Karu urged to change CC selection process

By Shamindra Ferdinando-September 26, 2018, 12:00 pm 

A group of civil society activists has called for specific procedure to pick three outsiders for the 10-member Constitutional Council.

Activists have made representations in this regard to Speaker Karu Jajasuriya and Secretary General of Parliament W. B. D. Dassanayake.

Executive Director of the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFREL) Rohana Hettiarachchi yesterday told The Island that Speaker Jayasuriya had assured them the issue would be taken up with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan.

The group of activists met the Speaker and the Parliament Secretary General on Sept 21.

Hettiarachchi acknowledged that the selection process should have been launched before the terms of President’s Counsel Shibly Aziz, Sarvodaya leader A.T. Ariyaratne and one-time UN Under Secretary General Radhika Coomaraswamy ended on Sept. 22 (last Saturday).

Responding to a query, Hettiarachchi said they were handpicked by PM Wickremesinghe and Opp Leader Sampanthan. "We believe that instead of hand picking CC members, they should establish a transparent procedure to choose civil society representatives.

Parliament set up the Constitutional Council in terms of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution enacted in April 2015.

The 10 member council consists of three ex-officio members, Speaker Jayasuriya, PM Wickremesinghe and Opp Leader Sampanthan. Except ex-officio members, others are appointed for a period of three years.

A spokesperson for parliament yesterday told The Island that of the four original members of the Constitutional Council, two persons-JHU stalwart Patali Champika Ranawaka and Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, both UNP MPs were replaced by SLFP Mahinda Samarasinghe and Tilak Marapana, respectively. JVP MP Vijitha Herath and rebel SLFPer W.D.J. Seneviratne are the remaining members of the Council.

PAFFEL Chief Hettiarachchi said that they also urged Speaker Jayasuriya to impress on political parties, particularly the UNP to reach consensus on the next Provincial Council poll. Hettiarachchi pointed out that the day the parliament appointed Delimitation Review Committee (DRC) headed by PM Wickremesinghe, cabinet spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne asserted that the next PC polls would be held under the old system. Hettiarachchi questioned the rationale behind appointing a DRC in the wake of the UNP reiterating its commitment to the former system.

Pointing out that the SLFP had repeatedly pushed for a new system, Hettiarachchi said that political parties represented in parliament couldn’t afford to further deliberately delay the long overdue PC polls.

Hettiarachchi expressed concern over the announcement made by Speaker’s Jayasuriya Office last week that the DRC wanted two additional months to complete its task.

The civil society activist said that with presidential and parliamentary polls scheduled for 2019 and 2020, the inordinate delay in finalizing PC polls could cause unnecessary problems.