‘You Can’t Eat The Constitution’ But The Constitution Can Ensure Your Right To Eat (Food)

By Laksiri Fernando –February 27, 2016 

Dr. Laksiri Fernando

During the parliamentary debate to approve the resolution to make a New Constitution on the 24th, Mahinda Yapa Abeyawardena MP has asked ‘Wiyawasthawa Kannada?’ (Can you eat the constitution?). This was reported by ‘Ada’ (Today) newspaper on 25 February as a lead story. Abeyawardena has apparently quoted an American Senator, Sherman Minton, of yesteryears (1930s) quite out of context.

His question or the statement appears to have raised on behalf of the poor or the people. But it is not the case. He himself is a landed proprietor according to Wikipedia. The question also looks trendy suitable to a Facebook. But it is completely a cynical attitude on the part of a MP, a member of the so-called Joint Opposition to be more precise, showing his and their disrespect to constitutionalism.

If it had come from an ordinary person in the street, or in the village, then there could have been some meaning. But coming from a MP, and a former minister for that matter, is quite distressing.

Out of Context

These kind of cynical remarks usually appear when people emphasise the importance of constitutionalism or the need for positive or progressive constitutional change. Sri Lanka is in such a situation today, after a long spell of authoritarianism and anti-constitutionalism.

What I mean by ‘constitutionalism’ is not only having a constitution. It means a system of government in which power is ‘distributed and limited’ by fundamental or constitutional laws in the constitution to which all branches of the government (legislative, executive and judicial) and also the people should obey.

It is only under exceptional circumstances that problems arise in interpreting between the ‘spirit and the letter’ of a constitution, and even that is left not to the politicians but to the judiciary.

When Sherman Minton made the remark that ‘you cannot eat the constitution’ it had a limited meaning in the context of the great economic depression in America in the 1930s. What he meant was that you cannot strictly follow the constitution under a crisis situation. However, even under those circumstances it was an extreme statement coming from a Senator. Many supporters of the New Deal or the Democratic Party did not approve that extreme statement. He himself changed his attitude later and even became a conservative Supreme Court judge.

It is no surprise that this new remark about ‘eating the constitution’ in Sri Lanka has come from a politician who has supported the Rajapaksa aggression steadfastly against the country’s constitution, particularly after the difficult war victory. It was merely for power and authoritarian purposes. One major landmark in this direction was when the Supreme Court gave an unfavourable decision on the Divi Neguma Bill and then the Chief Justice, Dr Shirani Bandaranayake, was impeached as revenge. It is all history now.

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