Resolution For Sinhala-Tamil New Year; Get To The Bottom Of This Chaos
Kusal Perara
All Constitutional Pundits who talked popular politics prior to and during the past presidential elections have been proved quite silly in how they guaranteed the constitutional amendment process for abolition of presidency. Abolition of the Presidency cannot be constitutionally handled in the simple way they said was possible. The SC decided it needs more than the 2/3 majority these pundits said is enough and could be manipulated from within this parliament. It needs people’s endorsement at a Referendum. In fact any structural change to the State and its executive powers has to go before the people for endorsement at a referendum, as the SC decided on the FR petitions it received on the 19th Amendment. I in fact was more ruthless than the SC in accepting this parliament as a legitimate representative body for any reforms proposed and I said so.
Having voted for the amateurish proposals the Opposition campaigned promising change backed by these urban “experts”, the whole country is now in a right royal mess. Parliament has no valid Opposition, a necessity for a healthy democracy. UPFA led by SLFP does not know whether they are in the government or in the Opposition. They want both. To be ministers in the government and lead the Opposition too. The Speaker passes on the responsibility of choosing a “leader of the Opposition” to the very group that created the confusion. The Wickremesinghe government that wasn’t elected, is less than half the majority needed in parliament to govern even a single day. President Sirisena used his executive powers that was promised to be abolished, to honour his private agreement with Wickremesinghe and appointed him as PM with his own cabinet. While stumbling along with a 100 Day programme geared for good governance, SLFP that was thrown to the Opposition joins the cabinet with over dozen portfolios. 93 days gone out of the 100 Days, everything important is yet to be finalised between fighting factions within the government.