{"id":104878,"date":"2020-07-25T23:10:43","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T05:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=104878"},"modified":"2020-07-25T16:04:59","modified_gmt":"2020-07-25T23:04:59","slug":"the-country-requires-a-strong-executive-presidency-to-navigate-the-post-covid-world-says-milinda-moragoda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/07\/25\/the-country-requires-a-strong-executive-presidency-to-navigate-the-post-covid-world-says-milinda-moragoda\/","title":{"rendered":"The country requires a strong Executive Presidency to navigate the Post-Covid world says Milinda Moragoda"},"content":{"rendered":"

Press Release 2020.07.25<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Milinda Moragoda, former Cabinet Minister and Founder of the\nPathfinder Foundation spoke about the need for Sri Lanka to be fast and agile\nin order to face the economic, social and international challenges of the\nPost-Covid environment. He stated that:  \u2018there is no disputing the fact\nthat the country benefited from having strong executive decision-making during\nthe early stages of the pandemic. And as a result, many lives were saved.\nDisappointingly, no major political party has yet put forward a coherent\ngovernance and governing structure for the nation in their policy platforms.\nEach has been predictably very chameleon-like when addressing issues related to\nconstitutional and governance-structure related matters in their manifestos.\nThis is especially unfortunate in light of the dysfunctional relationship that\nnow exists between the Executive and the Legislature and the proven potential\nfor gridlock, both a result of the enactment of the 19th Amendment.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against this backdrop, without any coherent or credible proposals\nthus far having been presented by any major political  party, Milinda\nMoragoda proposes that all thoughtful Sri Lankans take up the following points\nfor their consideration, discussion and if appropriate advocacy :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A.  \nThe establishment of a strong Executive Presidency that can act\ndecisively and yet be ultimately accountable to Parliament. After all, the\npresidency is the only office elected by all Sri Lankan voters. Thus, the\nindividual occupying this post will be implicitly accountable to all Sri Lankan\ncitizens, be they from Kankesanthurai or Dewinuwara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B.  An independent legislature that will promulgate\nlegislation and act as a
\n      responsible check and balance to Executive excess. This\nlegislature
\n      should be elected on a first-past-the-post basis with a\nsmall percentage
\n      of members being chosen through a proportional\nrepresentation system.
\n      This change should lead to a stable parliament where most\nmembers are
\n      directly accountable to their constituencies and citizens.\nThe preference
\n      vote system which has only created chaos and in-fighting\nshould be
\n      dispensed with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C. The Provincial Councils should be abolished and empowered local
\n     councils set up to address the day-to-day issues of the\ncitizenry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D. An empowered Senate should be created to represent minority\nand 
\n    regional interests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moragoda further pointed out that \u2018Forty-two years have passed\nsince the establishment of Sri Lanka\u2019s Executive Presidency and that all those\nwho criticise this form of government have still not been able to convince Sri\nLankans of any better option. Notably, when the opportunity for abolishing the\npresidential system presented itself in 2015, the then government was unable or\nunwilling to conduct a referendum to abolish the presidency. And, as we are now\non the verge of facing the most challenging period in our post-Independence\nhistory, the need of the hour is a strong executive.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To lend further context to his point he noted that: \u2018The first\nconception of a Presidential system was forged in the late 18th century after\nthe American war of Independence against the British. Extensive debates\nsurrounding the extent of the powers of an Executive Presidency took place\nduring the drafting of the American Constitution. One of the founding fathers\nand authors of the US Constitution, Alexander Hamilton, argued for a strong\nExecutive leader making the point that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the\ngovernment. A feeble execution is but another phrase for a bad execution, and a\ngovernment ill-executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a\nbad government.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018In the final analysis Sri\nLanka cannot afford to have a crippled government especially at this critical\njuncture where a large number of lives and livelihoods are at stake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Press Release 2020.07.25 Milinda Moragoda, former Cabinet Minister and Founder of the Pathfinder Foundation spoke about the need for Sri Lanka to be fast and agile in order to face the economic, social and international challenges of the Post-Covid environment. He stated that:  \u2018there is no disputing the fact that the country benefited from having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104878\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}