Initiation Of Independent Commissions

By Kamal Nissanka -

Kamal Nissanka

17^th Death Anniversary of Dr Chanaka Amaratunga -July 31, 2013 |

The seventeenth death anniversary of Dr Chanaka  Amaratunga , founder leader of the Liberal Party falls on 1^st of August.. He died under tragic circumstances 1996. Among his contributions to constitutional reform debate in Sri Lanka the idea of independent commissions is of great importance though he was not among us to see the passing of the 17^th amendment to the constitution in October 2001 without any serious division in the parliament of Sri Lanka.

The 18^th amendment to the constitution achieved two goals on the part of the incumbent President namely abolition of the constitutional council  , related commissions and the lifting of the limits of contesting the presidential election by a president who enjoyed two terms of presidency..

Chanaka

The constitutional council and related commissions enshrined in the 17^th amendment to the constitution was basically initiated by United National Party and Peoples Liberation Front (JVP) with the help of government members of parliament under former President   Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga. So the passing of the 17^thamendment was unique because it was the first time since the introduction of the 1978 constitution that an amendment was passed in parliament without having a two third majority to the government party. There were lots of shortcomings regarding practical operations of the 17 amendment. This was because of lack of understanding of constitutional theory on the part of the framers of this amendment. Some might have thought that the new amendment would bring a kind of a reduction of power in the hands of   former President Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga. Yet the spirit shown in the introduction of the 17^th amendment by the former president and members of parliament both government of the day and opposition should be commendable without any hesitation.                              Read More

‘Lalith Vs Austin’: Response To Dr. Sudath Gunasekara

By Austin Fernando -July 31, 2013

Austin Fernando

A friend drew my attention having seen a response by Dr. Sudath Gunasekara to an article I wrote in Divaina (a response to a Twitter interview by President’s Secretary Mr. Lalith Weeratunga), of which an English translation was published later in Colombo Telegraph (CT). Had Sudath posted his commentary in CT, sometimes I would have responded earlier. In fact, I did so for a response by my friend Mr. Ariyaratna Hewage (Chairman of the Finance Commission), written with his valuable professional finesse.

Summarily, what I wrote was my convictions on how the PCs became to be called ‘white elephants’ and why I tag such consequence to the ‘centralsaddantha white elephants,’ and a plea to the latter to pull the PC white elephants off the muddy groove, for which I invited Lalith to contribute, as a capable person.

Therefore, I was surprised to see Sudath giving a “political battle twist”, with the header ‘Lalith Vs, Austin’, as if my writing was like the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’. Knowing Lalith as a gentleman, I do not think he would have considered my writing in that manner, which was nothing personal. I was entitled to express my convictions like any other. Same entitlement stands in good for Lalith and Sudath too. The culprit for weakening of PCs was not Lalith, but many politicians of all governments, administrators at all levels, media and PC politicians themselves.

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