At the moment, the two main political parties are engaged in a sort of “battle”to hammer out a new constitution, to fully accommodate the aspirations of the people. In this connection, the Sunday Observer spoke to Ministers Susil Premajayantha and Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe to secure their views on the issue.
Science, Technology and Research Minister, Susil Premajayantha said, the SLFP’s position is that it is not appropriate at all to introduce a new constitution at this stage.
In an interview with the Sunday Observer, the Minister said, there are some burning issues faced by the people and it is incumbent on us to address these issues, irrespective of nationality, and take remedial measures.
Q: In the making of a new constitution, do you have any conflict with the UNP proposals?
A. We are all members of the Steering Committee headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Six Sub Committees were appointed and the chairmen were also appointed from different political parties.
For example, I was the Chairman of the Sub Committee on public service reforms. We have submitted our Sub Committee reports to the Steering Committee and they were tabled in Parliament.
Now, those reports have to be debated in Parliament because once it is tabled, it becomes a public document. But, there has been no debate so far on the Sub Committee reports.
In the Steering Committee, we discussed six sub committee reports to be debated, and there are four key areas, such as, the nature of the state, devolution, abolishing the Executive Presidency and introducing a new electoral system.
They are the key areas which were not considered by any of the Sub Committees. It is the duty of the Steering Committee to discuss them. A draft paper on the four key areas have been prepared by resource persons, which we have to discuss.
For example, the electoral system, we discussed in depth, and there is general consensus among all political parties to do away with the Proportional Representation (PR) system and introduce a mixed system, e.g. 60-40, and then the number of MPs and the percentage of the PR at provincial level or national level.
Q: The SLFP has always stood for an undivided Sri Lanka where all citizens should be treated equally. Do you believe a federal form of Constitution will not be in the best interests of the country?
A. Our position regarding the nature of the state is, an undivided Sri Lanka and there should be no provision in the Constitution leading to separation.
We should in fact safeguard the sovereignty and unitary status of the country. That is our position. If there is a federal form of constitution, then of course, the SLFP cannot support it.
Q: What are your views on devolution of power which has become controversial?
A.With regard to devolution, we have to take into consideration the recommendations made by Centre- Periphery Sub Committee. So far we have not stated our position regarding that. There are three lists, mainly what we are going to do on the Concurrent List.
Generally, our position on the policies regarding free education, health, agriculture and foreign policy is that they have to be under the Central Government.
Policy making should be by the Centre. Even now, policy making is done by the Centre, while administration is divided or devolved.
Q: Do you believe that the Executive Presidency should not be pruned so that it can act swiftly on national security matters?
A. Regarding the Executive Presidency, we are not for doing away with it fully. For instance, we have to consider what happened when the 13th Amendment was introduced to the Constitution in 1988.
There was a divided bench judgment- five to four. So the 13th Amendment warrants maximum power devolution under the present constitution according to the Supreme Court judgment.
If we consider devolution and at the same time abolish the Executive Presidency, there will be a constitutional crisis in the future.
So we have to consider all these things very carefully, for which we need time. These are the key areas we were discussing, where no finality has been reached as yet. We have just started discussions, and the Steering Committee is in that stage.
Q: Is the SLFP component of the Government in total agreement with the Joint Opposition (JO) in the constitution making business?
A. The JO is represented by UPFA MPs Dinesh Gunawardena and Prasanna Ranatunga at the Steering Committee. When we discuss crucial matters, we always discuss together.
Q: In your view, what are the unacceptable features of the present constitution? Can’t they be rectified to make it more acceptable, without opting for a new constitution?
A. Our position is that it is not appropriate to introduce a new constitution, at this juncture, since there are some burning issues faced by the public. First, we have to address these issues irrespective of nationality. For example, public service reforms are a must.
We are introducing the National Audit Act and the Right to Information Act. But, some of the other rules and regulations in the public service are outdated. It is time to introduce necessary amendments to the constitution without leaving room for a referendum, at this moment.
Q: Do you have the SLFP’s own progressive proposals for the new constitution? Are there any special areas you are interested in?
A. That, we can’t say right away. Because, we have to study all six Sub Committee reports. We are still discussing key areas and there is no finality reached as yet.
I can explain the general situation of the SLFP regarding four key areas. We are not for any kind of federal constitution.
We are always for the unitary status of the country and an undivided Sri Lanka to safeguard its sovereignty.
Policy making, health, education and agriculture should be vested with the Central Government. At this moment, we are not for the full abolition of the Executive Presidency.
There can be certain amendments regarding the President’s powers. But, I think, we have gone to the maximum according to the 19th Amendment. That was the opinion of the Supreme Court. We have reduced the power of the Executive to the maximum.
We can’t reduce it any further. In that case, we have to abolish it and go for a referendum. If we do away with the Executive Presidency, definitely we have to go for a referendum.
However, without a referendum, certain amendments to the Constitution is possible, such as, public service, human rights and the electoral system.
We were canvasing for a new electoral system. We proposed even a 20th Amendment to the Constitution, but the Government didn’t respond. There are possibilities of amending the constitution to address the burning issues of the general public, without opting for a referendum.
Q: Do you suspect any foreign influence such as INGOs or the diaspora over the new constitution?
A. We are not aware about it. We don’t know what the agreements were before the General Election. We joined hands with the UNP to form a Government because none of the main political parties could get an absolute majority at the last General Election.
Therefore, the two main political parties joined hands for a limited purpose, for a limited period, to overcome the Geneva issue, introduce electoral reforms and reform the economy. After two years, it is for us to review whether we have achieved these targets or not.