The passage of the 20th Amendment in Parliament on Thursday by a two thirds majority marks a monumental milestone in domestic politics and the culmination of a process that started well before the November 2019 Presidential Election. This is the first time in recent memory that a Government won a near two-thirds majority at a General Election under the prevailing Proportional Representation (PR) system and in the end, the draft bill received five more votes than the actual number of votes required.
Having seen the damage caused by the ambiguities of the 19th Amendment which was hurriedly introduced by the 2015 Good Governance Government, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and later the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) campaigned on the premise of abolishing the 19th Amendment. While it did have certain positive features, the power struggle between the then President and the Prime Minister that indirectly paved the way for the devastating Easter attacks practically sealed its fate with the electorate.
The idea of reducing certain powers of the Executive looked good on paper, because there has been much talk over the last few decades on this topic and all parties made it a campaign issue. But many overlooked the possibility that it could render the Executive either powerless or helpless in a national emergency, which the Easter bomb attack certainly was. When the sitting IGP was taken into custody after the attacks following investigations, the President had no mechanism or power to fire him and appoint another suitable person, under the terms of the 19th Amendment. Thus only an Acting appointment could be made. Incidents of this nature called into question the shortcomings of the 19th Amendment, which the UNF Government touted as a panacea for all ills of governance. There was a realization that the Executive needed to be empowered with better mechanisms at his or her disposal to deal with emerging threats to national security and other such instances.
The 20th Amendment seeks to redress this imbalance, whilst retaining many of the positive features of the 19th Amendment. Among them are the Right to Information, limiting the Presidential terms to two tenures and auditing mechanisms. It was also positively encouraging to see that the Government allowed a robust debate in society, media and Parliament about the pros and cons of the 20th Amendment. An ample opportunity was also provided to seek recourse to legal redress, with nearly 40 parties going before the Supreme Court on the issue.
In fact, some of the bitterest criticism on certain aspects of the 20A came from several ministers and MPs in the Government itself. That in itself could have been unthinkable under certain previous governments, but dissent is a healthy feature of a vibrant democracy as it often leads to compromise and consensus. All these concerns as well as the points mentioned in the determination of the Supreme Court were addressed in the amendments proposed by the Government at the Committee Stages of the Debate. It is worth noting that the Government took the concerns of the Maha Sangha and other religious leaders on board in terms of amendments.
One contentious issue across the board was allowing dual citizens to enter Parliament, which the Government has pledged to address in drafting an altogether new Constitution to replace the 1978 Constitution. This should allay fears expressed by certain quarters. That said, there is nothing intrinsically wrong about allowing Sri Lankan born dual citizens to hold office, as they may have more knowledge, experience and networking than their local counterparts on certain issues.
With the 20th Amendment in play, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Government are now in a commanding position to address the main ills facing the society, including literally the Coronavirus pandemic which has raised its ugly head again. All efforts must be taken to contain the latest outbreak which threatens to spiral out of control if the public do not pay heed to the instructions of health authorities. The wider powers available under the 20th Amendment must be used to ensure that the outbreak is contained at its present stage.
Attention must also turn to containing the underworld and drug menaces which are intricately linked. It was just the other day that a notorious drug lord was killed in a shootout in Colombo. The Police/STF must be empowered to the hilt to deal with these twin evils that have plagued our society.
The greater powers now available at the disposal of the President should also be used to accelerate development, which was stalled during the previous regime. Both the Central Expressway and the Bandaranaike International Airport Terminal 2 expansion were supposed to have been completed during its term, but work on these had progressed at a snail’s pace. Now is the time to get cracking on these and other vital projects.
The 20th Amendment was one of the fundamental pledges made by the Government to the public, who overwhelmingly endorsed it.
