{"id":107825,"date":"2020-10-21T15:36:42","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T22:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=107825"},"modified":"2020-10-21T15:36:42","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T22:36:42","slug":"shenali-waduge-says-mcc-lies-sri-lanka-is-not-getting-480m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/10\/21\/shenali-waduge-says-mcc-lies-sri-lanka-is-not-getting-480m\/","title":{"rendered":"Shenali Waduge, says MCC LIES: Sri Lanka is not getting $480m"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0 Senior Lawyer — Sri Lanka\u00a0 Study Circle .\u00a0 srilankastudycircle@yahoo.com<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Excellent analysis Shenali , yes   we have very eminent personalities going out\nof their way to hold panel discussions and promote MCC parroting how lucky Sri\nLanka is to benefit from this \u2018gift\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do they know  the legal\nimplications of the Land Project?<\/strong>    Do\nthey at least know that they are promoting a foreign law which takes away their\n  inalienable fundamental right to access court\nenshrined in the constitution.  After\nsigning the MCC, the land rights will be sans  the land laws of this country,  mainly beneficial for agriculture and the MCC   will \nhave an irrevocable government grant of intellectual property rights\naccording Annex 1\u201430,   Annex 1 \u201331 and  Section 3.9 . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The  MCC Land Project  includes  two major components  given as– 1 \nand 2<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1] to make the Government  landless  by introducing a statute which is called the\nLands Special Provisions Act.  A statute to\n change the land policy of the country. All\nwho support the MCC  should refer to the\nbooks authored by Hon Justice A.R.B Amerasinghe.  In Sri Lanka, \nthe  leaseholders  of \ngovernment land were always granted permission to improve their\nlands  by obtaining  bank loans. The banks are not interested in\nownership deeds relating to state land, \nthey  require financial statements\nof the loan applicants to determine whether they are credit worthy. The banks\nwill not give loans   to the poor, merely\nbecause they have received a deed from the government.   [ If\nfurther proof is required it is best to refer to  the legal officers of all banks and the\nlawyers in the  Title Insurance field who\nare extremely knowledgeable].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 2]  to introduce the Australian law to govern the land\nrights of the people.   A major issue\nconcerning this   law is that it deprives access to  court, specifically when owners are deprived\nof their land rights  by  means of fraudulent deeds. It repeals the   traditional laws associated with agriculture.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Document drafted with foreigners to introduce MCC<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public is  helpless,\n public was  not given any opportunity, when the Government\ndecided to make a revolutionary change to the land policy and the land law of\nthe country.  The Government had  secretly  conducted the analysis of our land laws and\nland policy to draft Sri Lanka Constraints\nAnalysis Report<\/strong>   with   the  MCC\nof USA  in partnership and    the Harvard \nUniversity\u2019s Centre  for\nInformation International Development for the Development of  Millennium Challenge Compact is the result of  Sri Lanka Constraints Analysis Report<\/strong>  https:\/\/assets.mcc.gov\/content\/uploads\/constraints-analysis-sri-lanka.pdf<\/a> ]Sri Lanka\nConstraints Analysis Report and the MCC \nhad been drafted by foreign officials who had not  read the following Local and  International reports which state that\nthe  law recommended for the land\nproject  MCC has failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a]<\/em><\/strong> \nWorld Bank\u2019s ICR report — Sri Lanka\u2019s titling project is a failure. <\/strong>http:\/\/documents1.worldbank.org\/curated\/en\/996161474635250504\/pdf\/000020051-20140617135844.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 b]<\/strong> <\/em>Performance Report of 2018  by the \nGovernment official administering \nthe Australian law states that it will take over 100 years to complete .<\/strong> https:\/\/www.parliament.lk\/uploads\/documents\/paperspresented\/performance-report-land-title-settlement-department-2018.pdf<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MCC Annex  1\u201431, however, agrees\nthat the   implementation of this law failed  because it was not economically viable\nfor  Sri Lanka . In addition includes Annex\n1 \u201321 .  Beneficiaries of  the land project is said to be only 5 million\nfor 20 years according to the MCC. [How long will they occupy our country to\nimplement the Australian law] ? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why  did the Government  not consult the Sri Lankan experts and lawyers\nwho had made reports  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MCC has also taken the privilege to include amendments to the law\n–Annex 1\u201434 . How can Howard university\nand the MCC continue to   include amendments without discussing with the\nlegal experts of this country and without studying the following reports ? Experts\nreports <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1]<\/strong> Samarasekera Committee Report\n.  A committee appointed by President\nMahinda Rajapakse.. They recommend  to   do away\nwith compulsory  conversion to a foreign\nlaw.     Concludes that  it  is\nan   impossible task and totally\nunworkable. The Law Reform Commission has also consistently opposed compulsory\nimplementation of the foreign law.      2]<\/strong> \nThe amendments to the colonial statutes  \nby a committee appointed by the Ministry of Justice to prevent fraud\n<\/p>\n\n\n

[when Mr Milinda\u00a0 <\/span>Morogoda was the
\nMinster]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3]<\/strong> Amendments to the Bim Saviya Act 21   1998 by the \nBar Association 4]<\/strong> Reports\nfrom the Banks of Sri Lanka  by legal\nofficers who are experts in land ownership laws.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public not informed <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are taken by surprise  \nMr Sanjeeva Weerawansa  being\nsurprised when his deeds were  requested\nto be destroyed, asks a valid question. Does anyone know what the Bim Saviya\nprogram is   ? They\u2019re walking around my\nneighbourhood demanding copies of the title and survey plan to issue a new\ndigitalized title.  So do we now have  e  land\nregistry? If that\u2019s already done  why\ndoes MCC give  $80M to build one?   <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answer is \u2013Yes Sanjeeva the Registrar informs that the e\nregister is almost ready to be operated with the law of the country. Therefore\nIt is a time seize the opportunity to take advantage of the situation to\nresearch and revise the exiting deed registration system to  govern the e register with the Common law of\nthe country.  <\/strong>The laws of this country\nhave to be revised only to prevent land fraud; that is to include the owner\nidentification and verification laws  to\nthe notarial process and the registry and this will not require foreign funding\n. How did a <\/strong>law, to take away the deeds of land\nowners come into operation,   when the\nlaw which introduced electronics to Sri Lanka,  namely the Electronic Transaction <\/strong> Act 19 of 2006 Section 23 specifically required\npaper  deeds for the  e register ? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questions to be answered by \neminent personalities going out of their way to hold panel discussions\nand promote MCC   <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1]  How can the poor farmers  use their lands for agriculture and paddy\ncultivation,  after signing the MCC, when\n  land laws of the country  which  promote agriculture and paddy cultivation,  such as co-ownership,  servitude rights such as paths to waterways\npath to wells sharing of trees and products etc are all repealed.[ Expert\nlawyers committee appointed by President Mahinda Rajapakse  had pointed out that  all our inheritance law will be repealed ]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2]  What is the future\nof the poor land owners,  when the\nlaw  repeals the fundamental right to\naccess court for land disputes specifically when lands are forged and taken by\nlarge companies.      We have to learn from the mistakes of other\nnations. Malaysia is a country where by top down legislation the World Bank\nfunded the introduction of   the Australian law very similar to Sri Lanka\nrepealing the Common law. The apex court  judgment [\nBoonsom Boonyanit  vs  Andora Properties ] thereafter had created a\nloophole in the law, causing many legit landowners to lose their lands through\nunscrupulous means via forged documents.  Even Australia has withdrawn this law as it\ndeprives the people of their traditional rights.  The <\/strong> Mabo Case is  a significant legal case in Australia that\nrecognised the land rights of the indigenous people . The case was successful\nin overturning<\/strong> the myth that at the time of colonisation\nAustralia was \u2018terra nullus\u2019 or land belonging to no one.<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3] Why had  the Government  agreed \nto take over a huge economic burden to entertain this law  which requires  the Government to maintain an \u2018Assurance Fund\u2019<\/strong> to pay   land owners compensation in lieu of the due\nprocess of law.  If such an economic burden can be undertaken by the Government, then\nwhy do we need funds from the MCC? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is alarming   is that Several states in USA had  rejected this law as they did not agree\nthat   the  fundamental rights to access court  should be \nreplaced with a law that requires a \nGovernment Assurance fund to pay \ncompensation to owners.   https:\/\/core.ac.uk\/download\/pdf\/151518291.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0 Senior Lawyer — Sri Lanka\u00a0 Study Circle .\u00a0 srilankastudycircle@yahoo.com Excellent analysis Shenali , yes   we have very eminent personalities going out of their way to hold panel discussions and promote MCC parroting how lucky Sri Lanka is to benefit from this \u2018gift\u2019. Do they know  the legal implications of the Land Project?    Do they […]<\/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-107825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107825","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=107825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}