{"id":141492,"date":"2015-03-22T00:16:32","date_gmt":"2015-03-21T18:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=141492"},"modified":"2015-04-08T22:07:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-08T16:37:00","slug":"mahinda-lost-presidency-due-to-his-ego-maithri-never-promised-to-abolish-executive-presidency-champika","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/mahinda-lost-presidency-due-to-his-ego-maithri-never-promised-to-abolish-executive-presidency-champika\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahinda Lost Presidency Due To His Ego; Maithri Never Promised To Abolish Executive Presidency: Champika"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka<\/span><\/a> says former President Mahinda Rajapaksa lost the Presidential poll despite wielding unlimited powers and resources, due to his ego that rendered him unwilling to implement the kind of political reforms that were demanded by the masses.<\/p>\n

\"Champika\"<\/a>\u201cFormer President Rajapaksa spent Rs. 43,000 on every vote during the past election. Although his allies boast of the 5.7 million votes he received, each and every vote he obtained was won through heavy voter bribing. Now they blame that defeat on foreign spy services and conspiracies,\u201d Minister Ranwaka said speaking at the JHU\u2019s National Convention held this week.<\/p>\n

In his speech, the Minister was also quite critical of the constitutional reforms, the 19th amendment<\/span><\/a> and its contents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn President Sirisena\u2019s manifesto<\/span><\/a>, it has been very clearly stated that no tampering will be done on sections of the constitution that call for a referendum. Certain individuals are referring to a \u2018schedule\u2019 and various other documents but they are not what we approved. The manifesto is the ONLY document that received the unanimous consent of all the parties that were involved with the common opposition movement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said therefore those who formulated and presented the 100-day program<\/span><\/a> should bear responsibility of implementing the necessary changes according to the schedule set in the program. \u201cWe are not answerable to that program \u2013 our only focus is on implementing the promises we made and doing justice to the mandate given by the people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Minister also noted that right from the commencement of President Sirisena\u2019s election campaign, no promise was made to abolish the Executive Presidency as such an amendment would clearly require a referendum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agreement was only to curtail certain arbitrary powers of the Executive Presidency and replace it with a system that is accountable to the parliament. . . It should also be noted that the constitutional reforms promised during President Sirisena\u2019s campaign are not limited to curtailing executive powers of the presidency and establishment of independent commissions but also vitally includes constitutional reforms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Minister Ranawaka said the JHU expressed their objection to the draft of the 19th amendment that was presented by the PM earlier this month as he demanded it to be gazetted on the very night it was presented before the cabinet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe set our eyes on the document only that very day. If that was allowed to be gazetted, it would have been a deadly blow to good governance since the document clearly required a careful study of its contents. Moreover, its content was in violation of the agreements made at the party leaders\u2019 meeting in the days leading up to presenting the 19A draft,\u201d he said adding it contained a \u2018constitutional conspiracy\u2019 to curtail some of the essential powers of the President required to ensure the stability of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the Constitution, the President is the leader of the state, the government, the Executives and the tri-forces. Unfortunately, today some of these legal experts who draft constitutional amendments haven\u2019t been able to grasp the difference between the state and the government. These vital powers had been systematically scrapped and one section stated that the PM would be the leader of the government and the cabinet, which would then entitle him with the power to appoint governors,\u201d he remarked while adding the mandate given by the masses to the President whom they elected into power, cannot be changed by a few figures who seek to implement constitutional amendments to suit their whims and fancies.<\/p>\n

He said therefore they agreed for the following amendments to be made to the powers entitled to the Executive Presidency:<\/p>\n