The new Cabinet of Ministers who met last night with President Maithripala Sirisena at its chair, decided to amend the gazetted 19th amendment, to be effective at the end of the current presidency.
The new amendment will the see the term ‘the President as the head of government’ being removed. In the previously gazetted version last week the President remained the head of the government after strong objections were raised by the SLFP and the JHU.
Accordingly the initial amendment with the inclusion of the ‘ cabinet form of government’ as previously proposed.
According to the new amendments the the President will act upon the advise of the Prime Minister. In the event there is a disagreement, between the two bodies the President can ask the ministers to re-consider a decision and if the disagreement persists the Cabinet of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister has to inform the decision of the cabinet of Ministers to parliament.
When the matter was discussed yesterday, Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka had requested that his objections to the proposal be recorded.
President Maithripala who chaired the meeting had reportedly told Minister Ranawaka that ‘ he shouldn’t be in a hurry and there was enough time to discuss the matter’.
Don Stanley / March 24, 2015
Fact of the matter is that the Parliament is full of corrupt morons, clowns and uneducated jokers, so why Ranil Wickramasinghe thinks the parliament is supreme and superior is a mystery indeed!
A new POLITICAL CULTURE is what is necessary, before parliament may be made superime!
What is needed is a code of conduct that is strictly enforced for all politicians and they ALL need to have minimal qualification of a 4 year university degree.. This would rule out clowns like Premadasa who wish to inherit the throne.
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srilal / March 24, 2015
Sajith has got a one year (four year degree course) B.Sc degree from LSE , so he will automatically qualify for the top post !
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Seelawathi / March 25, 2015
Let ‘s respect the man Sajith for his current affairs… let s forget all his misdeeds in the past.. that can help us all… heading to reconciliation by MY3 rule.
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Saman / March 26, 2015
LSE stands for London School of Economics. Sajith did not attend LSE.
LSE is far superior institution than where Sajith studied.
Sajith knows where he studied in London, and he should clarify.
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Ben Hurling / March 24, 2015
Agree. Parliament is full of corrupt morons, clowns and uneducated jokers. However, I beg to disagree on restricting Parliament to monkeys with academic qualifications only.
There are many honorable & very smart people in our country who have not been to a University. They must absolutely take part in our legislature. Further, Parliament should somewhat reflect Sri Lanka at large. It has to be representative.
Otherwise, Parliament will become a place for highly educated morons. We already have many. With fancy degrees only. Yet, zero social intelligence. Parliament should not become a place for academic arrogance.
What we need are ethical guidelines, rules and laws to hold elected officials accountable.
If Parliament needs specialized knowledge on something, that can be obtained from external sources to help it legislate.
Cheers!
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Kalupahana / March 24, 2015
26 new cabinet members have been appointed – making a joke of good governance and the claim of establishing a new POLITICAL CULTURE!
What a joke – enlarging a cabinet of CORRUPT clowns, crooks and morons – in order to pass the 19 amendment to make a parliament full of corrupt crooks supreme!
Good governance – my ASS!
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Sengodan. M / March 24, 2015
Sometimes a thorn has to be used to remove another thorn. I suppose after the next parliamentary elections there will be no jumbo cabinets!
Sengodan. M
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Wera / March 24, 2015
People elected the corrupt clowns crooks and morons to Parliament. It is not the prime ministers fault or the presidents fault that they exist. Both president and prime minister have to work with the said morons and crooks to get what they promised done. Then there will be elections. The people will get the chance to vote. Hope they don’t repeat their penchant for electing thugs crooks and morons again. If they do then the voter is to blame and nobody else.
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mechanic / March 24, 2015
Mervin said he also has joined ‘yahapalanaya’.
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Alahakoon / March 25, 2015
Wera,
What you said was the plain truth. It is our Nandas & Mamas who keep electing these crooks and morons to parliament. As you said, we shouldn’t blame PM or Pres, we have to blame ourselves, our Nandas & Mamas first for not having courage to reject those crooks & morons.
Last night, one PS chairman was shot dead at Hikkaduwa Hotel while partying with friends (function?), got drunk and had a fight or play with guns??. Now our Nandas & Mamas would lined up to vote/promote this slain chairman’s wife or brother as the next PS chairman. So who should be blamed?
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Samuel Jayaweera / March 24, 2015
I think it was strategically mandotary since the opposition go on saying that only UNP ministers take the actions of today coalition not concerning the views of the opposition. And the fact opposition is the powerful colleciton of the current parliament could always attack any argument by saying that needs to be repaired before move on – this is strategically essential – so people of this country should respect that rather than anything else. It is not easy to abolish EP without the consensus of the majority – it is not practically able – so i believe all will move towards the final achievement -which is to abolish EP fully.
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Shamil / March 24, 2015
President Maithreepala bribed with ministrial posts to SLFP Parliamentarians to reduce his power (to get19A to be passed). What a dedication of the President. Previous MaRa gave ministrial posts to add more powers to him. Yahapalanaya will win!
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mechanic / March 24, 2015
You’ve got it all wrong my dear. Remember! 19th amendment says it does not effect this president’s term. What a jealous man My3 is for he said he is going to be a one term president. Hypocrite
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kumar / March 24, 2015
Is it to get the amendment to the 19th amendment that the portfolios were given to the SLFP?
Why is some part of the amendment to be effective only after the term of the present President? Shouldn’t what is good for governance after the present term of the President good today as well? Or is it just to buy over the President and the SLFP to the UNP view?
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Mahen / March 25, 2015
The very reason why this will be effective after the term of the current president is amply explained above by the comment from Wera!
The current Parliament is full of corrupt clowns and narcotic and alcohol sellers. It will be curtains if the Prime minister assumes the position of the head of Government. Therefore it is a clever move to keep it under My3 for the present and following in the next elections if the people of the country wake up and elect honour able and suitable men and women then My3 can fore go his position and hand it over to the new PM.
This is only a safety measure.
My only hope is that My3 and RW will ensure that the corrupt elements will not get nominations and the people of the country will learn what a heavy responsibility rests on them and vote judiciously to elect appropriate persons to the next parliament.
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Pygmalion / March 24, 2015
This is not Good Governance[GG].
This variety is called Chi Chi!
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Vibhushana / March 24, 2015
The President should be the supreme governor of all pillars than a head of a single pillar of state i.e. the Legislature.
The PM should be the head of the legislature or the govt. The Chief Justice the head of the Judiciary.
Although extra-ordinary powers should remain with the President that are only exercised rarely. These could be the power to dissolve the pillars entirely for example. In other words the head-of-state should be a macro manager not a micro-manager.
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T Wickramaratna / March 24, 2015
Now My3 & Ranil have become the biggest bribe givers. Why is the BC silent on this issue?
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Senthil / March 24, 2015
People learn to appreciate when you get a present, some people always complain this is a cheap stuff, not fit to me, do not use this brand etc. etc. We have to learn to appreciate things. Compared to the devil MR, Mithiri is a gem, but he has lot of limitations in implementing things. It is reasonable to keep one term for him because he has a lot to do. First of all the illegal appointments to be replaced with people entering through proper channel. All the Goths army and intelligent people to be replaced. MR and his associate who involved with stealing Tax payers money to be put behind bars through proper legal means. There is no end to the list . Well done Mithiri and Chanthirika even though Chanthirika’s hand is stained with Tamil blood.
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Sadith / March 25, 2015
First of all there should be a law saying that no matter what constitution cannot be amend without a referendum. Constitution should not be allow to be change according to the wishes of all these tom dick and harry’s. Now ranil want to change it because he knows he cannot become the president through an election, and want prime minister to be the head of government. Prime minister will be selected through the parliament, that means somehow if you get there even with least number of votes, you can become the head of the government. Soon Sri Lanka will have country’s least popular politician who was rejected by the people for 29 times as the head of government !!!
Well done stupid Sri Lankans, hope everybody will learn a lesson the hard way.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / March 25, 2015
CT,
Please publish the version of the 19th amendment presented to parliament in full.
Thank you.
Dr.RN
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thondamannar / March 25, 2015
Why only 26??
There are many more to choose who are available…..
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Supun Jayawardhane / March 25, 2015
Had Bururathne -Mahinda Rajapakshe NOt held elections, what would have been the case by now ?
All these men stayed mum as if they speised clay like the crocodiles did – would not utter a single word in any gatherings where former Prez headed – because each and everyone of has gone wrong – former idiamin character but from this island collected all files as an idiotic prez would do. Buruwanse could move on … while SB the most abusive cesspit of all times could infect his criminal energies being on the mode of so called higher education ministry. Looking back I feel, this man MR had not a brain the size of a needle head to go that blind and deaf for own sake. Today, even if 70 days passed since MY3 started his journy through all heaps of garbage left by most idiotic president – but NOT EVEN single word came from MR ‘s brother Basil. As if a rapist ran away the place after doing the dirty thing, he left the country even before the election results were declared as MR was defeated.
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Ranjit / March 26, 2015
Sri Lanka is still on the periphery of a third world country which needs an executive presidency so it won’t become another Somalia or Afghanistan.
Both Ranil and Chandrika are politcally dead; reason they didn’t get elected in recent times.
Now trying to revive the ghosts by trying to pass 19 A.
Ranil is trying to be the de-facto president through the Back Door.
Gave the SLFP’ers cabinet posts and they been bought wholesale.
What a shame.
Dinesh, Vasu, DEW patriots speak up……….
Don’t let Sri Lanka be another Pakistan.
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Lanka Watch / March 26, 2015
It is a shame that the govt.had to stoop to this level of accommodating
tainted, corrupt parliamentarians just to get the 19th amendment passed
in the parliament, little realising that the very same MPs will turn
against the President and UNP,when the turn comes to selecting the next
Prime Minister,after the elections.Realising the current situation,The former President is still hanging on to politics in the hope these people will eventually help him to get back to power. In the event he becomes the PM, may be in 5 years time,the entire scenario will change and the President becomes a puppet and once again unilateral decisions will be taken by the PM, ignoring the advice of the President and the ministers, thus undermining the rules of governing and we will be back to square one and one could hear communal songs played all over the country. 5 years is more than enough to this shrewd politician to put the winning machinery in place. Ltte will be pulled out of the graves.
In every move, the govt.is playing into the hands of the former regime
to destroy the newly found, hard fought freedom. They tend to forget
that the voters are gullible, where an ardent supporter can be turned
against by lying in political speeches. People voted for Mr. Sirisena
as he promised to eradicate, nepotism, corruption and intimidation and
so far nothing of sort happened and how come he accommodated some corrupted men and women taken into the cabinet.It is a joke that SBD was found in the eyes of the President, PM and CBK as a saint.Why don’t
the govt.think of long term goals of providing stability to the country
and unity among the people of all faiths so that we could move forward,
like what late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew did for Singapore.There is enough,newly
found support from USA, EU, Japan,& India and probably China, on the assurances given by the current govt.that the govt.will be transparent and non aligned with no ties attached and reconciliation process is on.
The responsibility has now fallen on the hands of the people to choose the right person as an MP,irrespective of which party,he or she belongs
to and the govt.should only see that no rigging, intimidation,& threats
take place and people are allowed to vote freely in the coming election
as they,at any cost, will try to protect the hard fought freedom,though
the govt.is ignorantly assumes, that the victory is in their hands.
There is no way UNP & SLFP will work hand in hand for a lengthy period
and every morning people will wake up with some news of break up or
cross over.
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