Why The Northern Tamils Are Not Allowed To Exercise The Devolved Powers
R.M.B. Senanayake
The President says he allowed elections to the Northern Provincial Council. But what he ahs given with the right hand he has withdrawn with the left hand. The NPC is hamstrung because the power is exercised by the Governor. Provision was made legally for it by the Provincial Councils Act of 1987 which undid the devolution to the PC under the 13th Amendment.
We have had a highly centralized state during the colonial period as well as after Independence. But after 1956 we adopted something peculiar to Sri Lanka. Our Members of Parliament who were elected to the legislative body began intervening in the Executive branch of the State at the level of the district to further their electoral power. They unofficially intervened in the functioning of the District Administration which really should be controlled by the Head Offices of the central departments and the Home Ministry in charge of the Kachcheris. This intervention created a politicized administration in the districts where the Opposition electorates were ignored for the disbursement of central government funds. It also undermined all the principles of good public administration like unity of command- the hierarchical levels, distorted the flow of information. If we wanted the district administration to be under the control of a political head then we should appoint a provincial governor under whom the district offices would work. Various mechanisms such as a District Political Authority were tried but they came up with the problem of which Member of Parliament should be the Political ‘Authority. Whichever MP was appointed he would pay more attention to his electoral needs than that of the other ruling party MPs in the District. Of course the Opposition MPs had no influence or say whatsoever. The problem became serious for the Tamil and Muslim MPs who were not part of the ruling party. So many Muslims and Indian Tamil MPs supported the ruling party and even joined it. But the Tamil parties of the North and East refused to do so. The result was that their electorates were ignored in the development exercise of the government. After all, funds are scarce and if you are not in the bargaining process you will be ignored.
There are three crucial respects in which a centralized state may no longer be fit for purpose. Economically, several provinces outside the Western Province have consistently performed below the national average in terms of GDP per capita, which is markedly different in the different provinces. So the national economy needs regional rebalancing for it is the State and the public sector that is driving economic growth’