Playing Games With Constitutional Reforms

By Savitri Goonesekere –JUNE 4, 2022

Prof. Savitri Goonesekere

The Sunday Island of 29th May 2022 has interesting articles reflecting the varied points of view of professionals and concerned citizens on our current and very grave economic and political crisis. Rajan Philips and Keith Noyahr reflect on the gap between what we know are the demands of street protests in the “Aragalaya”, and the responses of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government. The Aragalaya protestors on the street are not convinced that Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe joining a cabinet of mostly the same old Ministers whom they hold accountable with the President for the country’s crisis, has transformed it into the  “new ” or “interim” government they are demanding. Gnana Moonesinghe approves of what she sees as the “new” governance, and the Ranil Wickremesinghe headed “new  cabinet.” She has confidence in the leadership role that Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe has assumed. She thinks he should be supported to accomplish this task.

These differing view points reflect a deeper reality. And this is the polarised approaches to governance in our country. The Aragalaya demands embody a view point that we as citizens have ignored for many decades- the importance of the accountability of those who hold public office to the nation for corruption, gross financial mismanagement and abuse of public and political  office. They challenge the right of a government that has created what has been described as “the most man made and voluntary economic crisis” (Rajan Philips citing Mick Moore Asian Development Bank Consultant) to continue in office. They are not willing to forgive and forget, as most of us have done for decades. The recent revelations in a Parliamentary review of the Central Bank’s work from 2020 reinforces the culpability of the President and his officials and the institutional failures that make our predicament a “man-made crisis”. The even more shocking report of the Inspector General of Police on the deeply politicised appointments to this vital institution in law enforcement support the strident cry from the street for what they describe as “systemic and institutional change”. They may not articulate how this can be done. But who can question the legitimacy of that strident demand for accountable governance for the well-being of the People who elected a government to office?

What we as citizens should ask ourselves is whether a country which has such polarised views on governance, can create the stable political environment that we need if we are to emerge from these dark times. Can we think of a country in which a government that has brought the nation to bankruptcy through gross financial mismanagement, created grave food insecurity in a country, where a papaw seed thrown in a home garden can bring an abundance of fruit, through deliberate and flawed agricultural policies, is permitted to continue to hold office? And this in a situation where the IGP the head of the Police Service, and his officers, failed to afford protection against injury to person and massive damage to property, entailing  millions  in insurance payments. This was explained by him as the impact of extensive regular political interference, which prevented him from building an effective law enforcement agency. The international financial agencies have given a clear message that stability must be a precondition for the kind of significant support we need to restructure our debt. Handouts from sympathetic donors into our begging bowl facilitated by what is referred to by faithful supporters of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as his “international connections,” will not suffice.

Can we address the issues of importance and find solutions to the current crisis without creating some consensus on linking with the aragalaya in their demand for systemic and institutional change, to address this rotten scenario? Can we not build consensus on the type of governance we want, to help us move forward, instead of being trapped in our now familiar toxic and  adversarial politics?

But even that seems to be an impossibly difficult task, because of widely divergent understandings of what this country needs to initiate such changes in governance. Constitutional reform is considered the need of the hour.

Read More