The Government has once against nominated two persons to the Constitutional Council (CC) whose previous nominations caused consternation among good governance advocates.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, despite her seemingly unimpeachable stature as the former Under Secretary General of the United Nations and Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict (2006-2012), has been caught redhanded trying to suppress a report on human rights violations in order to get the Government go-ahead necessary to secure the plum UN post and thereafter lying about it.
Another nominee, Dr A. T. Ariyaratne, also stands accused of reserving key positions in his NGO, Sarvodaya, for close members of the family, the kind of practice that the Government strongly condemned the Rajapaksa regime for promoting.
While both were nominated to the CC, their appointments were not ratified due to the hasty dissolution of Parliament by President Sirisena.
Coomaraswamy stirred much controversy towards the end of her tenure as the Chairperson of Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Council over an unpublished report on human rights violations that were widely condemned. The said report was commissioned during the time she sat on the Council. The report, put together by T. Suntheralingam, a retired judge, who acted as the Special Rapporteur of an inquiry into high profile violations including the killing of five students in Trincomalee in January 2006.
The Government which is taking a lot of flak for appointing a jumbo cabinet which includes several unsavory individuals as well as some who were rejected by the people and later smuggled in through the National Lists, missed an opportunity to redeem itself, political observers say.
Nathan / September 11, 2015
The nominations of these two, impeached in the court of public perception and opinion, is a continuum of the distasteful conduct of the duo MS/RW.
These nominations reveal one thing for sure. There is no genuine interest in making good on their promise of good governance.
Why RMB Senanayake was overlooked for the Constitutional Council escapes me.
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Sumith / September 12, 2015
If you take anybody in top positions one may have something to say bad about them.
Nevertheless both Radhika and Ariyaratne have academic qualifications and experience to hold post in CC.
I give a small challenge to those critics.
Could you name few candidates for the CC post with right qualifications and sufficient experiences?
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len / September 12, 2015
[Could you name few candidates for the CC post with right qualifications and sufficient experiences?]
Over 20 million in Sri Lanka only two with qualification and experience for CC what a shocker.
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nimal / September 12, 2015
I agree with the comment made by Nathan as follows – ” why RMB Senanayake has been overlooked escapes me. “
I am aware that Mr. RMB Senanayake is retired from the elite Sri lanka Civil Service and has wide and varied experience in both the Public and Private sectors of Sri lanka having worked in the private sector after retirement from public service. He is independent, impartial and erudite. and has no petty prejudices,He would be ideal as a member of the Constitutional Council in my view.
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Nathan / September 13, 2015
RMB Senanayake never shies away from tricky situations. There is no better fit for the Constitutional Council.
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justice / September 11, 2015
The CC is/was already emasculated by the preponderence of politicians rather than intellectuals, and the appointment of Radhika & Ariyaratne will make it a “rubber stamp” conglomerate.
I fear that utter misfits are going to be appointed as top public servants and diplomats.
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Naga / September 11, 2015
Sibley Aziz is not a controversial person but there are question marks over the fitness of Ariyaratne and Radhika Coomaraswamy.
Ariyaratne was running a one man family show through his Sarvodaya Movement. This guy is no different to the politicians of Sri Lanka in promoting family bandiysm.
If Radhika has suppressed a human rights report for the sake of getting a UN job and thereafter lied about it as alleged by Colombo Telegraph, she should be disqualified. She might have held a high UN position but if she is otherwise untrustworthy she should not be appointed to the Constitutional Council.
Why the need to appoint these controversial two when there are scores of other eminent Sri Lankans who are capable doing a good job as members of the CC?
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Kalupahana / September 11, 2015
Simple my dear Naga, Because corrupt people will turn a blind eyes on the corruption of others..
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imad / September 12, 2015
I welcome your comment. Not all people reach eminence, only some do. But in the path of achieving eminence, many of that ‘some’ use foul means, do things, which are unconscionable, or tread on other weak or vulnerable toes! Those who judge achievements look at only the peak of eminence, not the path to that peak! When the CC says these are civil society representatives, should the civil society not have a say in choosing them, in the first place? Why should Ministers be in the CC? A serious travesty of the principle of good governance!
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Valli / September 11, 2015
Kishali Pinto Jayawardena would be better on CC as she is qualified, honest and has integrity. Radhika is in same league as Arjuna Mahendran who should be investigated for insider trading and the bond scam at the Central Bank. Ranil’s Colombo Tamil cronies who love power and money and themselves..
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Mallaiyuran / September 11, 2015
Everybody saw where the Yahapalayana went. Everybody saw the where the corruption inquiries went. Everybody saw Vidiya, Saraniya, Egliniyagoa, Thajudeen…. murder cases went. Everybody saw how bad the 19A went- pretty lower than 18A . Then the internal inquiry…. now the new constitution. If the opposition party has back bone, they should oppose this in the parliament. They just can’t function like how a Sinhala opposition party would have functioned. They it is going to be bad than UPFA opposition under Old King.
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name of the game / September 11, 2015
Shibly Aziz is famous for turning a blind eye on corruption, so this will be a great civil society team to support the Sirisean Ranil a-yahapalanaya regime!
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Rodney / September 11, 2015
What about a person like Chandra Jayaratne!.? Much better than aging Ariyaratna
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Demos / September 15, 2015
Chandra? You must be joking! He sat on the Sri Lankan Airlines committee inquiry and never disclosed a word of it until Colombo Telegraph found out that Weliamuna had taken a staggering amount of money for it and also that Chandra had secretly sat on the committee as well. These people have no moral principles
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Lanka Watch / September 11, 2015
Why is Mr. Sambanthan, the leader of the opposition and chief of TNA
is silent on the issue of selecting Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy as a CC
member. Time and again, Tamil people have told him that son or daughter
of the soil of N/E, who is fully aware of the ground situation in N/E, should be in the CC. How come Ranil from the elites of Colombo, select the Tamil Representative without consulting the TNA.
Anyway, we should not worry too much as the parliamentarians in the CC will over rule any thing good brought by the civilian CC members and they will not have a say but warm the chairs for perks. It will be a good resting place for the civilian CC members.
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Jayasingha / September 11, 2015
This duo RW and MS are both pleasant dictators (Sonduru Angnadaykas)like MR who was identified as such by no other than MS himself. They are a law unto themselves under the guise of good governance and make appointments to important positions according to their whims and fancies while the people are just flabbergasted. How long will the people tolerate this nonsense?
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radish.s / September 17, 2015
No doubt Radhika is well qualified and is a constitution law expert but Constitutional Council has nothing to do with drafting Constitution or giving advice on it as we all know.It is about nominating/appointing members to the various very important independent commissions and it has already been made to look like a Parliamentary Committee due to compromise by appointing too many MPs to it.Radhika comes from the ‘creamy layers of the society’ as the late Justice Krishna Iyer would have liked to put it. She lives most of the time in New York and knows nothing about common wo/man in our country and would have never wept with the people or for the people. She is the type who holds conferences at 5 star hotels for the rights of the poor women of Asia like the one she once held in the Oberoi Hotel in Colombo those days. She did sweet nothing as the Chairperson of the Human Rights Council of Sri Lanka. Surely there are so many other well qualified suitable persons in Sri Lanka.
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