Education Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris has said that some members of the Independent Commissions as well as the Constitutional Council who make appointments to them are more politicized than politicians and act as pawns of forces against the country.
He said that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution has enabled these people to make decisions above the President who was elected by 6.9 million people and the SLPP was given a clear mandate at the last General Election to change this situation.
The minister was speaking to the media in Kandy after receiving blessings from the Deputy Chief Prelates of Malwatta and Asgiriya Chapters.
Prof.Peiris said if people are not satisfied with the rule of the leader they can defeat him next time, but neither the people nor anyone else has the power to remove members of the Councils and so-called independent Commissions that decide even above the President.
He said that even if the President changes, the Parliament changes or the government changes, the members of these institutions who have joined hands with the anti-national forces will not change and added that these Commissions were not divine to be worshiped as some portray them to be and stressed that these were lies fabricated to deceive the people.
Peiris said that the19th Amendment to the Constitution was a disaster for this country and as a result the country could be in a state of anarchy.
He said that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution had created a situation where there was no one responsible for the security of the country and that the people had paid with their lives for it. He added that this has created impediments to the President from holding any Defence or any other Ministry.
He said that after making necessary changes to the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, a new Constitution will be brought to suit the country and that the 48-year-old J.R.Jayewardene’s Constitution was not something etched in stone. The Education Minister said a lot of changes have taken place in the country during the past 48 years and that a new Constitution should be introduced after a proper study to identify new trends. MP Udayana Kirindigoda was also present.
