‘Executive Presidency with certain powers should exist’
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is of the view that the Executive Presidency with certain powers should exist to protect the sovereignty, defence and unitary status of the country, Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva yesterday said.
He was addressing a press conference held in the Parliamentary Complex along with the SLFP government members.
The Minister said the SLFP joined the Unity Government to achieve several objectives. "One was to change the electoral system. We were able to change the electoral system of the Pradeshiya Sabhas and Provincial Councils," Minister Silva said.
He said the SLFP made constructive proposals that no other party made to the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly. "One such was that the subjects of a ministry should be included in the Constitution," he said.
State Minister Dilan Perera said President Maithripala Sirisena and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa pledged during the Presidential Election that they would change the electoral system. He said the change of the electoral system would fulfil the wish of 11.9 million people who voted for them.
Ministers S. B. Dissanayake and Dayasiri Jayasekara participated.
Executive Presidency should be abolished: Anura
The Executive Presidency should be abolished through the new Constitution to guarantee vibrant democracy in the country, Chief Opposition Whip and JVP Parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday said.
He was expressing his views after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe presented the Interim Report of the Steering Committee to the Constitutional Assembly in the Main Chamber of the House.
MP Dissanayake said the JVP had a different view over the Constitution. He said they decided to support in formulating a new Constitution as they maintain that it should be changed. He said the electoral system should be changed. "It should be done through a new constitution and not by any other means," MP Dissanayake said. "The Executive Presidency should also be changed," he said.
He said the 1978 Constitution was designed to polarise power around Executive Presidency. "19 amendments were made to the Constitution since then," MP Dissanayke said.
He said the sovereignty of the people, national defence and the people's rights should be guaranteed and the racism should not be tolerated through the new Constitution.
‘Empowering women is vital for sustainable development’
Sustainable development is not possible without empowering women, Petroleum Resources Development Deputy Minister Anoma Gamage yesterday said.
The Deputy Minister made this observation commencing the second reading debate of the Sri Lanka Sustainable Development Bill.
She said the commitment of all, irrespective of gender differences, was vital to bring about sustainable development.
“Sustainable development is impossible without empowering women. The Government is taking great measures to empower women. We cannot expect Samurdhi benefits alone would develop the country’s economy. By empowering women, we can strengthen the family unit. We need to give women their rights such as land rights. Every ministry should contribute to sustainable development,” she said.
Minister Gamage said that even climate change has an impact on sustainable development. “We need to find solutions to climate changes. A special programme was launched in this regard in 2016-2017. The commitment of the people, parliament and the ministries is vital. A special board has been established,” she said adding that she wished that by 2030 that the Government would be able to resolve the issues in the health sector and eliminate poverty and bring about sustainable development.
Prominence for Buddhism will not change: Ganeshan
The position guaranteed for Buddhism would not be dwindled in any way in the new Constitution, National Co-existence Dialogue and Official Languages Minister Mano Ganeshan yesterday said.
He made this observation yesterday after the heated exchange between government members and Dinesh Gunawardena when the latter charged that the new Constitution is attempting to remove the rightful place given to Buddhism.
MP Gunawardana raised the issue after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe presented the Interim Report of the Steering Committee to the Constitutional Assembly in Parliament.
"I am not a Buddhist," Minister said. "But we don't want to dwindle even a bit of the position guaranteed for Buddhism in the Constitution. We have not made any decision at the Committee," he said.
New Constitution will deprive Buddhism of its rightful place: Dinesh
A heated exchange took place between government members and Dinesh Gunawardena in Parliament yesterday, while the latter charged that the attempts being made through new Constitution to deprive Buddhism of its rightful place and the rights of the 54 JO members.
Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara and MP Ravi Karunanayake interrupting Gunawardena refuted the allegations. They said that the prominence given to Buddhism would not be compromised in any manner.
Gunawardena said the interim report presented by the Prime Minister after months of work and the ideas and views of many of the parties should be included to it, which was of prime significance. The Joint Opposition, the SLFP, JHU, EPDP and the TNA have submitted proposals. “I state that there are many disagreement and disparities between the proposals submitted by the Prime Minister and those submitted by the various other parties. In the constitution making process, this committee has still not had the opportunity to represent the broadest public opinion to the committee. This is an attempt to bring out the ideas of a few ignoring of the majority representing the masses,” Gunawardena said.
He said the Prime Minister suggested that the people’s views should be sought. He said the people does not mean the NGO personnel. “The people are the people of this country. These are the issues that have been highlighted in the 14 points presented by the JO. A unitary state should prevail. This cannot be a comedy of errors that has differing meanings in English and Tamil no matter who attempts to do it. Hence this report is a series of comedic errors which I do not want to spell out at this point. We as a party respect all communities be it Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims and we speak and understand all three languages. We represent the views and aspirations of all these communities. We respect parliamentary democracy," he said adding that he represents 54 MPs of the opposition.
Today, he said, democracy and the electoral system were killed. “Having done that, we are now talking about a democratic electoral system. He said the rights and democracy of the 54 MPs representing the views and rights of the people of this country were beheaded.” Gunawardena added that while Prasanna Ranatunga and himself are in the Steering Committee, they were deprived of their rights.
“Six sub-committees were appointed but these sub-committees had completely rejected the proposals of the 54 JO members. He said a constitution or a bill could not be formulated by denying the ideas and suggestions of the 54 MPs of the JO.
He said the JO would not allow the Sambuddha Sasanaya to be destroyed. He charged that the Speaker continued to deprive him of his opportunity to express his views and denies him the opportunity to speak on behalf of the 54 JO MPs.
Mano Ganesan said the steering committee had at no stage made decisions but only presented proposals. He said that not a single word was changed with regard to the position of Buddhism in the Constitution.
General Election should be held under mixed electoral system: Nimal
The General Election should be held under the mixed electoral system, introduced to the Pradeshiya Sabha and the Provincial Councils, Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva yesterday said.
"The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is of the view that the priority should be given to change the electoral system since it was a main objective of the SLFP to set up a unity government," he said.
He was expressing views after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe presented the Interim Report of the Steering Committee to the Constitutional Assembly in Parliament.
Minister de Silva said the SLFP discussed the report extensively. He said the SLFP suggested that 9th clauses of the Constitution should be kept unchanged. He said the SLFP discussed specially the pages from 29 to 37 in the report and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's move to allow all the parties to express their views was commendable.
"The SLFP and the UPFA supported the 19th amendment to Constitution on the grounds that the 20 amendment should be amended," the Minister said.
"The SLFP agrees with introducing a senate. We suggest that there should be 19th A and two members of the senate should be given Cabinet ministries to strengthen it," he said. "SLFP suggests that the ministerial portfolios should be limited to 30 while the deputies to 30," he said.
He said the Executive Presidency should be maintained to a certain extent for the security of the country. "The President should be elected with the votes of people of all religions and communities to build up reconciliation," he said.
"The SLFP maintains that the Prime Minister should be elected under the Westminster System," the Minister said.
Environmentalism has become green extremism: Paranawithana
Environmentalism has become green extremism where man and animal were forgotten. We have reached a point where the farmers have abandoned their villages.
We require a broad social dialogue in this regard, Skills Development and Vocational Training Deputy Minister Karunarathne Paranawithana said.
He was speaking in Parliament yesterday during the second reading debate of the Sri Lanka Sustainable Development Bill which was adjourned on March 8.
“This is a historical bill for the country. Sustainable development is a topic that needs broad public debate and an issue that requires great intervention,”he said.
He said that only an ideologist has ideas on sustainable development and public cooperation is at a pathetic state. “We are at two extremes, trapped within the ills of consumerism. We cannot be trapped in extremes and we need to follow a middle path. If we get stuck in theory, we will never be able to find solutions to this issue. Some forget that the environment and humans are one unit. One cannot survive without the other. If we get bogged down in theories alone, we will invariably limit sustainable development to a mere theory,” Paranawithana said.
Constitutional making exercise will succeed: Hakeem
The constitutional making exercise that took many opinions into account holds some promise that it would be a success, Minister Rauff Hakeem said after the Prime Minister presented the Interim Report of the Steering Committee to the Constitutional Assembly in the main Chamber in Parliament yesterday.
He said that at the same time, we now see some parties taking many positions on critical issues which show that it is not going to be an easy task.
Hakeem said it would require much more commitment to produce a single document that enshrines our democratic rights without discrimination.
Hakeem commended the work done by the steering committee in producing the interim report to the Constitutional Assembly.
He commended the Prime Minister for chairing the steering committee for several weeks to bring divergent views into some acceptable compromise.
“I have been a part of the constitutional making process since 1989. I was in the all party conference summoned by the late President Premadasa and several select committees except in the Mangala Munasinghe select committee.
"What is unique in this effort is that for the first time the Prime Minister himself is giving committed leadership to prepare a new constitution for our country. All parties in Parliament participated in the process. We have given space for other parties and civil society groups to place their views,” he said.
Hakeem said they were disappointed that a provision of non-discrimination was rejected by some parties. “The electoral process has many views and we saw a very heated debate in the house and the vote getting delayed late into the night because of the lack of consensus. Many flaws were in the adopted process on Wednesday and I have made my point clear. The secretariat failed to include some of our observations on electoral reforms and other points that we wished to include in the report. We expect the secretariat to include them,” he said.
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