Parliamentarians, be truly honourable now - EDITORIAL

n a major step towards transparency and public accountability, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya announced that from yesterday parliamentary proceedings would be telecast live 
on television.   
The Speaker announcing the long-expected and much-acclaimed move, appealed to ministers and MPs to be on their best behaviour because in all parts of the country the sovereign people would be listening and watching. The appeal came in the aftermath of several recent incidents where the parliamentarians’ behaviour was far below best practices and sometimes led to brawls that bordered on rowdyism, prompting the Speaker to point out that schoolchildren were watching from the 
public gallery.   
Hitherto, parliamentary proceedings were telecast live on cable TV, but from yesterday the proceedings were being telecast on the normal state channel. At present the 2017 budget committee-stage debate is taking place and many interesting revelations are being made. 
For instance on Monday, Minister and Wattala electorate representative John Amaratunga complained that the building of the new Wattala Court premises had been delayed for several years. Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said a big sum had been allocated to the State Engineering Corporation under the former regime, but the then Minister had allegedly used this money for the 2008 presidential election campaign of Mahinda Rajapaksa.   
With the Right to Information law now being implemented and the people being able to exercise this fundamental right from next year, we hope that with the parliamentary proceedings also being telecast, it would be a significant practical step towards the good governance principles of transparency and accountability, integrity and honesty.   
Despite several problems and widespread grievances among the people, the National Government headed by President Mathripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is moving steadily, though sometimes far too slowly, towards the consolidation of democratic principles, good governance and social justice.   
One of the important principles of good behaviour is right speech. In normal circumstances Parliament is not a court of law where both sides are heard, there is re-examination and cross-examination before the judge or judges take a decision on whether a charge has been proved beyond reasonable doubt. 
Therefore government and opposition parliamentarians, though they are protected by the Powers and Privilege Act, cannot make baseless allegations based on rumours or doctored stories planted with agendas. The Speaker or anyone deputising for him needs to prevent the danger of MPs being accused and condemned in Parliament in what could be a mock trial. 
The MPs also need to act with responsibility and if that does not happen there may be the need to take action against MPs who make baseless charges and defame the character of others. A practical step would be to amend the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act which was widely criticised when it was imposed in the 1980s.    
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe yesterday also proposed that when Parliament was converted into a Constitutional Assembly to discuss the proposed new Constitution, those proceedings also should be telecast live on state TV. He said the people would then be able to know the truth about what was in the Constitution and what was not.   
We urge the Ministers, Government and Opposition MPs to double check the statements they make and ensure they are fair, accurate and balanced while giving two, if not more sides of a story. This is an important principle for the free media also, but unfortunately it is not followed as often as it should, while most social media like Twitter have gone to the level of extremists such as the United States President-elect Donald Trump and his white supremacist lackeys.