Who messed up Gazette Notification summoning Parliament?

by Gagani Weerakoon -APR 29 2018

Proroguing Parliament sessions is certainly not a new thing in Sri Lanka’s history, but issuing three Gazette Notifications in a space of two weeks to summon the new session, due to previous two being incomplete or faulty indeed could be a record.

In the President’s proclamation issued on 12 April proroguing Parliament, 8 May was fixed as the date for the start of the new Parliamentary session but it failed to give a time for the sittings to commence.

Another Gazette Notification was issued on 23 April which stated that “KNOW YE that by virtue of the powers vested in me by Article 70(4) of the Chapter XI of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, I, Maithripala Sirisena, President, do by this Proclamation summon Parliament to meet at the Parliament Hall, Sri Jayewardenepura, on the Eighth day of May, Two Thousand and Eighteen at 02.15pm.”
There was a mistake in this Gazette notification as the powers are vested in the President to summon Parliament under Article 70 of the Constitution and not Article 70 (4).

The latest Extraordinary Gazette amended the venue of the next Parliamentary Session from ‘Parliament Hall’ to the ‘Chamber of Parliament’.

The third Gazette was changed to read “KNOW YE that by virtue of the powers vested in me by Article 70 of the Chapter XI of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, I Maithripala Sirisena, President do by this Proclamation summon Parliament to meet at the Chamber of the Parliament, Sri Jayewardenepura, on the Eighth day of May, Two Thousand and Eighteen at 02.15 p.m.”

Many criticized the officials at the Presidential Secretariat of failing to perform their responsibilities while many others noted that the whole mess is clear proof to the inability and inefficiency of the Government as a whole.

Amidst many other issues tipped to take place in the Second Session of the Eighth Parliament, selecting a Deputy Speaker will be amongst first few businesses.
In addition, the seating arrangements will be rearranged to accommodate the SLFP-group of 16 to allocate them seats in the Opposition. The request was made in writing by the group from the Parliament Secretary General.

The 16 will cross over the well of the Parliament on 8 May as planned. However, there are various discussions going on and several sources claimed that all 16 may not cross over. The talk is that at least three will remain on the Government side.

Meanwhile, it was reported that President Sirisena met the SLFP group of 16 at Grand Mountain Hotel, the first 5-star resort in Matale belonging to former Deputy Minister Lakshman Wasantha Perera. While, the details of the discussion were not officially available, the group, according to sources, have discussed at length as to what their role would be in the Opposition.

New Cabinet

Appointing a new Cabinet of Ministers will most probably take place after the May Day commemorations which have been planned in various places away from Colombo.

President Sirisena, in an interview with the BBC Sinhala Service in London during his visit to London for attending the CHOGM, said responsible and credible Cabinet of Ministers that would be recognized by the general public will be appointed.

He also noted that it will not be a reshuffle but will completely be a new one.

The President emphasized that it will be a new Cabinet of Ministers in every aspect. The subjects will be divided among the Ministers in a scientific manner.
The President said that the number of Ministers of the Cabinet cannot be predicted at present. He also stressed that measures will be taken to check the track record of the Ministers who would be nominated for the Cabinet positions. The President stated that the Cabinet should be credible and recognized by the people.

Any individual who could be appointed for a Ministerial position in the Cabinet should be recognized not only in the domestic context but also in the international arena.

The President said that, hence, attention is drawn on qualifications of the Ministers when the appointments are being made. He said that it is inevitable to work ignoring international politics. Even world powers need to strengthen international ties.
The President highlighted that developing countries like Sri Lanka compulsory have to think about foreign relations.

President Sirisena’s announcement on the criteria of appointing Cabinet Ministers comes at a time when speculations are rife in political circles that the Government is planning to accommodate former Ministers Ravi Karunanayake and Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, in the Cabinet.

Karunanayake quit in August 2017, owing to the findings of a presidential probe into the bond scams and Rajapakshe was removed, in August 2017 for violating collective Cabinet responsibility when he criticized the Hambantota Port deal with China.

These speculations came in the wake of UNP Working Committee re-appointing Karunanayake as Party’s Assistant Leader. Meanwhile, many have raised concerns about several stalwarts like Ministers Daya Gamage and Mangala Samaraweera being ignored when reforming the UNP.

However, it is expected that neither Karunanayake nor Rajapakshe would receive the portfolios they had previously held.

Before the six SLFP Ministers quit the Cabinet early this month in the wake of abortive bid to oust PM Wickremesinghe through a No-Confidence Motion, the Cabinet comprised 45 ministers, including the PM. As the leading partner, the UNP had 31 ministers.

The 16 former SLFP Ministers, Deputy Ministers, State Ministers and former Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala have told the SLFP that they wouldn’t accept Cabinet portfolios.

Several weeks ago, President Sirisena brought the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) which was under PM Wickremesinghe, under the purview of the Finance Ministry through a Gazette Extraordinary.

The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), which was also under the PM, too, has been brought under the Finance Ministry by the President through a Gazette Extraordinary.

Controversies over 20 – A

Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan at an event held in Colombo last Tuesday (24) has said that the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 is still alive and it is India’s duty to ensure that it is implemented in its fullest spirit.
“Our journey continues, we need the accord, we need to ensure that the spirit of the accord is implemented and India must do its duty to ensure the same. It is India’s duty and India cannot get away from that duty,” he said, speaking at the launch of Or Inapprachanaiyum Or Oppandhamum, a Tamil book authored by T. Ramakrishnan, an associate editor with The Hindu.

The Hindu had quoted Sampanthan as saying: “We are not saying India alone can solve this, our demand is for a political solution evolved in this country, with the consensus and support of all the people of this country.”

Referring to the Government’s efforts to draft a new Constitution, currently stalled due to on-going political crisis between coalition partners, Sampanthan has said that the position of the Tamil National Alliance is that the effort must continue and be completed.
“We need maximum devolution to exercise power without interference of the Centre… powers pertaining to people’s everyday lives,” he has said.

Tamils have no intention of dividing the country but wanted to live with respect and dignity in an undivided country where their rights are acknowledged, he added. He said if Sri Lanka’s leaders failed to negotiate with all the people to evolve an acceptable political solution “we will not hesitate to do what we must to get a just solution“.

His remarks come at a time where there are criticisms against JVP’s move to bring the 20th Amendment to the Constitution to abolish the Executive Presidency citing such moves, without abolishing the 13th Amendment, will jeopardize the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the country.

JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake who proposed to bring the 20th Amendment as a Private Member’s Motion said the President would be appointed by Parliament under the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution.

Dissanayake said as per the draft Bill, the President would continue to be the Head of State and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, but he would no longer be the Head of the Government and the Head of Cabinet of Ministers.

He however stressed that the proposed 20th Amendment would be implemented after the current term of office of President Sirisena expires. As per the draft Bill, the Head of Government and the Head of Cabinet of Ministers would be the Prime Minister. The President’s powers are to be distributed among the Cabinet, Prime Minister, Constitutional Council and Independent Commissions.

However, the President would continue to have the powers of appointing Governors of Provinces in the same manner as in the 13th Amendment.
“We need a two thirds majority to pass the 20th Amendment.
We will initiate a broad discussion on the draft Bill with all stakeholders, including the President, the PM, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his group and also other minor parties representing Parliament. Their proposals would also be accommodated in the final draft.
A healthy public dialogue would be initiated among civil organizations and intellectuals,” he added.

Opposing the move, SLFP senior, MInister Nimal Siripala de Silva said on Friday that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) cannot do whatever the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) wanted, especially with regard to abolishing the Executive Presidency.

“We haven’t seen the 20th Amendment to the Constitution to support it. We can’t just do whatever the JVP wants. The powers of the Executive Presidency are vested in many areas of the Constitution, and therefore you cannot simply abolish it. If they do abolish it, they’ll have to bring in at least another 2,000 provisions in its place.”

He added, the JVP has never won an election and do not have the development of the country at heart. “They just want to dismantle the order and create chaos in the country,” he added.

 President Sirisena earlier, speaking at the cremation of the late Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera vowed that he would do everything in his capacity to abolish the Executive Presidency.

Interestingly it is not only main political parties or the so-called Sinhala nationalist parties or politicians that oppose the move.

Minister of National Co-existence, Dialogue and Official Languages and Tamil Progressive Front (TPF) Leader Mano Ganesan says that 19 Parliamentarians have already decided to oppose the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution, to be brought by the JVP, with the aim of abolishing the Executive Presidency.

He said that the TPF will do its utmost to defeat the proposed Amendment when it is tabled in the Parliament as a private member’s motion.

Ganesan added that several minority parties in the House had already reached a consensus to defeat the proposed Amendment by the JVP as it will spell doom to the country both politically and socially.

He added that the need of the hour was for the Executive Presidency to be retained with its harmful clauses being deleted instead of totally dispensing with it, whilst also claiming that the JVP was hoping to fulfil its vested interests via the said motion.

“That’s the only time Sri Lanka as one country would come forward to elect someone. The only time the country becomes a single electoral entity and it represents the mandate of the majority of people,” he noted.