The Way Ahead May Be Tortuous

By R.M.B Senanayake - December 1, 2014 |

R.M.B. Senanayake

The President has called for an election two years before the end of his term. His rival was unexpected and is a person from his own party- the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. The Common Opposition candidate talks about the violation of democracy and points out that with the passing of the 18th Amendment an elected dictatorship has been established and that the prospect of a free and fair election are remote judging by the conduct of other recent elections. The President’s large posters and cut-outs even if not illegal are certainly not moral, say the people who are concerned about the need for a free and fair election. The MPs who have defected and those others of the JHU and the SLFP voted for the 18th Amendment and even for the arbitrary impeachment of the former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. Why did they do so? Were they so ignorant about the perils of entrusting absolute power to one individual? Were they men without any moral conscience? How has their conscience changed or has it really changed?

Lack of understanding of human nature

Had they read political science or studied world history they would have been aware of the nature of political power. As “The Federalist of the Founding fathers of the American Constitution wrote “what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. The great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others”. The Papers argued the necessity for ‘checks and balances’ on the exercise of power by each organ of government- : the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. What happened by the 18th Amendment was to remove all such checks and balances. The Constitution had provided already for the absolute immunity of the President unlike in the U.S and French Constitutions where it was limited to matters arising from the exercise of executive power and not to any private criminal acts of the President. As it is the President can get away even with murder for he has absolute immunity. This absolute immunity removes the President’s accountability to the Judiciary for any crime or violation of law. The Romans raised the question” who is to guard the guardians? The political scientists and statesman’s answer was the system of checks and balances..Read More