NJC wants a new Constitution

• The Provincial councils are white elephants which this country cannot afford

By Yohan Perera  

The Government should harness all its available resources to rearrange the constitutional structure of the state forthwith as a new constitutional arrangement, as it is the wish of all the people that voted this Government to office, National Joint Commission (NJC) said yesterday.   

“The NJC has done a comprehensive study of the historical injustices caused by the aforementioned amendments and therefore we are in a position to assist the Government in the preparation of a new constitutional arrangement if an opportunity is given,” a statement from the NJC Co-Presidents Lt. Col. Anil Amarasekera and Retired Senior DIG K. M. B. Kotakadeniya said.   

“NJC wishes to convey its best wishes to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his Government elected with an overwhelming majority, in Parliament. It was reported that Minister of Justice Ali Sabry is drafting the amendment he intends tabling before Parliament in mid-September, the contents of which we are unaware,” the statement said.   
“However we are perturbed by certain statements supposed to have been made by him in a televised interview that ‘Provincial Councils would not be abolished’. He justifies this statement on the basis that the 13th Amendment involved international obligations on Sri Lanka as it was promulgated under the Indo-Lanka Accord. We need to remind the Minister that India failed to fulfil its part of the obligation including their obligation to disarm the ruthless terrorists. To say that this Government is not willing to abolish the 13th Amendment is most unfortunate,” it added...   

We have now existed without these provincial councils for almost 3 years. The Provincial councils are white elephants which this country cannot afford. The LTTE is commemorated by racist politicians even today. Since Parliament can repeal its laws with a simple majority it should also be able to repeal Provincial legislation too sans a two-thirds majority. The NJC is of the strong view that the supremacy of Parliament must be maintained and for that purpose, the power of Parliament hitherto exercised (before 1987) must be restored forthwith. and (9)) should be removed. It was also reported that the Government intends to amend some of the provisions introduced by the 19th Amendment and to postpone dealing with other objectionable provisions for a future occasion.  We strongly urge the Government to do away with the existing proportional representation system of elections and revert to the first past the post system as it existed before 1978. 

• To say that this Government is not willing to abolish the 13th Amendment is most unfortunate