Short-Circuiting The Impeachment Process Under Consideration
Realizing that the Select Committee process would be longer than expected, the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government is contemplating short-circuiting the process. According to reliable sources, the Government is now thinking of advising its members in the PSC to submit a report to Parliament on 08 December on only one or two of the 14 allegations made in the impeachment motion. The majority would say in the report that those one or two charges have been proved and that there is no need to go into all the 14 charges.
Asoka de Silva
Colombo Telegraph also understands that the Government is worried that the PSC’s majority report will be seen as a hurried job. Therefore, the President will request three retired judges of the Supreme Court to consider the report and advise him as to what should be done. The three retired judges will be persons who are certain to give a report unfavourable to the Chief Justice. Former Chief JusticeAsoka De Silva has been entrusted with the job of getting three “safe” judges for this exercise. The three retired judges would then advise the President that the PSC report is a “sound” report.
The plan is to submit a short report on one or two charges on 08 December and pass the impeachment motion on 08 January after the one month period required by the Constitution. However, senior SLFP-ers are said to be concerned about the proposal. They have pointed out that such a hasty end to the process would lead to loss of credibility both within the country and internationally.
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