The Institutional Background For Devolution Of Power Must Be Put In Place
R.M.B. Senanayake
The Government and the Northern Provincial Council have got off to a good start displaying much goodwill to each other. It is now necessary to make theNorthern Provincial Council work. All persons who wish peace and good governance will be happy indeed. But there are several obstacles and challenges that have to be ironed out if the Northern Provincial Council is to function in a manner that will fulfill the expectation of the people of the North and make them willingly give up the demand for a separate state put forward by the Tamil Expatriates.
There are several clauses in the 13th Amendment which could be interpreted in more than one way For example the 13th Amendment says that the Executive power of the Provincial Council shall be exercised by the Governor either directly or through the Ministers of the Board of Ministers or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with the article 154F of the Constitution. If the Governor wishes to exercise power on his own initiative there could well be differences of opinion and even conflict. Such a situation arose in the Amparai District with regard to teacher transfers where the Governor on the advice of the Member of Parliament for the District allegedly reversed the orders of the Provincial Council Minster in charge of the subject. One hopes that such conflicts will not arise in the functioning of the Northern Provincial Council.
Another provision in the 13th Amendment is with respect to the allocation of moneys to the Provincial Councils. The 13th Amendment provides for a Finance Commission which includes the representatives of the Provincial Councils. The relevant article of the Constitution states is as follows:
Finance Commission Read More
“UNP leader and former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is under fire from members of his own party who are seeking to clip his wings and/or remove him as party leader. The discontent stems from the view of many party members that Wickremesinghe led the party poorly in the April election in which the UNP was defeated” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.
The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” and discuses the UNP’s internal crisis after the 2005 April parliamentary election. The cable is signed by the US Ambassador to Colombo Jeffrey J. Lunstead on May 12, 2004.
Read the relevant part of the cable below; Read More
WikiLeaks: UNP Leader Under Fire From Within His Party – 2004 US Ambassador
October 13, 2013“UNP leader and former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is under fire from members of his own party who are seeking to clip his wings and/or remove him as party leader. The discontent stems from the view of many party members that Wickremesinghe led the party poorly in the April election in which the UNP was defeated” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.
The ambassador wrote; “Despite the heat, Wickremesinghe seems set to hang on as party leader, as there are no clear challengers to his rule at this time. In the mid- to longer term, if the party is to improve its standing, it will have to open up to a new generation of leaders.”
