Battered by the high-handed decisions of the Executive for 50 turbulent days from October 26, which made inroads into Parliamentary democracy, a loud and renewed call came from the Legislature this week to abolish the Executive Presidency.
The first thing Parliament took up following the historical defeat of what one may call a coup, which shook up the entire political establishment of the country, was an adjournment debate calling for the abolition of the Executive Presidency, an unkept pre-election promise of all successive leaders since 1994.
The JVP in moving the adjournment motion saw that the ambience and timing were so much in favour to push the 20th Amendment to the Constitution (20A) spearheaded by them. The 20A mainly proposes to abolish the Executive Presidency and end crossover of MPs.
Unkept promise
The UNP, TNA and even MP Chandrasiri Gajadeera, who represents left-wing politics, joined in the call to dispense with excessive presidential powers, sending a strong message to the masses. The JVP used the debate to create a vibrant discussion on the topic to educate the masses and bust some common myths with regard to the system of Executive Presidency.
UNP senior member Malik Samarawickrama pointed out that the recent events in the country showed that “the concentration of power in one office is a recipe for disaster”.
“Abolishing the Executive Presidency was a cornerstone of the Yahapalana Government’s plan guided by the late Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera and it is now time to re-commit to that goal. After having seen the ill-effects of the system, we cannot turn a blind eye. We have to act now,” he said.
TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran recalled that the three main promises of the President, on the day he declared to be the Common Candidate back in November 2014, were that he would abolish the Executive Presidency, reform Parliamentary Election system and appoint Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister.
A rejection of crossover political culture was also loud and clear in the aftermath of the political crisis. The MPs were said to be offered bribes up to Rs 500 million to switch the sides as the President himself openly claimed.
The somersaults of MPs like Wasantha Senanayake and Vadivel Suresh, and the telephone recording exposed by MP Palitha Range Bandara intensified the public detest on the sell-out political culture. Despite that, the spate of somersaults continued even this week with MPs Vijith Vijayamuni Zoysa, Lakshman Seneviratne and Indika Bandaranaike crossing the floor of the Chamber to join the Government.
Political debacle
The President’s recent ill-advised actions that eroded parliamentary democracy came under scathing criticism by many speakers who took the floor. JVP MP Bimal Rathnayake in a blistering speech said the public perception on the President is at all-time low.
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauff Hakeem summed up that President Maithripala Sirisena’s actions in the last 50 days could be best explained with the Sinhala idiom Natapu netumakuth ne, bere paluwakuth ne (there has been no dance but half of the drum is torn).
He also pointed out that the ill-advice of some MPs has pushed former President Mahinda Rajapaksa into a serious political debacle. “The man who was riding the high wave of popularity has compromised his popularity unnecessarily, trying to grab power through the backdoor to satisfy a few of his fellow MPs who had misled him. That is his fate. I hope he will see some saner counsel soon,” he commented.
JVP MP Vijitha Herath, expressing similar thoughts, said that former President Rajapaksa suffered a severe blow from President Sirisena’s actions. “You would not get hurt much if you fell while seated. If you were standing, you could get hurt more and perhaps could get injured too, but if somebody pulled you up and suddenly banged you on the floor then it could be fatal. That’s exactly what President Sirisena did to Rajapaksa,” MP Herath remarked.
The predicament faced by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa from being at the helm of power to risk losing his Parliamentary seat also came up during the sittings. This was as a result of a fresh tussle broke out between Rajapaksa and TNA Leader R Sampanthan for the post of Opposition Leader.
‘Flower bud’ or ‘Hand’?
No sooner the Speaker announced that the Opposition Leader post would be given to former President Rajapaksa going by the Parliamentary tradition as the UPFA MPs have taken Opposition seats, objections were raised by Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella and TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran.
The objections were mainly twofold. The first and most serious allegation was that former President Rajapaksa’s Parliamentary seat has fallen vacant after he obtained the membership of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) on November 11. Kiriella quoted ‘Article 99 (13) (a)’ of the Constitution which said, “Where a Member of Parliament ceases, by resignation, expulsion or otherwise, to be a member of a recognised political party or independent group on whose nomination paper his name appeared at the time of his becoming such Member of Parliament, his seat shall become vacant upon the expiration of a period of one month from the date of his ceasing to be such member,” in support of his argument.
MP Sumanthiran tabled newspaper reports of this event, which took place merely two days after the President’s purported dissolution of Parliament, as proof.
In a historic judgement the country’s judiciary reversed the dissolution after establishing that it was unconstitutional. This was not anticipated by the former President or any of his fellow MPs who ceremonially received membership cards and posted them on their social media accounts. As the controversy brews, one by one denied having obtained the SLPP membership and started removing such photos from their respective social media accounts. The other objection was that giving the Opposition Leader post to a Member of Parliament belonging to the same party of the President, who is the Head of Government, Head of Executive and Head of Cabinet and currently holding three Cabinet portfolios, was not correct. The TNA requested the Speaker to appoint a Parliament Select Committee to ascertain the suitability of Rajapaksa to hold the Opposition Leader position. TNA Leader R. Sampanthan, being an old-timer who had experienced many political storms, refused to back down without a fight and claimed that there are two Opposition Leaders in Parliament now.
Double-tongued MPs
It is worthwhile reminding that the person holding the Opposition Leader post becomes an ex-officio member of the Constitutional Council. The 10-member CC is the apex decision making body that recommends the appointments to the Independent Commissions and high ranking positions such as the Attorney General, Auditor General, Parliament Secretary General, IGP, Chief Justice and superior court judges among others.It is ironic that the UPFA MPs supporting Rajapaksa, who spewed venom against the Speaker over the past two months, were quick to remind the House that the Speaker’s announcement on Tuesday was final. JVP MP Bimal Rathnayake exposed those double-standards of the JO MPs in the first turn he got. “Pro-Rajapaksa camp is a shameless group who abused the Speaker in the most despicable language. It is amusing to see how they are now praising the Speaker. They should kneel down before the Speaker’s Chair and plead for forgiveness,” he noted.
Speaker Jayasuriya, who emerged the champion of democracy for fearlessly standing up for democratic principles under trying circumstances, is faced with another fresh puzzle in choosing the rightful owner of the Opposition Leader post. The Speaker yesterday requested further time to give a final ruling.
Severe blow to economy
As the dust settles on the political coup, the Government presented a Vote on Account to provide for the public expenditure of the first quarter of next year till a full-budget is ready. The tourism sector, investments and foreign exchange took a severe blow due to the unnecessarily prolonged political crisis and as a result, the country’s feeble economy has had to pay dearly. Former Central Bank Deputy Governor W. A. Wijewardena analysed in a post on his Twitter on December 19, “Sri Lankans embroiled in power game aren’t aware of economic volcano they are sitting on. Growth in the third quarter of the year has fallen to 2.9 percent of the GDP making economic growth so far this year just 3.3 percent of the GDP, annually, at most 3.4 percent. Rupee is kept at this level by selling USD by Central Bank, so far near USD 1billion. Bad period ahead”.
The Government will no doubt face more and far bitter struggles in the coming months as it strain to ease the economic impact of the political power game without compromising on its new found political capital.
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