{"id":91710,"date":"2019-07-27T03:14:27","date_gmt":"2019-07-27T10:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=91710"},"modified":"2019-07-27T03:14:27","modified_gmt":"2019-07-27T10:14:27","slug":"debate-on-the-constitutional-reform-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/07\/27\/debate-on-the-constitutional-reform-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Debate on the Constitutional Reform Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opposition LeaderHon. Mahinda Rajapaksa <\/strong>MEDIA RELEASE<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

(Translation of the text of the speech made by Opposition LeaderHon. Mahinda Rajapaksa in Parliament on Friday the 26th<\/sup> July 2019)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hon. Speaker,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There only a few more months left for\nthe next presidential election. Is there any point in holding a debate on constitutional\nreform at the tail end of the tenure of a government? An initiative to amend\nthe constitution should be taken when a government has been newly elected to\noffice, not as the final task before leaving office.  This government was elected on the pledge\nthat they would amend the constitution within their first 100 days in\noffice.  At that time, the only reform\nproposals they spoke of was the abolition of the executive presidency and\nchanging the system of elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My 2015 presidential election\nmanifesto stated very clearly that if I was re-elected to office, we would\namend the constitution and also hold a referendum to have those amendments\ndirectly endorsed by the people. But the yahapalana manifesto said that they\nwould amend the constitution only to the extent that a referendum was not made\nnecessary. What was the problem in holding a referendum? A referendum is a case\nof going before the people. It is always better to have important constitutional\namendments endorsed by the people at a referendum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The yahapalana manifesto said that\nthe Constitution would be amended only to the extent that a referendum would\nnot be made necessary because they never had any intention of abolishing the\nexecutive presidency after being elected to power.  A fundamental Constitutional change of that\nnature cannot be carried out without a referendum under the present law. Though\nthey said that they were going to abolish the executive presidency during the\nelection campaign, once elected to power, they pointed to their election\nmanifesto and said that since constitutional amendments can be made only to the\nextent that a referendum is not made necessary, the executive presidency cannot\nbe abolished. So from the very beginning, the constitutional reform process of\nthis government was riddled with deception and perfidy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then they presented to Parliament,\nthe 19th<\/sup> Amendment which has given rise to the present confusion as\nto whether power lies with the presidency or the cabinet.  When the then opposition expressed misgivings\nabout the provisions of the 19th<\/sup> Amendment, the President came to\nParliament and said that the 20th<\/sup> Amendment which would change the parliamentary\nelections system would be presented to Parliament in a matter of weeks. It was\non that undertaking that the opposition MPs voted for the 19th<\/sup>\nAmendment. If the parliamentary elections system had been changed,\nParliamentary governments would have had a working majority and the balance of\npower would have shifted to Parliament. Though our MPs had serious misgivings\nabout the 19th<\/sup> Amendment, we voted for it on the promise that the 20th<\/sup>\nAmendment would be introduced in Parliament expeditiously. So this government\nhas cheated the opposition as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, the government convened\nthe whole Parliament as a Constitutional Assembly on 9 March 2016 in order to\npromulgate a new constitution. After holding many discussions and releasing\nnumerous reports over a period of more than two and a half years, on 11 January\n2019 the Prime Minister tabled in Parliament a document which was described as\nthe report of the panel of experts of the Steering Committee of the\nConstitutional Assembly. Even in presenting that document to Parliament, the\nPrime Minister insisted that its contents are not the views of the government\nbut only of the panel of experts that compiled the report. Ultimately the\nreport that was tabled in Parliament had no owner. How can a constitutional\nreform process succeed when nobody takes responsibility for the drafts that are\ntabled in Parliament?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are resolutely opposed to the\ndraft constitution that was presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister. It would\nhave had the effect of dividing Sri Lanka into nine semi -independent states.\nIt contained proposals to set up nine separate police forces, and provisions\nthat would have made it impossible for the center to take back any powers\ndevolved to the provincial units. Some say that I too spoke of \u201913 Plus\u2019 – a\nsystem of government going beyond the provisions of the 13th<\/sup>\nAmendment. I once told the then Indian Foreign Secretary that I was thinking of\nestablishing a second chamber of Parliament made up of representatives of the\nprovincial councils so as to get provincial leaders to participate in national\naffairs. It was the Indian Foreign Secretary who described my idea as 13 Plus.\nSo it should be understood that what I meant by 13 Plus was not dividing the\ncountry into nine semi-independent units as proposed in the draft constitution\nthat was tabled by the Prime Minister. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That draft constitution did have\nprovisions to abolish the executive presidency and to change the parliamentary\nelections system.  However the elections\nsystem proposed in that draft constitution was very similar to the systems that\nwere put in place for the local government institutions and the provincial\ncouncils in 2017.  After the 2018\nFebruary local government elections, even those who participated in introducing\nthat new elections system are now opposed to it. We are completely opposed to\nthe introduction of that unworkable system at the Parliamentary level as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The draft constitution that was presented\nto Parliament was prepared by Parliamentarian Sumanthiran and some NGO\nactivists. After presenting it to Parliament, the Prime Minister repeatedly\ndenied ownership of the document. Ultimately it appears that this government\nhad taken the Tamil National Alliance too for a ride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is nothing that the TNA has\nachieved over the past four and a half years. Parliamentarian Sumanthiran\nalways drafts constitutional amendments that will lead to a separate state\nwithout the name. They have stated their views very clearly on paper.  But at the ground level, the TNA has been\ndirectly responsible for depriving the people of the North and East of the two\nProvincial Councils that my government gave the people. The Eastern Provincial\nCouncil stood dissolved nearly two years ago. The Northern Provincial Council\nalso ceased to function nearly one year ago. Elections cannot be held to the\nprovincial councils that have ceased to exist because the government changed\nthe system of elections to the provincial councils. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the fact that the delimitation\nof electorates for the provincial councils has run into problems, the entire\nprovincial councils system is now defunct. Without the votes of the TNA, the\ngovernment would not have been able to obtain the two thirds majority in Parliament\nto change the PC elections system. Ironically, it is the TNA that has rendered\ninoperative the provincial councils system which was introduced as a solution\nto the North-East problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even before the war ended, my\ngovernment held elections to the Eastern Provincial Council in 2008 and give\nthe people of that province their democratic rights. In 2013, we held elections\nin the North and for the first time established the Northern Provincial Council\nas well. The TNA in collaboration with the UNP has ensured that both Councils\nare now no longer operational. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the end of the war, my\ngovernment developed the infrastructure of the Northern and Eastern provinces\nand took steps to improve the livelihoods of the people.  Then the government changed. During the past\nfour and a half years, the TNA has worked very closely with the government.\nHowever there has been no improvement in the lives of the Tamil people of the\nNorth and East. People of all communities have been placed at a disadvantage\nafter this government came into power.  The\nTamil people of the North and East may have been affected to a greater extent\nthan other communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the people of those areas have\nno livelihood. Tamil politicians have now begun openly saying that the poverty\nof the Tamil people in those areas is being exploited in dastardly ways by\ncertain unscrupulous elements.  That\nwould never have happened if our government had been in power. In such an\nevent, the livelihoods of the Tamil people of the North and East would have\nimproved and they would have been living with dignity. Some time ago I saw a\nmedia report which said that when Tamil youth had confronted some TNA\nParliamentarians and told them about their problems, the MPs had said that they\nwill achieve liberation first and then attend to the problems of the people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What they mean by liberation is\nchanging the Constitution and obtaining a separate Tamil state in the North and\nEast. In 2014, I invited the TNA for a discussion about what they deem to the\nproblems of the Tamil people. After a few rounds of discussions, the TNA Parliamentarians\nstropped coming for those discussions. \nBy that time they had decided to defeat my government and to achieve\ntheir aims by helping to get the \u2018common candidate\u2019 elected. Today the TNA is\nneither here nor there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participating in constitutional\nreform under this government is not a feasible option.  They introduced the 19th<\/sup> Amendment\nand rendered the country ungovernable. They changed the system of local\ngovernment elections and threw the entire local government system into\nconfusion. They changed the system of elections to the provincial councils and\ntoday the PCs have ceased to exist. The unscrupulous manner in which this\ngovernment manipulated the legislative process has also given rise to suspicion\nand damaged their credibility. The way they made changes to the local\ngovernment and provincial council elections systems was by bringing  committee stage amendments to Bills that had\nbeen introduced in Parliament for completely different purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people had no way of knowing what\nthe government was passing into law and the Supreme Court also could not be\nmoved to verify the constitutionality of the reforms.  Even when the 19th<\/sup> Amendment was\npassed certain words and sentences had been surreptitiously excised from the\nBill during the committee stage. Due to the atmosphere of mistrust that the\nconduct of the government has brought about, the opposition cannot collaborate\nin any constitutional reform process with this government.  Furthermore there is no point in talking\nabout constitutional reform at the tail end of the tenure of a government. This\nmatter has to be taken up by a new government elected by the people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will put forward a set of\nproposals to reform the constitution at the forthcoming presidential elections.\nThis country cannot move forward without clearing up the confusion created by\nthe 19th<\/sup> Amendment.  Once a\nnew government is in power, we hope to obtain the support of all political\nparties represented in Parliament for the new constitution. Those who genuinely\nwish to see constitutional reform taking place in this country can join hands\nwith us at that stage. We will not deceive the people by saying that we will\namend the Constitution only to the extent that a referendum is not necessary.\nWe will definitely hold a referendum to get the new constitution endorsed by\nthe people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you.      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opposition LeaderHon. Mahinda Rajapaksa MEDIA RELEASE (Translation of the text of the speech made by Opposition LeaderHon. Mahinda Rajapaksa in Parliament on Friday the 26th July 2019) Hon. Speaker, There only a few more months left for the next presidential election. Is there any point in holding a debate on constitutional reform at the tail […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mahinda-rajapaksa","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91710","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=91710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}