counsels to study before making submissions. Though public had a week to study as per Article 121, they did not get access to the latest version. This was a FR violation of the people’s right. Article 122 gives SC 24 to 72hours for Urgent Bills and if Article 121 is applied the Court can take 3 weeks for deliberation & until such time the Bill cannot be taken in Parliament. This was why 19a was rushed through Parliament as an Urgent Bill.

19a is full of confusions & contradictions.

19a was presented as an Urgent Bill and passed giving little time for People to object

19a that was passed differed to what was sent to Supreme Court for determination

• Why did 19a include age limit of 35 years to contest as President?
• Why was Presidential term limited to 2 terms
• Why was dual citizen clause inserted (was it in national interest or to deny anyone contesting – this is an important insertion but it was never properly enacted as even the Election Commission did not include provision to question if anyone was a dual citizen before accepting nominations)

19a clipped President’s Powers to PM & confusions 

• President cannot dissolve Parliament at his discretion & could dissolve only after 4 ½ years (as was done earlier – the disadvantage of this can be seen currently, where with the resignation of PM Mahinda, Parliament should have been dissolved & a new Govt elected instead of a person coming through the backdoor becoming PM)
• President could not remove the PM – only Parliament could
• President had to take advice from PM in appointing or removing Cabinet/non Cabinet/Deputy Ministers
• Contradictions in Clause 9 – Article 43(2), 44(1), 45(1) and 46(3)(a) contradicted with Article 43(1), 44(2) – first says President has to take advice in appointments & removals but second says President may choose to consult on appointments & removals. It also contradicts with Article 43(3) and 44(3) which says President may at any time change subjects/functions of cabinet/non cabinet & composition of Cabinet
• Presidential Immunity removed & subject to FR jurisdiction in SC
• President could not submit to a People’s Referendum any Bill rejected by Parliament
• President could not assign himself any subject/function not assigned to a Cabinet Minister
• 19a says President may not hold a portfolio – yet President is Head of Govt, head of Cabinet & Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces! As Head of the Cabinet he is a Cabinet Member. Voters gave executive powers to a President not for him to be a ceremonial President.
• If President decides on subjects of MPs and their powers & President appoints all MPs what is the point in inserting President ‘may not’ hold a portfolio in 19a?
• As per Article 30 the President is Head of the State, Head of the Executive & Govt, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces & has right to declare war & peace, however Section 51 of 19a says only the current President will hold Ministry of Defense. So in a future government though President is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, to declare war he has to get the approval of the Defense Minister while the Defense Minister is appointed on recommendation of the PM. The PM cannot direct the Defense Minister to fight a war because the President can only decide that! 
• Article 154 allowing provision for President to dissolve Provincial Council was attempted to be slyly transferred from President to the PM/Parliament via Article 33a(2) of 19a – this was aligned with the calls for a separate state.
• As per Article 43(2) of 19a President can only appoint Ministers on advice of PM. President is not a MP & cannot hold a Ministry. Yet, Article 30(1) says President is Head of Executive, Head of Cabinet, Head of Government, Commander in Chief of Armed Forces YET Article 42(3) says PM is Head of Cabinet. If PM is Head of Cabinet, how can President attend it?
• Maithripala Sirisena held 3 ministries – Defense, Mahaweli Development & Environment but as per 19a these portfolios were only valid for sitting President & not future Presidents. How can there be a constitutional amendment applicable to only 1 President!

President has to seek opinion of PM to appoint specific Ministers, but

Article 46(1) of 19a allows him to decide on the number of Ministers with restrictions

Article 43(1) of 19a allows him to decide subjects & functions of Ministers

Article 43(3) of 19a allows him to change functions, subjects & composition of the Cabinet without approval of PM – this means the President can keep changing Cabinet Ministers as he likes.

Article 50(a) of 19a allows President to appoint all Secretaries to Ministries

Article 42(3) of 19a President is a member of the Cabinet & Head of the Cabinet. Though he is a member & head of Cabinet, the President cannot hold a Ministry but he has to hold Cabinet meetings!

Article 33(2) of 19a – President makes Policy Statement of the Government in Parliament. What if the President is from a different party to the party holding majority in Government which means the PM should be making the policy statement though President is Head of State. What if the President & PM disagree on the policy – the President has the powers to keep on changing & appointing Secretaries of his choice & Ministers would have to work with these Secretaries.

Where conflict can arise: The PM decides who should be Minister but the subjects & functions of these Ministers are decided by the President as well as the Secretaries assigned to the Ministries.

Powers of the  President is curbed by 19a – he remains answerable to Parliament (Section 6 of 19a) in exercising, performing, discharging his duties including public security.

The Executive President is answerable to Parliament but Parliament is not answerable to anyone & PM is not subject to any sort of review.

19a does not provide any limitation to the PM’s powers.

Other Confusions & Ambiguities in 19a

• Cabinet & Non-Cabinet could not exceed 30 while Deputy Ministers could not exceed 40 however a ‘national government’ allows Cabinet to have 45 and Deputy Ministers 55 but would be applicable only to the 2015-2020 Government.
• The 7 member Constitutional Council which included 3 eminent persons who would decide nominees for Independent Commissions & AG/IGP/Ombudsman/Secretary General of Parliament, CJ and Judges of other courts.
• Constitutional Council required 5 members to be present for quorum but Chairman did not have vote unless for an equal vote, which invariably meant that Chairman would always end up voting.
• While President’s immunity was removed CC which was making decisions/approvals & recommendations was made immune from any legal action & no one could question the decisions of the CC.
• CC was allowed to reject nominee of President even without valid reasons – this meant President could keep sending names & CC could reject them.
• Independent Commissions re-introduced. The bias of the ‘independent commission’ was evident from the behavior of the Election Commission member Hoole, who even went to file FR cases against a MP. Election Commission was not answerable to anyone while other Independent Commissions were answerable to Parliament. Role of Election Commission is not given & not mentioned in standing orders in Parliament.
• Election Commission lack of ‘independence’ was seen in its inaction while PC elections were postponed for 2 years by the Commission. So-called independent commission member Hoole even filed FR against holding elections!
• Right to Access of Information was included in 19a but contents of the Bill was not publicized!

Good aspects of 19a

• Inclusion of dual citizenship denial to be a MP or President
• Removal of Urgent Bills’ used to pass legislation (Bill has to be made available to public & given 14 days before placed on the Order Paper of Parliament – prior to 19a it was only 7 days)

Major fallacies of 19a

• While CC nominated IGP and President appointed him – there was no clause regarding his termination. Following the Easter Sunday, the IGP could only be sent on compulsory leave & a deputy IGP was appointed.
• Impediment to democracy (will of the People) placing restrictions on the dissolution of Parliament – allowing to dissolve Parliament in 4 ½ years of a 5 year term has no logic especially in instances where a Government is not functioning to the people’s wishes & people appeal to the President to take action – he cannot because of this 19a clause preventing him from dissolving Parliament.

19a & Supreme Court

Article 80(3) imposes a ban on Supreme Court from reviewing a law after it has been passed and no court or tribunal can inquire into it.

19a was passed no differently to how 13a was passed. 13a had a 9member bench with CJ Sarvananda. 3 judges upheld 13a, 5 judges claimed it contravened Article 2 of the Constitution, Judge Palinda Ranasinghe impugned certain provisions which AG Shiva Pasupathi made amendments to in the Bill & was hastily passed. 13a remains a problem for this reason, the very reason why 19a is full of ambiguities as well.

Article 2 of 19a attempts to replace Article 4(b) of Constitution providing President executive powers including defense. This has to be read alongside Article 33a of 19a which makes President act on advice of PM or a Minister authorized by PM.

Though 19a as per Article 2(b) says executive powers are with the President, in reality it is negated by Article 33a(2) which gives executive powers to the PM & not the President. This is a violation of the legal maxim ‘delegatus non potest delegare’ which in other words means delegated power cannot be re-delegated (thus the President cannot delegate powers given to him to the PM) – ‘shall’ is used as a mandatory requirement for the President in the 19^th amendment (Articles 33A (2) and (3) reduces the President to a mere puppet in the hands of the PM and questions the duplicity in including a clause that says the President exercises the People’s power.

Party leaders objected to the clause that required President to act on advice of PM & it was removed from gazette presented to parliament but was included in draft sent to Supreme Court.

Shenali D Waduge

සුදත් ගුනසේකර මහනුවර

“මේ රට සින්හල බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍යයකි” යන මූලික සම්මුතිය ඇතුළු පහතසඳහන් ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්ති පිළිගෙන ඒවා ක්‍රියාත්මක කරණ බවට මහනුවර ශ්‍රී දළදා මාලිගාවේදී ත්‍රයිනිකායික නායක හිමිවරුන් ප්‍රමුඛ සන්ඝ සභාවක් ඉදිරියේදී දිවුරා පොරොන්දු නොවන කිසිවෙකුට මේ රටේ කිසිදාක පාලන බලය නොදිය යුතුය”

                                           1 කොටස

එක්සත්, සව්භාග්‍යමත් ප්‍රබල ශ්‍රී ලාන්කික ජාතියක් ගොඩ නැගීම සඳහා මේ රටේ සියළු දෙනාම ඒකමතිකව පිළිගත යුතු ජාතික  සම්මුති මාලාවක් පහත දක්වම

1″මේ රට සින්හල බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍යයකි

2.ශ්‍රි ලන්කාව ඒකචත්‍ර රාජ්‍යයකි

ලෝක ඉතිහාශය ආරම්භවූ දා සිටම ඉන්දීය සාගරයේ පිහිටි සින්හලද්වීපය නම්වූ, වර්ගසැතපුම් 25,332  (65,610 කි.මී)පමණ වු මේ දිවයින, ඒකචත්ත්‍ර රාජ්‍යයකි.

3 රටේ නම සින්හලේ (ලන්කාදීප) විය යුතුය

 ක්‍රි.පූ. 543 සිටම අඛණ්ඩව පැවති පරිදි මේ රටේ නම සින්හලේ/(ශ්‍රී ළන්කාව) විය යුතුය. ඒ හැර ඉලන්කයි, ඊළම්  ආදි වෙනත් වචනවලින් එය හැඳින්වීම රාජද්‍රෝහී අපරාධයක් වශයෙන් සැළකිය යුතුය.දෙමළෙන් ලන්කා යන අරුතින් ඉලන්කෙයි කියාද සින්හලයින්ගේ රට යන අරුතින් ඊළම් කියාද දකුනු ඉන්දියානුවන් අතර භාවිතා වී ඇත. ඉතිහාශය පුරාම නම් 23 කින් පමණ විවිධ ජාතීන් විසින්  (තම්බපන්නී වශයෙන් එක්වරක් හැර ) මේ රට හඳුන්වා ඇත්තේ  සින්හලයින්ගේ රට යන අර්ථයෙන්මය. සිලෝන් (Ceylon) කියා ඉන්ග්‍රීසීන් කීවේද සින්හල්යින්ගේ රට යන අර්ථයෙන්මය.

1815 මාර්තු 2 උඩරට ගීවිසුම අනුව ඉන්ග්‍රීසීන්ට භාරදී ඇත්තේ සින්හලේ නම්වූ රාජධානියයි. එබැවින් ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම රටේ නිවැරදි නම ලබාගත යුතුව තිබුණේ,1948 දී රටේ පාලනය භාරගත් අමණ සින්හල නායකයින් විසින්මය.

4  මේ රට ලෝකයේ තිබෙන එකම සින්හල බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍යයයි”.

කි පු. 307 සිට 1815 දක්වා නිලවශයෙනුත් එදා සිට අද දක්වාම නිලනොවන ලෙසිනුත් අඛන්ඩව වසර 2329 පැවති පරිදි මේ රට සින්හල බෞද්ධයින්ගේ පරම මාතෲ භූමිය බව මෙරට වාසී සෑමදෙනාම මෙන්ම සමස්ථ ලෝකවාසීන්ම අවිවාදයෙන් පිළිගතයුතුය

තවද කිසිම අවස්ථාවකදි කිසිවෙකුට ඒ තුල වෙනම රාජ්‍යයක් ඉල්ලීමට අයිතියක්ද නැත. එබඳු ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම හෝ ක්‍රියාවන්වල යෙදීම   රාජද්‍රෝහී වරදකි.

මේ අතර ඉතිහාශයේ වරින් වර මෙරටට  පැමිණ දැනට එහි පුරවැසියන් වශයෙන් ජීවත්වන දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම් සහ වෙනත් සුළුජන කොටස්, මේ බිමෙහි වසර 2500 කට වැඩි කාලයක් පුරා ශිෂ්ඨාචාරය බිහිකොට එහි  පරම උරුමකරුවන් වශයෙන් සිටි සින්හලයින් සමඟ සුහදව ජීවත් වී ඇත. ජාතියේ උරුමයට තර්ජනයක් නොවන තුරු ඔවුන්ද සින්හල අපගේම සොහොයුරන් වශයෙන් අපි සැමදා සලකමු. කෙසේ වුවද අපගේ එම පරම උරුමයට ඔවුන් යම් කිසිදිනක වචනයෙන් හෝ ක්‍රියාවෙන් තර්ජනයක් නොවිය යුතුය. එමනිසාම ඔවුන් කිසිවෙකුට මේ රටතුල අයිතිහාසික නිජබිම් හෝ වෙනම රාජ්‍යයන් ඉල්ලිමට කිසිදු අයිතියක්ද නැත. මේ රටේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ දැන්වත් ඒ බව ව්‍යව වස්ථා  ගත කළ යුතුය.  එසේම සැමදෙනාම ඒ බව පැහැදිළිව වටහාගත යුතුය.

5 මේ රටේ ජාතිය සින්හල

 ක්‍රි පූ.548 සිට අඛණ්ඩව පැවති පරිදි මේ රටේ ජාතිය සින්හල වියයුතුය. දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම් සහ වෙනත් බෙර්ගර්, මැලේ ආදී ජනකොටස් යනු මේ සින්හලයින්ගේ රටට විටින් විට පැමිණි, සින්හලේ රජවරුන්ගේ සහ පසුව මේ රටේ පාලකයින්ගේ අනුග්‍රහය ඇතිව මෙහි පදින්චි පුරවැසිකම ලබාගත් සන්ක්‍රමනික ජනවර්ග පමණි. ඔවුන් අතීතයේදී කිසිම අවස්ථාවක මේ රට තුල වෙනම ජාතීන් වශයෙන් ප්‍රකාශ කොට නැත. එබැවින් වර්ථමානයේද නොකළ යුතුය. එසේම එවැනි ප්‍රකාශ කිරිම හෝ කටයුතුවල යෙදීම රාජද්‍රෝහී අපරාධයක් වශයෙන් නීතිගත කළයුතුය

6 රටේ රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව සින්හල විය යුතුය

1978 විවස්ථාවේ තිබුණු පරිදි රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව නැවතත් සින්හල විය යුතුය. (ඒ අනුව ජේ.ආර් ගේ දේශද්‍රෝහී සහ ජාතිද්‍රෝහී 16 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සන්ශෝධනයද  අහෝසි කළයුතුය). මේ රටේ මුළු ජනගහනයෙන් 70-2 % ක් සින්හල වන අතර මුළු ජනගහනයෙන් 99 % කටම සින්හල කථා කිරීම හා ලිවීම කළ හැක.ඉන්දියාවේ දෙමළ ජනයා  7 කෝටියක් සිටියත් දෙමල භාෂාව, එහි  රාජ්‍ය භාෂාවක්ද නොවේ. එසේ තිබියදී මේ රටේ දෙමළ මිනිසුන් මෙන්ම ඉන්දියාවද දෙමළ භාඅෂාවත් රාජ්‍ය භාෂාවක් කරණ මෙන් අරගල කරණුයේ කුමණ පදණමක් මත දැයි මට නොතේරේ. ලෝකයේ පෞරාණික ශිෂ්ඨාචාරයන් ඇති සෑම රටකම ජාතිය නම්කර ඇත්තේ එම රටේ ශිෂ්ඨාචාරය බිහිකළ ප්‍රජාවගේ මව් භාෂාව නමින්ය.

ඒ අනුව මේ රටේ ශිෂ්ඨාචාරය බිහිකළ සින්හළයින්ගේ භාෂාව වූ සින්හල නමින් මේ රටද නම්කළ යුතුය. එය ඔවුන්ගේ පරම ජන්ම අයිතියයි.

7 මේ රටේ රාජ්‍ය ආගම බුද්ධාගම විය යුතුය.

ක්‍රි.පූ 307 සිට 1815 වනතුරු රටේ රාජ්‍ය ආගම වශයෙනුත් 1815 සිට අද දක්වාම රටේ ජනගහනයෙන් 70.2 % කට වැඩි පිරිසකගේ ආගම වශයෙනුත් පවතින බැවින් නිළ වශයෙන් රජය ඒ බව පිලිගත යුතුය. ඉතිරි 30% න්  මුහුදුබඩ ප්‍රදේශවල 5%  කතෝලික කලේ 1505 න් පසු සුද්දන් විසිනි. දෙමල සහ මුස්ලිම් වරුන් බෞද්ධයින්ට එරෙහිව සන්විධානය කලේද ඔවුන් විසින්මය. මේ රටේ හින්දූන් වර්ථමාණයේ පවතින පරිදි 12.6% (50% කින් වැඩිවූයේද) උඩරට වතුකරයට සුද්දන් විසින් ගෙන ආ  සුද්දන්ගේ දකුණු ඉන්දියාණු දෙමළ වහල් කම්කරුවන් නිසාය.

ක්‍රි. පූ.307. සිටම අඛ්ණ්ව බුද්ධාගම මේ රටේ රාජ්‍ය ආගම විය. එබැවින් වසර 2329 ක් තිස්සේ පැවති පරිදි අදද බුද්ධාගම මේ රටේ රාජ්‍ය ආගම විය යුතුය. එමනිසාම බුද්ධසාශනය සුරක්ස්ෂිතකොට පෝෂනය කිරීම  රජයේ පරම වගකීම වියයුත්තේය.කෙසේ වුවත් ඒ තුළ සියළුම ආගම් ඇදහීමේ පූර්ණ අයිතියද සහතික කළයුතුය.

8 මේ රටේ ජාතික කොඩිය 1815 තිබුණ සින්හලේ කොඩියයි.

1815 තිබුණ සින්හලේ කොඩිය නැවත මේ රටේ ජාතික කොඩිය වශයෙන් ප්‍රකාශකළ යුතුය.1952 දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් ජනයා නියෝජනයට කියා පටි දෙකක් ඇතුලත් කළද  ඔවුන් කිසිදිනක මේ රටේ නීත්‍යානුකුල ජාතියේ කොටස්කරුවන් වශයෙන් පෙනී සිටියේ නැත. නිතරම ඔවුන් දෙගොල්ලගේම අරමුණ වන්නේ රටේ උරුමකරුවන්වන සින්හලයින් යටත් කරගෙන හෝ,එලවා දමා හෝ සමූල ඝාතනයකොට දමා හෝ  මේ රට අයිතිකර ගැනීමය. එමනිසා ඒ පටි දැමීමෙන් ඔවුන්ගේ ජාතිවාදය වැඩි උනා මිස සින්හලයින් සමඟ සහයෝගයෙන් ජීවත් වීමේ අදහස වර්ධනය වූ බවක් නොපෙනේ. එබැවින් ඒ පටි දෙක මේ රටේ කොඩියේ තිබීමෙන් කිසිදු පලක් නැත.

(මේ හැම එකක්ම ඉතිහාසයේ ආරම්භයේ සිටම  1815 දක්වා මේ රටේ තිබුණු, එතැන් සිට ඉන්ග්‍රීසි අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන් විසින් විනාශකළ සින්හලයාගේ පරම ජාතික උරුමයන් මේ රටේ පරම උරුමකරුවන් වන සින්හලයින්ට නැවත ආපසු ලබාදීම මිස අලුතින් නිර්මාණය කරණ දෙයක් නොවේ )

9 ජාතික ගීය

ජාතික ගීය දිවයින පුරාම ගායනා කළ යුත්තේ රටේ රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව වන සින්හලෙන් පමණි. එයවත් කිරීමට අසතුටු පුද්ගලයින් හැකිපමණ ඉක්මනින් තම තමන්ගේ මව් රට්වලට යා යුතුය.

10. මුලු රටටම බලපාන පරිදි එක නීතියක් –සින්හල රටේ සින්හල නීතියක්

එක රටක් හා රාජ්‍යයක් වෂයෙන්  රටේ සියළු දෙනාටම එක නීතියක් තිබිය යුතුය.එසේ නොකොට සුළුජන කොටස් වලට වෙනම නීති තීමෙන් රටේ උරුමකරුවන්ට බලවත් අයුක්තියක් හා අසාධාරණයක් සිදුවී ඇත.

මේ රටේ සියළු දෙනාටම එක නීතියක් තිබිය යුතුය. ඒ අනුව දැනට රට තුල ක්‍රියාත්මක වන සියළුම අන්දමේ මුස්ලිම් නීතිද එසේම තේසවලමෙයි නීතියද අවලන්ගු කළයුතුය.මන්ද එක රටක නීති කීපයක් තිබිය නොහැකි බැවිණි. ඒ අතරම මේ රටේ වසර 2500 කට වැඩි දීර්ගකාලීනව පැවති දේශීය නීතිය අනුව අපටම අනන්‍ය නීති පද්ධතියක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමට පාලකයින් දැන්වත් කටයුතු  කළ යුතුය..  ඔවුන්ගේ මව් රටවල නීති අනුව තම කටයුතු කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය මිනිසුන්ද ඔවුන්ගේ මවුරටවල් බලා යා යුතුය

11.මේ රටේ නිදහස් දිනය මැයි 22 වශයෙන් දැන්වත්   ප්‍රකාශ කළයුතුය.

1948 දී නිදහස ළැබුණායයි කිවද, මේ රට ජනරජයක් බවට ප්‍රකාශ කරමින් සැබෑ නිදහස උදා කළේ 1972 මැයි 22 දින බන්ඩාරනායක මැතිනිය විසිනි. එබැවින් ඒ වීර ලක් දියණියට කරණ ගෞරවයක් වශයෙන් හෝ මැයි 22 ජාතික නිදහස්  දිනය වශයෙන්  නැවතත් ප්‍රකාශ කළයුතුය.

1972 සිට 1977 දක්වා මැතිනියගේ රජයෙන් මැයි 22 නිදහස් දිනය අභිමානයෙන් සැමරින. නමුත් 1977 බලයට ආ ජේ. ආර්ගේ. අධිරාජ්‍යගැති  එ.ජා.ප රජය ජෙනින්ගේ බිරිඳගේ උපන් දිනය වූ පෙබ් 4 මේ රටේ නිදස්දිනය වෂයෙන්  නැවතත් ප්‍රකාශකලේය. 1994 එ.ජ. ප රජය පැරදුනද බණ්ඩාරනායක යුවලගේ දුව චන්ද්‍රිකාද සෝබෝන් ක්‍රමයට යමින්   පෙබ් 4 ම මේ හෙළුවැලි නිදහස් දිනය පැවත්හ්විය. ඊටත් වඩා පුදුමය කියන්නේ මැතිනිය නිසාම තම දේශපාලන අනාගතය උදාකරගත් මහින්දද ඉන් පසු ශ්‍රී ලන්කා පක්ෂයේම මයිත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේනද සුද්දාගේ දිනයේම නිදහස  සැ(මැරීය.) බන්ඩාරනායක පහණෙන් තම දේශපාලානයේ කිරුළු පලන් රාජපක්ෂලාද (ගෝඨාභය සහ මහින්ද) නැවතත් 2020, 21 සහ 22  කෝටි ගණන් මහජන මුදල් නාස්ති කරමින්  පෙබ් 4 ම මේ කවදාවත්ම නූපන් නිදහස් දරුවාගේ උපන්දිනය මැරීය. රටට හා ජාතියට  අබමල් රේණුවක ආදරයක් නැති රට ගැන හෝ ජාතිය ගැන අබැටක් පමණ හෝ ජාතික අභිමානයක්  නැති මෙවැනි අඳබාල පරගැති දේශ පාලුවන් අභිමානවත් සහ සෞභාග්‍යමත් දේශයක් ගොඩනගන්නේ කෙසේද?කවදාද?

1948 දි අපට පුර්ණ නිදසක් නොළැබුණු නිසා පෙබරවාරි 4  නිදහස් දිනය වශයෙන් සැමරීම ජාතික විහිලුවකි. එසේම එය තවමත් අධිරාජ්‍ය  ගැතිබව පිළිගැනීමේ නිවට කම ජාතියක් වශයෙන් ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ ප්‍රදර්ශනය කිරීමකි

12 මේ රටේ,ජනාධිපති, අගමැති, අග්‍රවිනිස්චයකාරතැන,ත්‍රි විධ හමුදාපතිවරුන්, පොලිස්පති සහ නීතිපති    හැමවිටම සින්හල බෞද්ධයින්ම වියයුතුය.

එඟලන්තය ඇතුලු හැම රටකම මේ තත්වය තිබේනම් වසර  2500 කට වැඩි කලක් ආරක්ෂාකරගත් සින්හල බෞද්ධ අපට ඒ තත්වය රැකගත නොහැක්කේ ඇයි?

13 මේ රටේ තිබිය යුත්තේ ජාතික දේශපාලන පක්ශ දෙකක් හෝ උපරිම 3 ක් pපමණි.

සියළුම ජන වර්ගවල චන්ද දායකයින් ඒ පක්ශ දෙකට අනුගත විය යුතුය

රටතුල භාෂා, ආගම් සහ වාර්ගිකත්වය අනුව දේශපාලන වෂයෙන් ජාතිය බෙදීමට හේතුවී ඇති බැවින් ජනවර්ග,ආගම්,ආදිය මුල්කරගෙන පිහිටුවා ඇති සියළුම දේශපාලන පක්ශ වහාම තහනම්කළ යුතුය. ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්ති අනුව වෙනස්කම් අනුව ජාතික දේශපාලන පක්ෂ දෙකක් හෝ තුනක්   තිබිමට ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් අව්සර දිය හැක.

14 මේ රටේ මඩ්‍යම  කඳුකරය, ශ්‍රී ලන්කාවේ හදවත මෙන් රැකගත යුතුය.

මන්ද, හදවතේ ගැස්ම නතරවූ දාට ජීවියා මිය යන්නාසේ මධ්‍යම කඳුකරයේ භෞතික ස්ථාවරත්වය නැතිවූ දාට  මේ දිවයිනේ  සියලුම ගන්ගා ගැලීම නතරවීම නිසා සමස්ථ දිවයිනේම           සකළ ජීවී පද්ධතියම අතුරුදන් වී මේ රටේ ශිස්ඨාචාරයද අවසන් වන බැවිනි. ඒ නිසා මේ රට තව වසර 25 කින් බීමට ජල බිඳක් නැති, කිසිදු ජීවයක් නැති මරුකතරක් වීම වැලැක්වීම සඳහා යෝජිත  වැඩපිලිවෙලක් පහතින් දක්වමි.

1. මධ්‍යම  කඳුකරයේ මු. ම. අඩි 5000 ඉහල සෑම ප්‍රදේශයක්ම. අධිරක්ශි ප්‍රදේශ වශයෙන් ප්‍රකාශකිරීම. කිසිම වගාවක් හෝ ජනාවාශයක් මේ තුල  සපුරා තහනම් කළ යුතුය.

11. අඩි 3500-5000 අතර විශාල තේ වතු තිබුණද ඒ තුළද සෑම වර්ගයේම ජනාවාශ තහනම් කළයුතුය. 

111.කඳුකරයේ සියළුම ජනාවාශ අඩි 3500 යේ සීමාවෙන් පහල ප්‍රදේශ වලට සීමා කළයුතුය.

1ව්.කඳුකරයේ   1000-3500 අතර ප්‍රදේශ ගම්මිරිස්,කරාඹු,කෝපි,එනසල්, පලතුරු වැනි මිශ්‍ර භෝග සහ, ගෘහස්ථ සත්ව පාලනය සහිත කුඩා ගොවිපල ව්‍යාපාර සඳහා වෙන්කළ යුතුය.මෙසේ කිරීමෙන් උඩරට ප්‍රදේශයේ ඉඩම් නැති ජනතාවගේ මෙන්ම ඉහල වතුකරයෙන් ඉවත් කෙරෙන වතු ශ්‍රී ලන්කා පුර වැසියන්වන දෙමල වැසියන්ගේ ඉඩම් ප්‍රස්නයද විසඳෙන අතර ඔවුන්ගේ ආර්ථිකයද දියුණු වණු ඇත.

15 ජාතික ආර්ථිකයේ මුල්තැන ගොවිතැනට දිය යුතුය.ඉනුත් වී වගාවට ප්‍රමුඛත්වය දිය යුතුය. ඒ සඳහා අවශ්ය ජලය,පොහොර, කෘෂිරසායනික, ව්‍යාප්ත සේවා  අලෙවි පහසුකම් සහ නිස්චිත මිල ක්‍රමයක් ආදි සියළු සේවා සහ පහසුකම් ලබා දිය යුතුය.

මේ රටේ ජාතික ආර්ථිකයේ මුල්තැන ගොවිතැනට දිය යුතුය.

16 රටේ ආර්ථිකය, සන්වර්ධනය, සන්ස්කෘතිය සහ අධ්‍යාපනය ආදිය පිලිබඳ ආණ්ඩු මාරුවීමත් සමඟ වෙනස් නොවෙ‍න ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් තිබිය යුතුය.

17 රටේ රාජ්ය පාලනයේ සියළු කටයුතු රටේ සින්හල ජාතිය ප්‍රමුඛ සියළුම ජනවර්ග, ආගම් නායකයින් නියෝජනයවන, සහ රාජ්‍ය තන්ත්‍රයේ ප්‍රධානීන්ගෙන් සමන්විත උත්තරීතර ජාතික උපදේශක සභාවක  උපදෙස් අනුව සිදුවිය යුතුයි.

ඒ මණ්ඩළය මෙසේ විය යුතුයයි මම යෝජනා කරමි

1ත්‍රයිනිකායික මහනාහිමිවරුන්  හතර දෙනා                                      4

2කෝට්ටේ, දඹුල්ල, රුහුණු සහ වනවාසී නායක හිමිවරුන්             4

3.මහානායක හිමිවරුන් විසින් වසර 5 කට නම්කරණු ලබන පඬි හිමිවරුන් දෙදෙනෙක් (විද්යෝදයෙන් හා විද්‍යාලන්කාර පිරිවෙන් දෙකින්)                                                                                                 2

 4.ශ්‍රීලන්කා කතෝලික සභාවේ නියෝජිතයෙක්                                1

5 හින්දු පූජක වරයෙක්                                                                         1

4මුස්ලිම් පූජකවරයෙක්                                                                        1

5.අග්‍රවින්ස්චයකාරතැන                                                                       1

6.නීතිපති.                                                                                             1

7 විගණනාධිපති                                                                                   1

8 පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කථානායක සහ                                                    1

9 රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ ප්‍රධානියා (භාණ්ඩාගාරයේ ලේකම්)                        1

     සභාවේ මුළුගණන                                                                        18                                     

18 මේ රට පාලනය කළයුත්තේ 100 නොවැඩි පාර්ලිමේන්තුවක් , 17 කට නොවැඩි අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයක්  සහ විධායක බලතල රහිත ජනාධිපතිවරයකු සහිත රජයක් මගිනි,

19. රට පාලනය කළයුත්තේ  රජයන් මාරුවීමත් සමඟ වෙනස් නොවන ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් අනුවය.

20. රාජ්‍ය ප්‍රතිපත්හ්ති සහ සැළැසුම් ජනතා හිතවාදීව ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරිම සඳහා දේශ පාලනයෙන් තොර ස්වාධීන අධිකරණයක්  හා රාජ්‍ය සේවයක් ස්ථාපිත කළයුතුය

                                        11 කොටස 

කුමන රජයක් බලයට පැමිණියද ශ්‍රී ලන්කා ජන රජය විසින් අනිවාර්‍යයෙන්ම කළයුතු කාර්යයන්

1.1815 වේ සිට මේ රටේ සින්හල ජාතියට අහිමිවූ සියළු උරුමයන් නැවත ලබාදීම (සියළු සුළු ජන කොටස්වල වාර්ගික හා ආගමික අයිතීන් ආරක්ශා කරමින්)

2.1948 ලබාගත්තායයි කියන ඊනියා නිදහස 1972 ජනරජයක් වූ දින සිට පූර්ණ නිදස් රාජ්‍යයක් බවට පත් කිරීම

3.මේ රටේ ඉතිහාශයේ පළමු වතාවට, යුද්ධයකදි පරාජය වීමකින් හෝ රටේ ජනතාවගේ කැමැත්තකින් තොරව  එක් පුද්ගලයකුගේ තීරණයක් අනුව  ජනතා විරෝධය මද්ධ්‍යයේ හදිසි නීතිය ප්‍රකාශකොට මහජන නියෝජිතයින්ගෙන්  දින නොමැති අස්වීමේ ලිපි අත්සන්කොට ගෙන  ඔවුන් ප්‍රාණ ඇපකරුවන් වශයෙන් රඳවාගෙන චන්දය ගන්නා වෙලාවට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට දක්කාගෙනවිත් විධායකයේ බලපෑමට යටත් කොට අත්සන්ගෙන  හදිසි නීතිය ප්‍රකාශකොට  නීති විරෝධීව අත්සන් ලබාගෙන ව්‍යවස්ථා විරෝධීව ජේ. ආර්. විසින් මේ රට ඉන්දියාවට පාවාදුන් 1987 ජූලි 29 රජිව්-ජේ.ආර්. ඉන්දු-ලන්කා ගිවිසුම සහ ඉන් උපන් මේ රටට සාපයක්වූ ඉන්දියාව විසින් බලහත්කාරයෙන් අප හිස මත පැටවූ 13 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සන්සෝධනය  සහ එහි අවජාත දරුවාවූ පලාත් සභා හූනියමද අහෝසි කිරීම 

4. දේශපාලකයින් විසින්මේ රටේ දිසා පාලනය ආයතන සහ රාජ්‍යසේවකයින්, විශාල වශයෙන් වැඩිකොට, රාජ්‍ය පාලනය විමධ්‍යගතකිරීමටයයි කියා, තවත් මඩ්‍යගතකොට, මහජන සේවයේ කාර්‍යක්ශමතාව බින්දුවටම බස්වා , රාජ්‍ය වියදම,    නාස්තිය සහ දුෂනය අසීමිත ලෙස වැඩිකරමින් රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ කාර්යක්ශමතාව නැත්තටම නැතිකොට දිස්ත්‍රික් පාලනය සේවාව අවුලෙන් අවුලට පත්කොට  සමස්ථ දිස්ත්‍රික් සේවයම විනාශකොට ඇති පලාත් සභා ක්‍රමය වහාම අහෝසිකොට, 

රාජ්‍යසේවය ගැන මළපොතේ අකුරක් නොදන්නා දේශපාලන අනාතයින් සහ කොලඹ ලොක්කන්ගේ ගැත්තන් වන පින්පඩි කාරයින් රැළක් වන ආණ්ඩුකාරයින් වහාම ආපසු කැඳවා දිස්ත්‍රික් පාලනයේ වගකීම වුර්තීය රාජ්‍ය සේවකයින් වන  දිසාපති වරුන්, ප්‍රාදේශීය උප දිසාපතිවරුන් සහ ග්‍රාම සේවා නිලධාරින්ට භාරදී දැන්වත් දිස්ත්‍රික් පාලනය වැටී ඇති අඝාධයෙන් ගොඩගත යුතුව ඇත.

මෙසේ කිරීමෙන් රට ආර්ථික වශයෙන් ඉතා දුස්කර කාලයකට පත්ව ඇති මෙම අවස්ථාවේ  වසරකට රුපියල් බිලියන ගානක්  ඉතිරිකරගත හැක.

5.දැනට මේ රටේ පවතින බටහිරින් ආනයනය කරණළද අප සන්ස්කෘතියට ආගන්තුක පක්ෂ දේශපාලන ක්‍රමයේ පවතින බෙදීම් සහ ආත්මාර්ථය වෙනුවට බුදු දහමෙන් අපට උරුමවූ, රටේත්, ජනතාවගේත්  මෙන්ම සියලු සත්වයන්ගේත් සුභසෙත මූලික පදනම වශයෙන් සලකන බෞද්ධ දේශපාලන ක්‍රමවේධයක් නිර්මානය කරගැනීම,

6.මේ රටේ දේශීය සන්ස්කෘතිය, චිරාගත සම්ප්‍රදායන් සහ සිරිත් විරිත් පදනම් කරගත් දේශයට ගැලපෙන නව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් වසරක් තුල ජනමත විචාරණයට ඉදිරීපත් කිරීම, යන කරුණු සියල්ල ඉටුකිරීමට දිවුරා සපථ කිරීම.

තවදුරටත්,

7 බෙදා පාලනය කිරීමට සුද්දා විසින් අපට උරුමකොට දී ගිය  මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමයටත් වඩා චන්දදායකයින් සිරස් සහ තිරස් අතට බෙදන  එසේම ජනතා කැමැත්ත කිසිසේත්ම ප්‍රකාශ නොවන පවතින මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමය වෙනස් කොට,ආසනයක මිනිසුන්ට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නියෝජිතයෙක් සිටින පරිදි, පැරැණි ආසන ක්‍රමය යළි හඳුන්වා දිය යුතුය. අනුපාත, මනාප සහ බහු ආසන  ක්‍රමය ඉවත්  කිරීම, අපේක්ශකයන් තේරීම අදාල ආසනවල චන්දදායකයින්ට දීම සහ අපෙක්ශකයකු වීමට අදාල චන්ද කොට්ඨාශයේ වසර 5 ක් හෝ ඉස්ථිර පදින්චිය හෝ ඉපදී තිබීම අනිවාර්ය කිරීම

8 තවද මේ යටතේ රාජ්‍ය  සභාවේ දැනට ඇති ආසන 225 හ 95 දක්වා අඩුකොට දියවන්නාවේ පාර්ලිමේතුව නැවතත් ගාලුමුවදොර පාර්ලිමේන්තු ගොඩනැගිල්ලට ගෙන ආයුතුය. විධායක ජනාධිපති ක්‍රමය අහෝසිවූ විට එම ගොනැගිල්ලද හිස්වන බැවින් එහි ගැටලුවක්ද ඇති නොවනු ඇත.

9 ජාතික ලැයිස්තුව අහෝසිකිරීම. ඒ වෙනුවට රටට විශිෂ්ඨ සේවයක් කර ඇති යම් යම් ශේෂ්ත්‍ර පිලිබඳ විසේසඥ දැණුමක් ඇති කීපදෙනකු පත්කල මන්ත්‍රීන් වශයෙන් ගැනීමට ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ ප්‍රතිපාධන සැලසීම.

10        දරුණු අපාරධ වලට මරණ දඬුවම දීම දීම

11 දේශීය සහ විදේශීය රාජ්‍ය සේවය වුර්තිකයින්ට පමණක් සීමා කිරීම සහ ශ්‍රී ලන්කා විදේශ සේවයට යන සෑම නිලධාරියෙකුට්ම රටේ ඉතිහාශය, සන්ස්කෘතිය, ආර්ථිකය  ජනතාවගේ අවශ්‍යතා යනාදිය පිළිබඳ යටත් පිරිසෙයින් වසර 3 ක හෝ න්‍යාය සහ ප්‍රායෝගික දැණුමක් ලබා දී පරීක්ෂනයකින් සමත් වීම අනිවාර්ය කළ යුතුය.

12 වෙනස්නොවන නොබැඳි විදේශ ප්‍රතිපත්තියක්

13 සෑම පුරවැසියෙකුටම රටේ ඔනෑම තැනක පදින්චියට, දේපල මිලදි ගැනීමට සහ රැකියා කිරීමට අව්ස්ථාව            සැළසීම

14        මේ රට පෙඩරල් රාජ්‍යයක් කොට දෙමල බලය නන්ග්වා සින්හල බලය බිඳ දමා සින්හල ජාතිය විනාශ කිරිමට            ඉන්දියාව විසින් බලහත්කාරයෙන් අප හිසමත පැටවූ 1987 ජූලි 29  ඉන්දු-ලන්කා ගිවිසුම සහ ඒ තුළින් උපන් 13 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සන්සෝධනය අහෝසිකොට මේ රටට හා ජාතියට  හූනිමක් වි ඇති පලාත්සභා වහාම අහෝසි කිරීම.

15 මේ රටේ ආර්ථිකය බිඳවැටීමට ප්‍රධාන හේතුවක් වන  දැනට පවතින අධික රජයේ නිවාඩු දින ගණන ජාත්‍යන්ත්‍ර සාමන්‍ය ගණන වන 12 හෝ ඊට ආසන්න සන්ක්‍යාවකට  අඩුකොට  වසරකට අපතේ යන මිනිස් දින ගණන රටේ සන්වර්ධනයට යොදාගතයුතුය.එය පහත සඳහන් පරිදි විය යුතුයයි යෝජනා කරමි

. නම                                   මාසය                    දින ගණන

1 සින්හල අලුත් අවුරුද්ද  අප්‍රේල්  13 &14               2

2 වෙසක්                             මැයි    වෙසක්  පෝය    2

3 ජනරජ දිනය                          මැයි  22                   1

4  ජාතික ගොවි කම්කරු දිනය    මැයි 1                   1

5  සින්හලේ ජාතික දිනය (පොසොන් පෝය)            1                                                

රජය විසින් තීරණය කලයුතු නිවාඩු දින 

6    ජාතික වීර දිනය                                                 1

7   පරිසර දිනය                                                         1

8 ජාතික ළමා  දිනය                                                 1

9 ජාතික මව්වරුන්ගේ දිනය                                    1

10 ජාතික වැඩිහිටි දිනය                                           1

මුළු ගණන                                                              12                                                             

මීට අමතරව සෑම පෝය දිනයක්ම රජයේ නිවාඩු දිනයක් කිරීමෙන් තවත් නිවාඩු දින 49 ක් රජයේ සේවකයින්ට එක්වෙයි, ඒ අනුව පාසල් සතියද සකස්කරගත හැක. මේ අනුව රටේ සින්හල බෞද්ධ අනන්‍යයතාවද  ආරක්ශා වනු ඇත.

අනෙකුත් ආගමික නිවාඩු දින අදාල ආගම අදහන අයට පමණක් සීමා කලයුතුය

16 සියල්ළුම වුර්තීය සන්ගම් ක්‍රියාවන් අදාල වුර්තිය අවිතිවාසිකම් වලට පමණක් සීමා කළයුතුය

17 සියළුම මට්ටම්වල මැතිවරණ අපේක්ශකයින් සඳහා අවම වයසක්,අධ්‍යාපන, වත්කම්, චරිත සුදුසුකම් නියම කලයුතුය.

18 ජනතා නියෝජිතයින්ගේ සියළුම අමතර වරප්‍රසාද අහෝසි කිරිම උදා= විශ්‍රාම වැටුප්, තීරුබදු රහිත වාහන , නිලරථ,නිල නිවාශ ඇතුළු සාමාන්‍ය පුරවැසියෙකුට නැති සියළුම වරප්‍රසාද අහෝසිකළ යුතුය.

19 සෑම දේශපාලකයෙකු සහ රාජ්‍ය සේවකයෙකුගේම කාර්ය සාධනය පිළිබඳ නිරන්තරයෙන් කෙරෙන ප්‍රගති සමාලෝචනයක් තිබිය යුතුය. එය මාසිකව,6 මාසිකව හෝ වාර්ශිකව කලහැක.  ඉලක්ක නොසපුරන පුද්ගලයින් රැකියාවලින් ඉවත්කිරීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙලක් සකස්කළයුතුය.

20 රාජ්‍යසේවයේ. අතිරික්ත ආයතන මෙන්ම සේවකයින්ද ඉවත් කොට ඔවුන්ට විකල්ප ස්වයන් රැකියා වැඩපිලිවෙලක් සකස්කල යුතුය.

21 රාජ්‍ය ආයතනවකට සේවකයින් බඳවා ගැනීම භාණ්ඩාගරයේ සේවක සහ සන්ක්‍යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නියමයන් නොක්මවිය යුතුය. එම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් සෑම රාජ්‍ය අයතනක්යකටම සහ සන්ස්ථාවකටම අවශ්‍යය අවම සේවක සන්ක්‍යා සකස් කළ යුතුය.

22 රටේ ඉන්ධන අවස්‍යතා අනුව අමතර තෙල් තොග ගබඩාකර තබාගැනීමට ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ තෙල් ටැන්කි යොදාගැනීට වැඩ පිලිවෙලක් සකස්කල යුතුය

23 මැති ඇමති, පලාත් සභා ආණ්ඩුකරවරුන්ගේ අරක්ශාව වහාම ඉවත්කළ යුතුය

24 දේශපාලකයින්ට තමන්ම හෝ වෙනත් අය හරහා රජයේ  කොන්ත්‍රාක් කිරීම සපුරා තනම් කළයුතුය.

25 දේශපාලකයින් හා රජයේඉ නිළධාරින්ගේ රාජකාරිය නිස්චිතව පැහැදිළි කල යුතුය එමෙන්ම රාජ්‍ය සේවයට දේශපාලන ඇන්ගිලිගැසීම් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම නතර කළ යුතුය නිලධාරින්ගේ කටයුතු පාලනය කළයුත්තේ පරිපාලන සහ මුදල් රෙගුලශි මගින් මිස දේශපාලකයින් විසින් නොවේ. එසේ වූ විට රාජ්‍යසේවය කාර්යක්ස්ෂම වනු ඇත.

26 රජයේ කාර්යාලයකට එවන ලිපියකට දින 3 ක් ඇතුලත පිළිතුරු එවන සුද්දන්ගේ කාලයේ තිබුණ සම්ප්‍රදාය වහාම නැවතත් ඇතිකළ යුතුය.

27 රාජ්‍ය සේවය දේවකාර්යක් මෙන් ඉටුකළයුතු බව දේශපාලකයින්ට මෙන්ම රාජ්‍ය සේවකයින්ටද අවභෝධ කළයුතුය.ජනතා සේවය ඒ අන්දමින් ඉටුකරන බවට සියළුම දේශපාලකයින් සහ රජයේ සේවකයින්ගෙන්ද පත්වීම් දෙන අව්ස්ථාවේම ලිඛිත පොරොන්දුවක් ගත යුතුය.

28දැනට මේ රටේ පවතින දේශපාලකයින් විසින් ,දේශපාලකයින් සඳහා පවත්වාගෙනයනු ලබන දේශපාලකයින්ගේ දේශපාලන සන්ස්කෘතිය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම උඩු යටිකුරුකොට, ජනතාව විසින්,ජනතාව සඳහා සිදුකෙරෙන ජනතාවගේම දේශපාලන ක්‍රමයක් මේ රටේ නිර්මාණය කළ යුතුය

29 එසේම දැනට ලන්කාණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්තාවේ xx11 පරිච්චේදයේ සඳහන්වන පරිදි ජනාධිපති, කථානායක, ඇමතිවරු සහ නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමතිවරුන්, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙ මහ ලේකම් අධිකරණ සේවා කොමිසමේ සහ රාජ්‍ය සේවා කොමිසමේ සාමාජිකයින් සහ මීට අමතරව අධිකරණ යේ සියළුම විනිස්චය කාරවරුන් වැනි අය රාජ්‍ය සේවකයින් නොවේ යන ප්‍රතිපාදනයද වහාම අහෝසිකොට ඒ වෙනුවට රජයෙන් වැටුප් ගන්නා සෑමකෙනෙක්ම රාජ්‍ය සේවකයින් වශයෙන් නම්කල යුතුය.

30.ඒ සමඟම ඒ සියළුම මට්ටම්වල දේශපාලනඥයින්ට සහ රාජ්‍ය සේවකයින්ටම දැඩි  ආචාර්ය ධර්ම මාලාවක් සහ දැඩි විනය මාලාවක්ද සකස්කොට ක්‍රියාත්මක කල යුතුය

මන්ද,

මෙවා මෙසේ තිබියදී සියළු දෙනාම නීතිය ඉදිරියේ සමානය සහ ශ්‍රී ලන්කා ජනරජයේ පරමාධිපත්‍ය ජනතාව කෙරෙහි පිහිටා ඇත්තේය ආදි වශයෙන් ව්‍යවස්තාවේ 3 යටතේ දක්වා තිබීම අර්ථ සූන්‍යය. එසේම හාස්‍ය දනවනසුළුය.

                                          111  කොටස

මේ සියල්ල කිරීමට පෙර රනිල් අගමැතිවරයා විසින් දැන්  වහාම කළ යුතුව ඇත්තේ

මේ කිසිවක් කිරීමට පෙර රනිල් අගමැතිවරයා විසින් දැන්  වහාම කළ යුතුව ඇත්තේ උද්ගතව ඇති අලුත්ම තත්වය යටතේ වියරු වැටුන රටේ ජනතාව පාර්ලිමේතුව, රජගෙදර සහ අරලියගහ මැදුරටද ගිනි තැබීමට පෙර වහාම නව දේශපාලන සන්ස්කෘතියකින් වැඩ ආරම්භ කොට  ඒ සියළු ව්‍යසනයන්ගෙන් රට බේරාගැනීම යයි  මම යෝජනා කරමි.

ඒ සඳහා ඔහු විසින් වහාම ගතයුතු පියවර කීපයක් පහතින් දක්වමි.

22.5.2022.

1 කිසිම හේතුවක් නිසා ඇමති මණ්ඩලය 17 කට වඩා  වැඩි නොකරනු

මන්ද, මුලින් කී 15 දැන් 20 වි ඇත. තව ටික දිනකින් එය 25  සහ අවසානයේ 30 ම වනු ඇත. ඒ සමඟම ඊනියා රාජ්‍ය ඇමතිවරුද 30 ක්-40 පත්කිරීමට සූදානම් බව පැවසේ. ඒ බහුතරය රැකගනීමටය.මේ යන්නේ කොහේටද. මුලින් සිටි තැනටම නේද. ඇමති 70 ට. පළමු ප්‍රස්නය මොවුන්ට පඩිනඩි දෙන්නේ කොහෙන්ද.  මේ විගඩම රටේ ජනතාව ඉවසයිද?මෙයින් සිදුවන්නේ තවත් රට ගිනිතියන එකනේද?

එමනිසා 17 නොඉක්මවනු . එසේම එකම රාජ්‍ය ඇමති, නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමති වරයකු මේ අවස්ථාවේදී පත් නොකරන්න. එවිට ජනතාව ඔබ සමඟය.එසේ නොවුනහොත් ඔවුන් තවදුරටත් අරගල කරුවන් සමඟය

2 ඇමතිවරුන් පත්කිරීමේදී දැන්වත් හොරුන්, තක්කඩීන් බේබද්දන්, පගාමරුවන්, කොමිස් රජවරුන්, බේබද්දන්   සහ පාලිමේන්තුවේ නිදාගන්නා උන් නැතිව, රට ගැන හා ජනතාව ගැන සිතන අය පමණක් ඇමතිවරුන් වශයෙන් පත්කර ගැනීම

3 නිමල් සිරිපාල, කෙහෙලිය.වැනි මිනිසුන් ඇමතිවරුන් වශයෙන් පත් කිරීමට විරුද්ධවීම. ඒ වෙනුවට මේ වෙලාවේදි රට ගොඩගත හැකි විද්වතුන් පත්කරනමෙන් ඉල්ලීම.

ඒ වෙනුවට 16.5.2022 දින ලන්කාවෙබ් හි පලකෙරුණු මගේ ලිපියෙන් යෝජනා කල පරිදි ජාතික ලැයිස්තුවෙන් විද්වතුන් කීප දෙනකු හෝ ඇමතිවරුන් වශයෙන් පත්කරන මෙන් ජනාධිපති වරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලීම.

4 රාජ්‍ය ඇමතිවරුන් කියන නාඩගම වහාම නතහර කිරීම  සහ නියෝජ්‍ය හෝ උප ඇමතිවරුන්ද මේ දුශ්කර අවස්ථාවේදී පත් නොකිරීම. මෙසේ කිරීමෙන් අති විශාල මුදලක් ඉතිරිකරගත හැක.

5 ඇමතිතනතුරු නැතිව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ඉන්ට බැරි මන්ත්‍රී වරුන්ට ගෙදර යන මෙන් කීම

6 අපරාධයන් කළ බවට බන්ධනාගාර ගතව සිටින මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්  පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගෙන  ඒම වහාම නතරකිරීම.

7 පලාත් සභා වහාම අහෝසි කිරීම සහ ඒවා අකර්මන්‍යවී අවුරුදු පහක් පමණ ගතව තිබියදීත් රටේ පරිපාලනය ගැන මෙලෝ දෙයක් නොදන්නා ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ හෙන්චයියන් පිරිසක් පින්පඩි ගෙවමින් ආණ්ඩුකාරයින් වශයෙන් තබාගෙන සිටීම මහා ජාතික අපරාධයක්  නිසා වහාම ඔවුන්ද එම පදවි වලින් ඉවත් කරන මෙන් ජනාධිපති වරයාට දැන්විම. ඒ සමඟම ඒවා කල්දැමූ දින සිට ආණ්ඩුකාරයින්ට ගෙවූ වැටුප් සහ දීමනා ආපසු අයකර ගැනීමට පියවර ගැනීම

මෙය වහාම නොකලොත් වැඩි දිනක් යාමට පෙර,ගොටා ගෝ ගමේ සහ නෝ ඩීල් ගමේ අරගල කරුවන්, ආණ්ඩුකාරවරුන්ද ඔවුන්ගේ කාර්යාල වලින් ඇද දමන දිනය උදාවනු නොඅනුමානය.

6 ඒ සමඟම රටේ පාලනය කඩාවැටීමක් නොවීම සඳහා දිස්ත්‍රික් පාලනයද  ශක්තිමත් කළ යුතුය,

 ඒ යටතේ  රටේ ප්‍රාන්ත පලනය දිසාපති,ප්‍රාදේශීය උප දිසාපති සහ ග්‍රාම සේවා නිලධාරීන්ට භාර දීම සහ ඔවුන් පලාත් සභා ග්‍රහනයෙන් මුදාගැනීම

8තවද ඉන්ධන .ගෘහස්ථ ගෑස්, විදුලිය අඛණ්ඩව සැපයීම

9රෝහල්වලට ඖෂදලබා දීම මෙන්ම

10. අත්‍යාවස්ය අහාර ද්‍රව්‍ය සැපයීම සහ ඒවායේ මිල පාලනය කිරිම ආදී හදිසි සැපයීම් කෙරෙහිද ඔබගේ දැඩි අවධානය යුඔමුකළ යුතුව ඇත.

11රටේ පවතින අරාජික තත්වය පාලනය කිරීම සඳහා

අන්තරය,ජේ, වි,පිය සහ  පෙරටුගාමී පක්ශ තනම් කිරීම අන්තරේ මෙහෙයවන එහි සභාපති චතුර සේනාරත්න, හිටපු සභාපති ලාල් කාන්ත  සහ කුමාර් ගුනරත්නම් මෙන්ම ජේ.වී.පි යේ මැයි 9 වන දින දීපව්‍යාප්ත තම දිසා නායකයින් ලවා ගිනි තැබීම් කරවූ,(සමුදිතට කී පරිදී ලාල් කාන්ත. දේශපාලන වුර්තීය සන්ගම් මෙහෙයවන ජොසොප් ස්ටාලින්. මහින්ද ජයසින්හ සහ  ගොවි පෙරමුනේ කැඳවුම්කරු ආදි සියළුම ජේ.වී.පී.නායකයින් අත් අඩන්ගුවට ගෙන ඔවුන්ට විරුද්ධව නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කල යුතුය. ඔවුන් සියළු දෙනාම අද මෙ කරන්නේද 1971 සහ 1989 රට පුරා සිදුකළ විනාශයේ තුන්වන අදියර යයි මම සිතමි.

ජාතියක් නැති, ආගමක් නැති, මේරටේ පය තබාගෙන නැති,මනසින් රුසියාවේ ජීවත්වන  මේ රට  එහි ඉතිහාශය හෝ සන්ස්කෘතිය  හා සමාජ හරයන් ගැන නොදන්නා මොවුන්ගෙන් විනාශකාරී අරගලය හැර අන් කුමක් බලාපොරුත්තු වන්නද.

12.මෙහිදි කිවයුතු තවත් වැදගත් කරුණක් ඇත. එනම් දිවයිනේ කිසිම ඉන්ධන හලකින් හෝ වෙනත් තැනකින්  බුලිවලට ඉන්ධන නිකුත් නොකලයුතු බවට නීතියක් පැණවීමයි. මන්ද මොවුන් පසුගිය මැයි 9 දා මෙන් යලිත් මෙසේ ලබාගන්නා ඉන්ධන වලින් මුළු රටම ගිනි තියනු ඇති නිසාය.

මේ අවස්ථාවේදි ගොඨාභයට ඔබ ඔහුගේ ගැලවුම් කාරයාය. ඔබ නැතිව ඔහුට පැවැත්මක්ද නැත, එමනිසා අනිවාර්යෙන්ම ඔහුට, ඔබට සවන් දීමට සිදුවනු ඇත, එමනිසා එම අවස්ථාවෙන් උපරිම ප්‍රයෝජන ගෙන ඔබගේ මුලු දේශපාලන ජීවිතයේම රට වෙනුවෙන්  කිරීමට නොහැකිවු විශාල වැඩ කොටසක් ඔබට මේ අවස්ථාවෙඩ්දී කළ හැකියයි මම සිතමි.

අගමැති තුමනි, දේශප්‍රේමියකු වශයෙන් මම ඔබට මෙන්ම රටට හා ජාතියට ශුභපතමි!

Shenali D Waduge

This is the question everyone should be asking. To answer this we need to return to the regime change & coup that led to the January 2015 Presidential election of Maithripala Sirisena as President & the swearing in of Ranil as PM without removing the sitting PM D M Jayaratne. With this technicality unsolved, a bogus national government” was created with the 19a that controversially attempted to transfer the powers of the executive president to a controversially seated prime minister. Parliamentary Elections were eventually held in August 2015 only after Parliament was hurriedly dissolved before COPE could make some startling revelations. While numerous objections were filed against the 19a, poignant is the determination by Chief Justice Sri Pawan that a referendum was required in order to transfer powers from a President (who was directly elected by the People), to a Prime Minister who was only selected by 224 member Parliament. So this judgement plays a significant role in 21a or any other attempt being made to usurp the powers of the President & transfer to Prime Minister/Parliament.

We therefore, cannot put aside the regime change attempt to make constitutional changes between 2015-2020 and many other attempts to dilute the sovereignty of Sri Lanka, providing open doors for nations to interfere in Sri Lanka.

President Sirisena eventually understood the dangers & decided to put a stop as even land was being compromised through electronic systems and the MCC. In an address to the Nation, President Sirisena clearly disclosed why he was removing Ranil as PM. This speech is extremely relevant as to why PM Ranil was removed & Mahinda appointed as PM. He ruled for only 52 days, leading to the return of Ranil as PM with full backing of US-EU and alliances. PM Mahinda was ousted in May 2022 to again return Ranil as PM.

Not surprisingly, the same players that supported the regime change, plotted to bring Ranil to power & introduced the 19a are once again in action to push for 21a that seeks to fulfil the unaccomplished task of abolishing or transferring Presidential powers to PM. Are we watching Yahapalana 2?

Sirisena ceded Presidential powers in 2015 simply to sit as President, Gotabaya Rajapakse it appears is knowingly or ignorantly ceding powers or being forced to cede Presidential powers! Sirisena woke up & prevented any major changes & it is now time for Gotabaya to do the same. Unlike Sirisena, much was expected from Gotabaya & 69lakh people deem it his duty not to break their trust & faith in him.

Ranil became PM controversially in 2015 and controversially again in 2022. The situation in 2022 is bizarre because not only did Ranil lose the General Election, his party could not win a single seat and thanks to the proportional representation system, one national list seat was allocated to the UNP. After months of tug-of-war with national list nominees demanding that single slot, rejected Ranil broke democratic principles to enter Parliament.

Fast forward to May 2022, PM Mahinda knowingly or unknowingly ends up getting an unexpected ‘farewell’ by having to give up his premiership, after a coup within his own camp forced him to resign as PM. It would be good for PM Mahinda to find out who betrayed him from within.

Be that as it may, Mahinda resigns as PM and then suddenly Ranil returns as PM again. How did a man rejected by his own vote base, enter Parliament immorally through the backdoor as a national list MP being the only representative in Parliament, hooted from his own former UNPers now seated in SJB, become the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka for the 6^th time?

These are democratic case studies!

If this is yahapalana 2, it was no surprise that the stage was set to return Ranil, initially with the creation of the GoHomeGota gama, by a bevy of Colombians, Bar Association, JVP, FSLP, Sisters & Fathers of the Church, LTTE Diaspora, NGOs, Muslim groups – the same coterie that has always backed Ranil (though shy to openly say so).

On the face of it the aragalaya” was used as a platform to further the hora” hora” campaign kicked off in 2014, resulting in regime change which created an illegal FCID and eventually that led to a Presidential Commission in 2020 on victimization during 2015-2020 – isn’t it strange that the Bar Association proposals on the economic crisis is recommending the annulment of this commission together with its recommendations! Ask yourself what does this have to do with an economic crisis!

The aragala” project will soon close shop, as another set of players are tasked to take over.

While fanfare began about corruptions” – the slogans are suddenly only about 21a. Was this the ultimate goal? Why is there little emphasis on ‘anti-corruption’ ‘tender process procedure’ ‘moratorium on siphoning resources & assets’, parliamentary ratification process, procurement criteria? If people of the ‘aragalaya’ are so concerned about the Nation, why are they not demanding a stop to the sale of assets & resources? Why are they not highlighting that a government is only temporary custodian for a term of 5 years? Why are they not highlighting the importance of national security?

Part of the overall project appears to be to degrade the police & armed forces & demoralize them. The manner selected groups have been tasked to ridicule the uniform, showcases how well the campaign has been orchestrated to corner every individual/group that puts the Nation first and attempts to protect the interest of the Nation. Everyone who looks at issues from the prism of what benefits or what is disadvantages to the nation is being targeted.

Ranil took over as PM claiming to solve the economic crisis. The constitution has nothing to do with the economy & should not be touched until there is stability in the country. People’s minds are diverted to home problems, is this why these constitutional changes are being hurriedly passed as part of the unfulfilled plans started out in 2015?

As citizens, we must take a Pro-Sri Lanka stand. Petty political alliances should be set aside. In a national crisis, the interest of the Nation must come first.

It is important for people to realize the dangers of passing Presidential powers to a Prime Minister. President is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, passing this role to Parliament means in a crisis, a decision cannot be taken unless majority in Parliament agree. With the 13a in force & demands for police & land powers, every President has withheld giving these powers knowing its ultimate outcome.

The sitting Prime Minister, no one should forget signed a controversial cease fire agreement in 2002, this document remains secret & out of public domain & handed territory to terrorists confining the armed forces to barracks. This same PM, allowed the co-sponsorship of UNHRC resolution with the state accepting war crimes by our armed forces. This same PM was always reluctant to end the war & has never backed the armed forces.

Inspite of people’s attention being diverted, the judgement by CJ on presidential powers requireming referendum needs to be revisited.

We are having a situation where a person elected as President by votes of 69lakhs of people are subtly being transferred to a prime minister who has been rejected by his party. In such a scenario why should the President have to take advice of such a PM?

Article 154(b)(2) where the President rules through the governor will also result in this unmandated PM deciding on crucial matters of national security importance.

With an unsolved economic crisis, Sri Lanka cannot walk into another political and constitutional crisis as a result of personal political goals aligned to external lobbying by geopolitically interested parties. Protestors are all demanding a solution to the economic crisis. No one is asking for constitutional amendments, therefore MPs must raise this concern in Parliament. Naturally, the MPs have been subtly neutralized by attacks on their homes as a tactic to make them not object to the constitutional googly’s being plotted.

19a was drafted to specifically fit 2 persons brought to power. This is why attempts were made to transfer powers from President to Prime Minister introducing clauses relevant for the Presidential rule of only Sirisena. How can such draft insertions hold national interest?

Personal aspirations cannot be a flag carrier for constitutional changes. This is why until the country is stable economically, no changes should be hurriedly passed.

Shenali D Waduge