By Lionel Bopage –
We as a nation should be extremely concerned about the potential of an adverse political and legal transformation that would be caused by the adaptation of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution Bill (20A) currently being debated in the Parliament. The current move to get rid of vital constitutional safeguards pause a serious threat to the peoples’ sovereignty and freedoms. While it is true that the people have given the government a mandate to work for their prosperity, it does not mean the head of state had been given carte blanche to do whatever he wants at will.
A parliamentary democracy would be better served by staying away from and not allowing predatory politics. It is a sad historical and political reality that, without any checks and balances, human nature has driven many an individual to use political affiliations and office to maximise private benefits, usually to the detriment of the public interest. That is why constitutional controls are crucial potent tools in a parliamentary democracy; they serve as checks and balances on executive.
These checks and balances become even more critical, when a religiously majoritarian ruler decides the laws and rights of the people. With a single autocratic head of state for the country, decision making will favour enhancing the well-being of the autocrat, their family, clan and cronies. Absence of such constraints would hinder the advancement of a pluralistic society. Governance systems based on majoritarianism – headed by an autocratic ruler – have more often than not demonstrated that when their eccentric and skewed ideologies prevail, the potential exists for the suppression of political opponents and the oppression of the people, just as our country’s history sadly attest to.
20th Amendment will provide the President with authoritarian powers and immunity from lawsuits. He/she will have power to dissolve Parliament and appoint or remove Ministers and junior Ministers at will, thus it disempowers Parliament. The President will have power to appoint members to all independent commissions; Chief Justice and the Judges of the Supreme Court; the President and Judges of the Court of Appeal; Members of the Judicial Service Commission (other than its Chairperson); the Attorney-General; the Auditor General; the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman); and the Secretary-General of Parliament. Urgent bills will be rushed through if Cabinet of Ministers view those as urgent. 20A replaces the Constitutional Council with a weakened Parliamentary Council – in effect a rubber stamp.
Among the key victims of 20A are: the Audit Service Commission and the National Procurement Commission to be dismantled; the Right to Information Commission’s framework and operability critically compromised; the powers of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) severely restrained; the Election Commission of Sri Lanka’s ability to conduct free and fair elections seriously curtailed; and the Office of Missing Persons tasked to bring closure to suffering victims will soon fade away with perpetrators of enforced disappearances and other heinous crimes given immunity from prosecution.
Parliamentary majorities presided over by an autocratic ruler have the power to dislodge the rule of law with the backing of popular opinion. It is in this sense, 20A is anti-pluralistic, anti-participative and anti-democratic. In its present form, 20A strategically serve to restore an authoritarian governance structure that would brutally compromise the ‘constitutionally enshrined framework of oversight and accountability’. Despite the citizens being the source of the country’s wealth and people’s well-being, their necessities and interests will be at the very bottom of the regime’s political priorities. If the Amendment is adopted as proposed, majoritarianism will determine the law of the country.
Rule of law based on constitutionally guaranteed rights implies that the government cannot bend the law. If applied consistently and in an accountable manner, the application of the rule of law does not need to be opaque and vague. Politics and law are distinctly different, but history has demonstrated that politics has increasingly displaced the rule of law in determining how people interact with governments. Popular majoritarian sentiment, not evidence-based research or science or equity, determines public policy. The will of the majority without checks and balances have become the political paradigm of the day. Those who are not in the majority sacrifice their rights as a people and community and become subservient to the whims of the majority.
Parliamentary democracy can encourage and strengthen maintaining the basic law of a country as defined in its Constitution. Yet, without the appropriate checks and balances that restrain majoritarianism, democratic processes can be manipulated to undo democracy itself. This has been amply demonstrated in many countries including in Germany, Italy and Spain. Unstable political situations provide circumstances for opportunistic individuals and regimes to acquire and hold onto power. Such individuals and regimes use political processes to transfer resources to themselves and create a rent-seeking political culture.
In a democratic set-up such attempts can be and should be challenged by the accountability mechanisms incorporated in the country’s basic law. But in an authoritarian or totalitarian set up, political interest groups manipulate the system to generate wealth not through creation, but pillage via subservient crony political activity. They perpetuate and solidify their cronyism-based support networks by providing ever more monetary benefits at the expense of the public purse. Such crony networks can extend from villages to cities, within the bureaucracy and the civilian and military administration. Introduction of the current amendment will only enhance this culture by making it immune to the rule of law.
One of the unsung virtues of democracy is that it relies on collective decision-making and prevents an individual making decisions on behalf of the peoples of the country. It operates as a check on the power of those who are in authority and offers a mechanism for the orderly succession of power. Thus, it ensures the sovereignty of people by allowing those in authority to be replaced following free and fair elections. In addition, democracy allows for competition among many leaders who wish to challenge those in authority by pledging to do better than those in power. Hence, in general, democracy allows for an orderly succession of power without conflict.
Limiting citizens’ freedom is a bit like biting the hand that feeds. A regime that came to power through democratic processes may push the boundaries of democracy by curbing the constitutional constraints, for they care more about themselves and their self-serving ideology. They will not hesitate to dismantle the collective and democratic decision-making processes, which would endanger the very same institutions that contributed for the regime to be put in power. In that light what follows in Sri Lanka has not been an exception. The newly formed government and the head of state are manipulating the democratic will of the people for replacing even the currently inadequate constitutional safeguards that are being completely ignored.
The Executive should be responsible and accountable to the Legislature and should not be on par with the Legislature or the Judiciary. However, 20A is designed to consolidate power in the office of an all-powerful Executive Presidency. It removes the checks and balances on Presidential powers and makes room for authoritarian rule by taking away the civil society’s right to play a role in the governance system. It not only diminishes the role of Prime Minister, but also subordinates his/her powers and the Parliament to the Presidency.
20A will seriously undermine the separation of powers, the rule of law, transparency of decision making, and our fundamental freedoms. The entrenchment of such an all-powerful executive Presidency is a precursor for future dissension and turmoil. If passed in its current form the amendment will pave the way for a system of autocratic government led by a single leader with a small political cohort holding absolute power and sound the death knell for the parliamentary democracy as we know it.
Our society needs to be widely aware of the adverse implications 20A would have on our democracy. We urge all Parliamentarians to work towards preventing such dissension and turmoil by not allowing the Twentieth Amendment to be adopted in its current form. The people need to be given the opportunity to decide their fate by casting their votes at a referendum specifically held for amending the constitution as proposed by the President. Let they themselves directly decide on the status of their fundamental rights, freedoms, prosperity and sovereignty.
GATAM / September 29, 2020
Tell Modi that 20A dilutes 13A. Modi will give MR and GR a hammering and cut them to size.
Modi already ridiculed Sarath Wee-sekera and got him to venerate 13A.
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Eagle Eye / September 29, 2020
GATAM,
What else we can expect from uncivilized people with tribal mentality?
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“Modi will give MR and GR a hammering and cut them to size.”
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umberto / September 29, 2020
GATAM
“Modi already ridiculed Sarath Wee-sekera and got him to venerate 13A.”
where did you get this info.?
Modi can’t and won’t do anything to upset rajapaksas. They havr a rump card in china.
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GATAM / September 29, 2020
Just look at what Wee-sekera says now and does not say!
China has not and will not interfere in SL-India problems. Though China and India have their problems they have an understanding too. They have their red lines which they do not cross for a worthless Rajapakstan.
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Eagle Eye / September 29, 2020
GATAM,
They might not cross their red lines for a worthless Rajapakstan. But they might cross their red lines for a ‘WORTHY’ Sri Lanka.
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“They have their red lines which they do not cross for a worthless Rajapakstan.”
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SJ / October 2, 2020
G
The question was “where did you get this info.?”
You are dodging it.
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Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / September 29, 2020
Modi will have dealing with Gota or Mahinda, but not with low level scums like Sarath Weerasekera. It was Indian High commissioner who summoned him and gave an earful which he listened without any protest. Did you see the cartoon in Sinhala paper which in the first section depicted Sarath Weerasekera as veeraya wielding the sword and in the second section shows him fallen on the ground stuck by Indian arrow. This is the sad state of affairs of Sinhala politicians. What makes you think that Modi cares for Chinese gonibilla with which Rajapakses are trying to scare him. They have been given rope to swallow and it will be pulled to choke them, if they try to act funny.
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Eagle Eye / September 29, 2020
Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam,
Native Sinhalayo have to go through these humiliations because colonial parasites brought dravida slaves and dumped in Sinhale. These ‘Para’ people bring nothing but headaches to Native Sinhalayo.
Hindians are interfering because Demalu in Sri Lanka are of Indian origin.
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leelagemalli / September 29, 2020
Denented EE@Your kind of repeated provocations cant bring us anywhere instead we sinhalayas become known as ultra racists not only to Tamil srilankens but to the entire world. No doubt ur hatreds are pathological. Anyways it is pity u cant grasp it yet. If majority of people would behave like u, srilanka would be a hell for the world. I m happy that our people are not sick as u are. Let s pray a country without EEs. ???????
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Native Vedda / October 2, 2020
Eagle ….. ….. ….. Eye
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“These ‘Para’ people bring nothing but headaches to Native Sinhalayo.”
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Who is this Native Sinhalayo?
Is it the public racist Anagarika Homeless Dharmapala’s ghost?
If so, you have to be very careful, you need a shaman to exorcise the restless spirit. You should seek help from Wimal Weerawansa’s family as I believe they know and practice Sanni yakuma rituals.
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Ajith / September 29, 2020
Constitutional safeguard for protecting & promoting people’s freedom, Rights and prosperity is a must necessity not only for Srilanka but also for any country. However, how far our people are knowledgeable and understandable about the importance of their rights is a million pound question. Our people are divided in terms of religion, race, language, caste and gender and they can be easily manipulated by emotional factors than rational factors. This is what that is happened over the seven decades. People don’t have any idea what is going to be in the constitution and what impact they will have now or after five or ten years or 100 years. For example, the 20th amendment proposal gives unlimited power to President and he has the power to dismantle the parliament after one year. If there is a personal conflict between President and Prime Minister (family conflict), he can simply dismantle Mahinda Government in order to give PM to Ali Sabri or his son. President is a human and his thoughts and mind can be different in two years. Further situations can be changed frequently and he may become as a Monk or a Dictator like Hitler. So, people should be educated to analyse all the possibilities of goods and bad of the new constitution proposals.
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Mallaiyuran / October 1, 2020
These days Prof. Kumar’s essay always over play the de-growth of civilizational maturity of democracy world over, not specific to Lankawe. Whether it is a premature fear or actual trend is very difficult to evaluate. Democracy is not a product comes out of mold (mould) filled with molten material. Err is to democracy. Err in democracy doesn’t affect the democracy characteristically. Previous night a (Ceylon Fish Market) show was relayed world over from an American University. It let democratic with disappointment. Many developing world activists looked for an example to come out previous night, but what came out was a confirmation of Prof. Kumar’s Prophesy, or an in strong word, pessimism. It is the history President Bush forcefully captured the power, used a war to boost image and left White House as one of the worst president in America. We say in Tamil if you want to have something on the ladle you have to have something in the pot. But that old saying is not telling how to select or identify the pot with resources. But an English saying answers the question, “empty vessel makes loud noise”. Unfortunately this lesson is not well understood in democratic world. There, we look for the vessels makes ample, earful of sound to become impressed by the candidate.
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Mallaiyuran / October 1, 2020
Thus it delivers the proof for Prof. Kumar’s theorem that the democracy is in decline by its inhered weakness. One explanation for our (the world’s) decline is that our experience is fading by leaving the war far behind us. Their contention is missing canning for reinforcing the experience of the human society is the cause for the forgetting the lessons learned. If there is any meaning in those talks, then we will be unavoidably be dragged into old chaotic destruction, in the soon future.
Whether anybody of Prof Kumar’s schools’ call that democracy in the world is in decline is right or wrong, but from 1948, Lankawe is facing a roll down of the snow ball from a snowy mountain, gathering weight and momentum all way through down. Don Stephen debut the Ceylon’s Parliamentary democracy by disenfranchising the Tamils. When a UNHRC High Commissioner visited Lankawe, she advised government to move Don’s statue from Freedom Square. That is the trend for many ill-famed leaders of the past world, including Columbus, who is the father of America.
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Mallaiyuran / October 1, 2020
There is no need for 20A. No development can be done with Bay of Bengal water. It needs money. It has to come from outside. Lankawe’s bankruptcy is a secret to Sinhala Buddhist Modayas, who the lion race gets fed with Annual Peraheras, called pogroms on Tamils to keep cool and racism spewing Colombo Media. But for international credit rating companies, it is old news. Last week Moody’s put Lankawe on “Caa1”, a code for dangerous place to lend. During Yahapalanaya, Mangala passed the Foreign Exchange Fraud Amnesty Act (2017). Now Royal government cut off all imports completely because there is no penny in exchange reserve to pay for imports, leave alone, loan installments.
Just before the 2018 October Coup there was a press meeting by Slap Party. Old King’s consultants, GLP and CB Cabal too were in the meeting. A reporter asked Old King if he feels the exchange rate was reflecting the rupee’s vale. Latter Chandrika described this press meeting like this: “He looked left; He looked right, he looked back; but he didn’t answer because he didn’t know it.” Then CB cabal told him to tell that they will do when they come to power. Now the same CB Cabal is saying that he has to find some ways to pay the loan installment $2.8 Billion.
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Mallaiyuran / October 1, 2020
20A is not for development, but to take the country to the next stage, Prof Kumar described in one of his essay. That is these all are strong preparation to sink the country into full dictatorship. This country already saw three rebellions. The current president is part of brutal military suppression of two of them. They know what to come. They have arms. But they need additional laws to the next suppression what to come out of worst economic time the country is accounting. Remember the Rathupusalawe drinking water demonstration? 20A is only for that.
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