{"id":97504,"date":"2020-01-09T23:16:28","date_gmt":"2020-01-10T05:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=97504"},"modified":"2020-02-04T15:31:53","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T22:31:53","slug":"mcc-request-private-company-to-be-primary-agent-of-gosl-is-this-permitted-by-sri-lankas-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/09\/mcc-request-private-company-to-be-primary-agent-of-gosl-is-this-permitted-by-sri-lankas-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"MCC request Private Company to be PRIMARY AGENT of GoSL \u2013 Is this permitted by Sri Lanka&#8217;s Constitution?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Does the Sri Lankan Constitution\nallow a Government elected for a term of office and given guardianship of the\nland and the interests of the people to appoint a foreign country to establish\na company to be an agent for 480 Million Dollars? <strong>This looks like a gift to US rather than to Sri Lanka.<\/strong> How aware is the GoSL of the\nobjectives of this private company which will come into operation ONLY AFTER\nMCC is signed? The company MCA Sri Lanka thereafter enters into undisclosed\nagreements to operate the agency to change the land policy and the land laws of\nthe country. MCC Agreement specifically refers to the Program Implementation\nAgreement and the constitutive documents and internal regulations [MCC Annex 1V\nunder Independence and Autonomy]&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Annex 1-34 of MCC Annex IV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After MCC agreement is signed MCC\nis to establish a PRIVATE COMPANY called MCA-SRILANKA PRIVATE LTD. This MCA is\nto be the PRIMARY AGENT of the GOSL to legislate on behalf of the Sri Lankan\nPeople.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Government shall appoint an\naccountable entity, MCA Sri Lanka, a company limited by guarantee under the\nCompanies Act 7 of 2007\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Objective:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>MCA Sri Lanka shall be the\nGovernment\u2019s Primary Agent responsible for exercising the Government\u2019s right\nand obligations to oversee, manage and implement the program\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>OUR QUESTIONS:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Why should Sri Lanka<\/strong>\nsign an agreement with a sub-unit of a foreign country, <strong>establish a private company<\/strong>\n(even if it has foreign-friendly locals working in it) and <strong>become the AGENT of the Sri\nLankan Government \u2018on behalf of the people\u2019.<\/strong> Shouldn\u2019t the GoSL be\nfunctioning on behalf of the people not a part-foreign company?<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Do we know what the powers of\nthis MCA Sri Lanka Private company is? NO. <strong>Shouldn\u2019t the GoSL know what the mandate and powers of\nthis private company is before even considering to sign MCC turning a private\ncompany to be the PRIMARY AGENT of the GOSL? Note: $480m funding is to be\nchanneled by this company not by GoSL. Not a penny will go into the Sri Lankan\nTreasury!<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Does Sri Lanka\u2019s Constitution allow appointment of a\nPRIMARY AGENT to change land policy &amp; legislation relating to land?<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sri Lanka\u2019s Constitution Article 76<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Parliament shall not\nabdicate or in any manner alienate its legislative power and shall not set up\nany authority with any legislative power\u201d (golden words)<\/strong><ul><li><em>It shall not be a\ncontravention of the provisions of paragraph (1) of this Article for Parliament\nto make, in any law relating to public security, provision empowering the\nPresident to make emergency regulations in accordance with such law.<\/em><\/li><\/ul><ul><li><em>It shall not be a\ncontravention of the provisions of paragraph (1) of this Article for Parliament\nto make any law containing any provision empowering any person or body to make\nsubordinate legislation for prescribed purposes including power\u201d<\/em><ul><li><em>to appoint a date on\nwhich any law or any part thereof shall come into effect or cease to have\neffect:<\/em><\/li><\/ul><ul><li><em>to make by order any\nlaw or any part thereof applicable to any locality or to any class of persons\u201d<\/em><\/li><\/ul><ul><li><strong><em>to create a legal person, by an order or an Act\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Will Sri Lankan law apply? No, a\nclause in <strong>MCC says \u2018International Law\u2019 will apply but<\/strong> <strong>US and US citizens are given\nimmunity. There is no immunity for Sri Lankans.<\/strong> This MCC Agreement\nand MCA by having \u2018International Law\u2019 applicable to one party and other party\nis immune creates what is known as <strong>UNFAIR CONTRACT.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The MCC Agreement only states\nposition on Bim Saviya, Land Privatization &amp; Digitalization of title\nregistrations. The MCC does not disclose contents of a list of \u2018unknown\nagreements\u2019 to be signed by the MCA Sri Lanka [agent of the Government]&nbsp;&amp;\nGoSL. <strong>How can GoSL\ncommit an entire nation &amp; its people to \u2018unknown agreements\u201d?<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Annex IV of MCC<\/strong> (to be\nsigned) is CONDITION PRECEDENT to the disbursement of MCC Compact CDF. <strong>So GoSL is agreeing to commit to what GoSL\ndoes not know what it is committing to!<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>GoSL does not have a\nclue about what the contents of the Program Implementation Agreement (PIA),\nfuture letters or documents are \u2013 all of which are binding the GoSL via MCA Sri\nLanka. <strong>MCC Page 6 \/ 2.5 Government has already agreed\nto act according to future agreements\u201d<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>On what basis and <strong>for what reason is GoSL privatizing all State land? Why is GoSL\nchanging land laws following Australian law &amp; giving the digitalizing to a\nforeign company<\/strong> who will hold all back office passwords and\noperating systems?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Why is GoSL allowing Sri\nLanka\u2019s land details to be entered into a land information portal run by\nforeigners without any security laws\/codes and accessible even externally by\nanyone?<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Does the GoSL know that whatever land information already\ndigitalized can be seen by anyone abroad?<\/strong> All\nthey have to do is type the name of the owner and every detail about that owner\ncan be seen in public domain?<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Does the GoSL know that after taking people\u2019s original title\ndeeds they are only given an A4 laminated sheet of land ownership which is the\nONLY source of proof that they own the land!<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>With international law being applied and MCC US citizens\nimmune from all wrong doings \u2013 no Sri Lankan citizen can go to Sri Lanka\u2019s\nSupreme Court or seek legal assistance.<\/strong> Are these\nconcerns being overlooked for a paltry $480m \u2013 an amount GoSL does not know how\nmuch has been spent already for various MCC related preconditions that the\nprevious Govt launched?<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>GoSL has appointed a team\nto study MCC \u2013 does this team have legal representation to evaluate the legal\nrepercussions of a bilateral agreement?<\/strong> If not,\nshouldn\u2019t the team request a legal counsel expert in land laws of Sri Lanka as\nwell as aware of MCC operating in other countries?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How does this escape court\nintervention? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka\u2019s Lawyers come forward and tell us if the MCA Sri Lanka Private Ltd is a valid agency to operate in Sri Lanka?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Shenali D\nWaduge<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Does the Sri Lankan Constitution allow a Government elected for a term of office and given guardianship of the land and the interests of the people to appoint a foreign country to establish a company to be an agent for 480 Million Dollars? This looks like a gift to US rather than to Sri Lanka. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1498,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97504","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\/1498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}