Constitution-making comes to a grinding halt

• Steering Committee on Constitutional Reforms not met since January

By Sandun A. Jayasekera

The Constitution-making process of the government has come to a standstill as the Steering Committee on Constitutional Reforms has not met since January this year, Daily Mirror learns. 

Parliamentarian Dr. Jayampathy Wickremeratne, chief architect drafting the new Constitution, confirmed to Daily Mirror yesterday that the Constitutional Assembly (CA) had not met after January 11 this year. 

He did not mention a date on which the CA would meet again. “I can only say that the Constitutional Assembly had not met after January this year,” Dr. Wickremeratne said. 
When the CA met the last time, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe tabled a few documents which included a report prepared by the expert panel for the Steering Committee based on the interim report, six sub-committee reports and the report of the ad hoc sub committee set up by the Steering Committees. These included a draft of what would be salient features of the proposed Constitution. The proposals in the steering committee report that contained views of the six committees will be considered for the final draft of the Constitution. These proposals are subjected to debate and amendment and the final draft must represent the hopes, aspirations and objectives of all political parties and ethnic groups of the country,” Dr. Wickremeratne told the media a few months back.   

The six sub-committees were appointed by the CA to make recommendations on the following areas: fundamental rights, judiciary, finance, law and order, public service and centre-periphery relations. However, it is now evident that introducing a new Constitution within the tenure of this government is only a distant dream.