{"id":235329,"date":"2024-01-11T00:56:36","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T19:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=235329"},"modified":"2024-01-21T22:26:09","modified_gmt":"2024-01-21T16:56:09","slug":"a-few-proposals-for-governance-administrative-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-few-proposals-for-governance-administrative-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"A Few Proposals For Governance & Administrative Reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

By H. Sriyananda<\/a> –<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Prof. H. Sriyananda<\/p><\/div>\n

Declare April 15th as the National Day in place of 4th February. This will help bring the two main communities in the country together in a common celebration.<\/p>\n

All future elections to be held during the month of April, instead of on ad hoc dates decided to suit the government in power. It will also reduce the disruptions in education and other normal activities of the country.<\/p>\n

All school and university education to be based on two semesters of sixteen weeks each, with all schools and universities adhering to a common schedule. The first semester starts on the first Monday of July each year. After eight weeks, there shall be a one week break followed by the balance of the first semester, lasting eight weeks. Then there shall be vacation lasting four weeks before the start of the second semester, which will run for a total of seventeen weeks (including the one week break). This will bring us to the middle of March. All examinations, including the examinations for the selection of students for admission to universities, will be conducted during the remaining two weeks of March. This will leave a total of twelve weeks before the start of the next academic year. All scrutiny of answer scripts and other activities for the selection of students shall be completed during this period.<\/p>\n

It will also serve as a period specially set apart for major sport and other cultural activities.<\/p>\n

Now, on to governance, and elections. The country will be divided into three regions as follows:<\/p>\n

Region 1 – South western coastal region.<\/p>\n

For the interim period, until the next delimitation, to consist of the present southern, western and north western provinces.<\/p>\n

Region 2 – North eastern coastal region.<\/p>\n

For the interim period, until the next delimitation, to consist of the present northern and eastern provinces.<\/p>\n

Region 3 – Highlands region.<\/p>\n

For the interim period, until the next delimitation, to consist of north central, central, Uwa and Sabaragamuwa provinces.<\/p>\n

The central government shall be administered by:<\/p>\n

A presidential council (supervisory function, with executive functions under emergency conditions (as determined by the lower house of parliament)<\/p>\n

A bicameral parliament (legislative function)<\/p>\n

A central judiciary (Judicial function)<\/p>\n

A central public service (executive function)<\/p>\n

The presidential council shall consist of six non-political and eminent members, three elected by the three regions, two by the lower house and one by the upper house. They will elect one of them as the chairman.<\/p>\n

The parliament shall consist of the House of representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house)<\/p>\n

The lower house shall have 150 members, 120 directly elected on an electoral basis (first past the post), and 30 elected on a proportional basis, but from lists provided by each political party and nationally voted upon by the electorate.<\/p>\n

The upper house shall consist of 50 eminent members, ten each elected by each provincial council and twenty elected by the lower house. Both the lower and upper houses can initiate new legislation, but the upper house can only delay any bill only for a period of up to six months after it is accepted by the lower house. As the elections to the lower house and to the regional councils are staggered (see below), the upper house is intended to provide for changes in public opinion between two general elections, and to moderate hasty actions that can be detrimental to the country.<\/p>\n

As stated at the beginning of this note, all elections are held in the month of April. If a general election is held in year zero, local government elections will be held in year 1 and regional council elections will be held in year 2. Year 3 is set apart for the work of a delimitation commission. Year 4 will see new elections to parliament. All elected bodies will have a validity for four years. (Transition arrangements will have to be worked out)<\/p>\n

The central government will be responsible for the administration of justice at the appellate court level.<\/p>\n

The public service will be governed by a Public service commission. All public service appointments, right up to the cabinet and ministry secretaries, shall be based on merit and seniority, in that order. All public servants will address members of the public as Sir\/madam, and sign all communications as \u2018I remain, Sir\/Madam, your obedient servant\u2019 as it used to be in the past. This will remind them at all times that they are public servants and not servants of the government in power.<\/p>\n

There shall be a national police force, consisting of a new retrained and reoriented police force, trained to function as public servants. It will work in cooperation with the regional police forces.<\/p>\n

All secondary and tertiary educational institutions will be administered by the central government.<\/p>\n

The regional governments will have a much simplified structure with only a lower house, with directly elected members representing each of the electorates within the region. The delimitation commission will attempt to restrict the number of such elected members of each regional council to between 25 and 45 members.<\/p>\n

The administration of justice at the level of the courts of the first instance shall be the responsibility of the regional governments.<\/p>\n

There shall be a regional police force, which will work in collaboration with the other regional police forces and the central police force.<\/p>\n

The regional governments shall be responsible for the primary educational institutions.<\/p>\n

The local governments will have directly elected ward level members.<\/p>\n

They shall provide all local services such as maintenance of local services such as garbage collection and disposal, nursery education and daycare services, reconciliation boards, etc.<\/p>\n

In parallel with the above formal structure, each grama seva niladhari will entertain proposals from the public, either in writing or verbally at periodical assemblies (People’s assemblies) for implementation at any level of government. Such proposals shall be forwarded to the appropriate authorities, through the district secretaries for consideration. This is expected to provide an additional channel for the public to participate in governance on a continuing basis.<\/p>\n

Entrenched clauses<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1- There has to be an ‘entrenched exclusivity’ clause which restricts any future government, both central and regional, from enacting legislation that either favours or discriminates against any section of the citizens on grounds of race, ethnicity, gender, religious or political beliefs, and place of residence.<\/p>\n

2- No government (central or regional) can dispose of or lease for a period exceeding eight years (two terms of an elected government) any natural resource belonging to the general public such as land, water, air and mineral resources to any foreign individual, government or corporate body.<\/p>\n

*H. Sriyananda, Emeritus Professor – Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Technology – The Open University of Sri Lanka<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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