{"id":213548,"date":"2020-09-28T14:39:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T09:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=213548"},"modified":"2020-10-03T14:16:04","modified_gmt":"2020-10-03T08:46:04","slug":"reform-the-proposed-20th-amendment-to-strengthen-not-weaken-transparency-public-oversight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/reform-the-proposed-20th-amendment-to-strengthen-not-weaken-transparency-public-oversight\/","title":{"rendered":"Reform The Proposed 20th Amendment To Strengthen, Not Weaken, Transparency & Public Oversight"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shreen Abdul Saroor<\/a> –<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Shreen Saroor<\/p><\/div>\n

Following parliamentary elections, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa wasted no time in obtaining cabinet approval and thereafter gazetting the proposed 20th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka.\u00a0Many commentators have noted how the 20th Amendment as proposed will diminish parliamentary powers, erode judicial independence, and weaken independent commissions.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 But it is also critical for ordinary people\u2014especially those who voted for the current government\u2014to know that the proposed 20th Amendment will usher in an era of unchecked corruption shackling future generations. The President and the Prime Minister urge us that repeal of the 19th Amendment is necessary for economic development.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 What they don\u2019t tell us is that the proposed reforms reduce transparency and oversight, at the\u00a0expense<\/em>\u00a0of economic development. We can and must demand more from our elected leaders.<\/p>\n

Passed in 2015, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution requires the Constitutional Council to appoint a qualified auditor as independent Auditor-General. The 20th Amendment empowers the\u00a0President<\/em>\u00a0to appoint any person to this position in his sole discretion. Constitutional protection for the Audit Service Commission will disappear, and audits will no longer be required for the President and Prime Minister.[3]<\/a>\u00a0Whereas the 19th Amendment strengthened the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption by allowing it to initiate its own inquiries, the proposed 20th Amendment removes constitutional protection altogether, meaning the commission could be abolished by a simple majority vote in Parliament.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Even if the Bribery commission remains, the 20th Amendment as proposed will strip its power to commence investigations on its own motion.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Finally, the proposed 20th Amendment outright\u00a0abolishes\u00a0<\/em>the National Procurement Commission.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

Who benefits from these changes?<\/p>\n

The role of the auditor-general is to conduct independent audits of government operations. These audits allow Parliament to scrutinize government spending and \u201censure better financial management and optimum use of public resources to maintain sustainable development.\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0If the National Audit Commission is abolished, so too is its surcharge power, meaning individuals who misappropriate public funds can no longer be held personally liable. How do ordinary Lankans gain by\u00a0reducing\u00a0<\/em>transparency and accountability regarding governmental use of public funds?<\/p>\n

Likewise, the proposed 20A will abolish the National Procurement Services Commission, which serves to \u201cformulate fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective procedures and guidelines\u201d for government procurements, and ensure integrity, transparency, and accountability.[8]<\/a>\u00a0 How is less transparency in big-budget government procurements a good thing for ordinary people?<\/p>\n

Short answer? It\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

Enhanced anti-corruption measures in the 19th Amendment benefit all of us. While he served as President, Mahinda Rajapaksa commissioned the port project in Hambantota, financed with $1.1 billion in loans from China. The project was built with Chinese contractors, not local labor, and made losses from the moment it opened in 2010. \u00a0When Mahinda ran for a third term in 2015, his campaign allegedly took kickbacks from the Chinese port fund as had been reported in the media then. With Sri Lanka unable to afford even interest payments on the billion-dollar loan, the Sirisena government had to default and ceded control of the port and 15,000 surrounding acres to China for 99 years.[9]<\/a>\u00a0 Now Chinese port authorities are trying to pressure local farmers to sell their land to make way for a Chinese industrial zone in Hambantota.[10]<\/a>\u00a0 Local residents are right to fight and not sell away what belongs to their children.[11]<\/a>\u00a0 But without independent audits and a robust bribery commission, the Hambantota debacle is bound to repeat.<\/p>\n

Hambantota\u2019s port was not an isolated case. President Gotabhaya was charged in 2016 with corruption for illegally transferring $75 million in state-owned weapons to a private security firm named Avant Garde to establish a floating armory.[12]<\/a>\u00a0 He was separately charged with misappropriating Rs. 33.9 million to build a memorial museum for his parents.[13]<\/a>\u00a0While presidential immunity prevents these cases from moving forward, independent audit and procurement functions are essential to preventing misuses of public funds.<\/p>\n

Today, the government is embarking on huge development projects, bringing more government institutions under the control of Rajapaksa family members and military officials. With no independent audit and no procurements commission, nepotism, cronyism, and corruption will go unchecked. By abolishing the audit commission and exempting the President and Prime Minister\u2019s offices from audit, the 20th Amendment will permit daylight robbery of public funds.\u00a0 Because these high-ranking officials hold immunity from suit, no person will be able to challenge corruption in court.<\/p>\n

So who stands to gain? Clearly the Rajapaksas do.\u00a0 But what\u2019s in it for the rest of us? \u00a0If tomorrow the President wants to sign away all our natural resources or seize private property for a big-budget development project, financed by an onerous loan, who can stop him? What oversight or recourse will we have when public officials abuse our trust? The Rajapaksa brothers tell us that the 20th Amendment, complete with the above-mentioned reforms, is crucial to promoting economic development.\u00a0 But the World Bank (not to mention common sense) says the opposite\u2014\u201ccorruption impedes investment, with consequent effects on growth and jobs. Countries capable of confronting corruption use their human and financial resources more efficiently, attract more investment, and grow more rapidly.\u201d[14]<\/a><\/p>\n

It is our duty as citizens to think critically about whether the proposed reforms help or hurt us. This isn\u2019t even about the Rajapaksas, although they certainly stand to gain from reduced oversight.\u00a0 At the heart of any government lies public trust.\u00a0 We place our hard-earned money and rights in the government\u2019s hands and ask only that it acts in our collective interest. Essential to this trust is our ability as citizens to get progress reports from independent auditors and commissions to see that the government remains on the right track. An independent Auditor-General, Procurement Commission, and constitutionally protected commissions addressing audits and bribery are all vital to make sure our government works\u00a0for\u00a0<\/em>us, and not at our expense.\u00a0 Sri Lankans must demand that the 20th Amendment strengthen, not weaken, audit, procurement, and anti-bribery functions, protecting their independence from political interference of any kind.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>\u00a0Sudha Ramachandran,\u00a0Sri Lanka\u2019s Democracy on the Edge<\/em>, The Diplomat (Sept. 26, 2020), https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2020\/09\/sri-lankas-democracy-on-the-edge\/.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0Nuwan Senarathna,\u00a0MR calls for two-thirds majority to repeal 19A<\/em>, Daily FT (June 22, 2020), http:\/\/www.ft.lk\/news\/MR-calls-for-two-thirds-majority-to-repeal-19A\/56-701995.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0See generally, Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA),\u00a0Summary of Changes Under the Proposed 20th Amendment<\/em>\u00a0(Sept. 2020), https:\/\/www.cpalanka.org\/statement-on-the-twentieth-amendment-2\/, at pp. 28-29.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0Id.\u00a0<\/em>at pp. 27-28.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a>\u00a0Sulochana Ramiah Mohan,\u00a0Commission Removal Compromises Accountability\u2014TISL<\/em>, Ceylon Today (Sept. 11, 2020), https:\/\/ceylontoday.lk\/news\/commission-removal-compromises-accountability-tisl.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a>\u00a0CPA\u00a0Summary of Changes, supra,<\/em>\u00a0at p. 31.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0National Audit Office of Sri Lanka, Vision, Mission and Values, http:\/\/www.naosl.gov.lk\/web\/index.php\/en\/our-vision-mission-and-values (last visited Sept. 26, 2020).<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a>\u00a0National Procurement Commission, Vision, Mission and Values, https:\/\/www.nprocom.gov.lk\/web\/index.php?lang=en (last visited Sept. 26, 2020).<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a>\u00a0Maria Abi-Habib,\u00a0How China Got Sri Lanka to Cough Up a Port<\/em>, N.Y. Times (Jun. 25, 2018), https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/06\/25\/world\/asia\/china-sri-lanka-port.html.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a>\u00a0Lauren Frayer,\u00a0In Sri Lanka, China\u2019s Building Spree is Raising Questions About Sovereignty\u00a0<\/em>(Dec. 13, 2019), https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2019\/12\/13\/784084567\/in-sri-lanka-chinas-building-spree-is-raising-questions-about-sovereignty.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a>\u00a0Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[12]<\/a>\u00a0Sri Lanka\u2019s Gotabaya Rajapaksa charged with corruption<\/em>, BBC News (Aug. 31, 2016), https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-37234654.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a>\u00a0Shihar Aneez,\u00a0Sri Lanka presidential frontrunner loses bid to get corruption case dismissed<\/em>, Reuters (Sept. 11, 2019), https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-sri-lanka-politics-rajapaksa\/sri-lanka-presidential-frontrunner-loses-bid-to-get-corruption-case-dismissed-idUSKCN1VW1UF.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a>\u00a0Combatting corruption, The World Bank, https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/topic\/governance\/brief\/anti-corruption (last visited Sept. 26, 2020).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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