Peace for the World

Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam

Thursday, June 21, 2012

'13th Amendment is irredeemable' - Constitutional Expert
22 JUNE 2012
Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne is a President's Counsel who served as a Consultant to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs from 1996 to 2001. In 2004, he was made a Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs and also functioned as a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Constitutional Affairs. He played a prominent role in drafting the People's Alliance Government’s 1997 proposals for constitutional reform and devolution as well as the Draft Constitution Bill presented in 2000.
In conversation with the JDS, Dr.Wickramaratne shared his views, hopes and fears about the current and future politics of Sri Lanka. "At the moment we are witnessing a revival of Sinhala nationalism as a result of the war victory. The way these sentiments are being expressed can have an extremely negative impact on the Tamil society" he said.
Excerpts from his interview follow:
JDS: The renewed discussions on the long forgotten 13th Amendment seems to have taken the stage again. But as far as the Sinhala polity in concerned the whole devolution discourse has mostly revolved around the same topic, without making any substantial progress for almost two decades. What are your reflections on this?
Dr.Jayampathy Wickramaratne: First of all we should not forget the fact that the 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution is something that has not been implemented for over two decades, despite it has being a part of the constitution. No government has demonstrated sufficient willingness to practically implement it. The bitter truth is that the provincial councils which were established under the 13 amendment to exercise the devolved political power have been ultimately turned into a extended arm of the central government. It has no authority whatsoever to exercise any powers that has been conferred to them by the relevant constitutional amendment. Frankly speaking, each and every dot and comma in the amendment have been used against the very spirit of the amendment i.e. to reduce and weaken the political powers of the provincial units. The provincial governors - who are in fact appointed by the Executive President himself - and the central government have become the biggest obstacles to the free functioning of these provincial units. Even some of the chief ministers of the provinces who are willing to practice a certain degree of freedom, have come under great pressure to accept the status quo and to back down.
On the other hand, the provincial councils themselves have showed some hesitation to execute the powers bestowed on them by the 13th amendment due to central government's reluctance to send a clear signal on these matters. For example, so far, the government hasn't showed any genuine interest in holding elections to the Northern Provincial Council. I don't understand why the government is hesitating to hold elections in the North, since they have already conducted the regional council elections in the province.