The Debate On The Unit Of Devolution
By Charitha Ratwatte -July 17, 2013 |
Charitha Ratwatte
Empowering the regions
At a time when Sri Lankans are debating the merits and demerits of devolving power, in a democratic system and the unit of devolution, whether it should be the village, an existing local government unit, the administrative district, the province or a combination of provinces, it would be useful to look at some examples from other parts of the world for comparative purposes.
The first issue to sort out is what we mean by a democracy. Unfortunately some rulers interpret a democracy in a narrow sense to mean a ‘Ballot-O’cracy’. Just by the winning one or more contests for the ballot, one cannot claim to be democratic. Unfortunately many ‘democratic’ rulers like Ergodan of Turkey and Morsi of Egypt think that winning the majority of the ballot means they are virtual dictators until the next election.
Ergodan, in the face of massive public demonstrations against his policies, keeps repeating ad nauseam that he has got a mandate from the voters, not once but thrice! He brands his opponents who are taking on tear gas and pepper spray mixed water cannons on the streets as looters and vagabonds. Politicians have to realise that voters’ views change and sensible rulers are sensitive to the voters’ changing views and keep abreast of them.
