Amendments must be done with broader spectrum

The government is going to change the present Constitution in two steps, in line with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s policy statement at the inaugural session of the Parliament on August 20. Accordingly, the government has already gazetted on September 3, a Constitutional Amendment Bill - 20th Amendment to the Constitution. 

 On the other hand, the Cabinet, on September 3 has appointed a nine-member committee of experts on the recommendation of Justice Minister Ali Sabri who had been tasked the job by the Cabinet on August 20 to draft a totally new Constitution that would replace the current second Republican Constitution of 1978. Romesh de Silva PC, Manohara de Silva PC, Gamini Marapana PC, Sanjeewa Jayawardana PC, Samantha Ratwatte PC, Prof. Nadeema Kamurdeen, Prof. G.H.Peiris, Prof. Wasantha Seneviratne and Dr. A. Sarveswaran are the members of the committee.   

Meanwhile, the draft 20th Amendment prepared by a Cabinet subcommittee comprising of Ministers Udaya Gammanpila, G.L.Peiris, Dinesh Gunawardena, Nimal Siripala de Silva and Ali Sabri has drawn criticism from both the Opposition and a section of the ruling party. Accordingly, again Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa has on September 13 appointed a nine-member sub-committee headed by Education Minister Prof. G.L.Peiris to accommodate only the views of the critics within the government. The committee includes Ministers Udaya Gammanpila, Ali Sabri, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Wimal Weerawansa, Susil Premajayantha, S.Viyalenthiran and Parliamentarians Dilan Perera and Premnath C.Dolawatta.   

The reason for the government planning the Constitution making in two stages is not clear. Also it is not clear as to why the government has not tasked both the short-term Constitutional change and the long-term Constitution-making to a same committee, instead of handing over one to ruling party politicians and the other to experts.   
Unlike the previous government, the new government is being run by one political party - Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). One cannot expect now any infighting within the government and especially between the President and the Prime Minister, as we witnessed during the last regime. It would be more so, as the President and the Prime Minister are two brothers of a closely-knit family. And also the SLPP, before the August 5 Parliamentary election, argued that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was running and could run the affairs of the government efficiently, even without the Parliament. Besides, the President is now armed with a two thirds majority Parliamentary power as well. Then, one cannot see any reason for the government rushing through a short-term Constitutional Amendment, without going straightaway for a new Constitution.  

Besides, the government has indicated through the draft 20th Amendment to the Constitution its political desire to the experts committee, which might influence the committee. The impression that the authorities have already given to the people is that the committee would draft a Constitution independently without being influenced by the government. However, Dr. A. Sarveswaran, one of the members of the experts committee had told a Tamil newspaper that the contents of the proposed new Constitution would be decided by political parties and people’s representatives and the committee would only give the legal form to those contents. In fact this is true in practical terms. However, going by the attitude and the actions of the government, only the ruling party seems to be the people’s representatives who would contribute to those contents. Also, the mechanism to compile those contents by the political parties and people’s representatives is also not clear.   

The government should have looked into the views other than those of the ruling party as well, as the Constitution is for the country and not for a political party and it should be a long lasting basic law of the country, without being subject to frequent changes like a periodical magazine. Sri Lanka is a country that had gone through a three decade-long bloody war which since the very beginning has claimed over a hundred thousand lives. And the ideology that had led to a whole generation of a section of the populace even to blow them up is not vanquished. Besides, there are deep rooted notions and perceptions among various sections of the populace which the government would have to take into account in constitution-making.