National Government; A Golden Opportunity To Resolve The National Question

By Veluppillai Thangavelu –September 6, 2015

Veluppillai Thangavelu

The inaugural sessions of the 8th parliament took place on September 01, 2015. After the election of speaker, the deputy speaker and the deputy chairman of parliament committees, newly elected members of parliament took oaths before the speaker. There were 60 new faces, almost a third, compared to the last parliament.

For the first time in history the LSSP failed to secure even a single seat in parliament. Sri Lanka Communist Party did not fare better. It had a solitary member from Matara electorate. One reason for the obliteration of these parties is the failure to get appointments through the National List. The names of Tissa Vitarana and D.E.W. Gunasekara were removed from the original national list following the election results. Even the great survivor G.L. Peiris who batted for Mahinda Rajapaksa was left out to fend for himself.

The swearing in of the cabinet took place on the 3rd of September. Though, the 20th Amendment to the constitution restricts the number of cabinet ministers to 30, the number has been increased to 48 by the parliament. The motion was carried by 143 voting in favour, 63 abstentions and all 16 members of the TNA voting against it. The cabinet slots are shared between the UNFGG and the SLFP in the ratio of 31:11. The newly elected Leader of the Opposition R. Sampanthan has criticised the jumbo cabinet as too bloated compared to other countries, notably neighbouring India. India has only 65 cabinets Minister for a population of 1.25 billion, that is 60 times the size of Sri Lanka. To the number of cabinet posts must be added 48 Deputy Ministers! That means more than half the MPs are ministers.

Earlier the Sessions of the eighth parliament of Sri Lanka was officially declared open by the Head of State President Maithripala Sirisena. Addressing the parliament President Maithripala Sirisena said that the two main political parties will bring about a consensual alliance based on the National Government concept. He added that the main aim of the National Government is to promote reconciliation and economic growth. The president also said his government will continue to crackdown on corruption, fraud and waste and strengthen the institutional structure and will punish those who exploit national resources no matter who they are, and will not hesitate to take them before court.                 Read More