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DEW to abstain
Being the first dissenting voice from a government member against the impeachment motion Senior Minister D.E.W. Gunasekara told Parliament that a constitutional crisis had emerged today due to a legal lacuna in the country.
In a prepared speech on the second day of the debate on the impeachment motion, the senior minister who is also the Communist Party General Secretary held the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary responsible for what he called the present impasse. He was unable to read out his full speech in the ten minutes he was allotted during the debate.
He said though Parliament had taken up four impeachment motions under the 1978 Constitution, it had failed to enact a proper law for the impeachment of a Chief Justice. He blamed the Parliament, the Judiciary, and the legal fraternity including the Bar Council, the Attorney General’s Department and the Justice Ministry for allowing this to happen.
Commenting on Standing Order 78 (A), he said it had been hastily prepared to deal with the impeachment motion against the then Chief Justice Neville Samarakoon.
“I contacted a former Secretary General of Parliament. The then President J.R. Jayewardene had instructed this Secretary General to draft the Standing Order within a matter of three days. With regard to the Select Committee appointed to probe charges against Mr. Samarakoon, the then opposition led by Anura Bandaranaike, Sarath Muththuttuwegama and Dinesh Gunawardane submitted a dissenting report. In that report, they highlighted the need to amend the Standing Order and introduce a new law regarding judicial powers,” he said added that the then UNP government had disregarded this recommendation.
Referring to the impeachment motion against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, he said the whole issue was politicised from the inception of the impeachment resolution and his party’s efforts to avert a crisis were in vain.
“In the absence of such a laid down procedure, the accused party will not be satisfied that a proper inquiry is conducted,” he said.
The senior minister criticized the opposition for walking out from the Select Committee process and instead of walking out the opposition members should have stayed and prepared an alternative report. He added that it was not Parliament but people who are supreme.
"The supremacy of this parliament has been taken away," the senior minister said.
Soon after he concluded his speech, the United National Party (UNP) and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs accorded the senior minister a standing ovation in appreciation of the points raised by him. (Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera)
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