Proposal For New Constitution: PDC’s Submission
Dayapala Thiranagama
March 4, 2016
The People’s Democratic Centre (PDC) has submitted the following proposal to the Public representation Committee on Constitutional Reforms:
We wish to present the following proposals for the Constitution
Nature of the State
The Sri Lankan Constitution should provide the basis for a strong constitutional commitment to plural democracy, multiculturalism, gender equality and justice, secularism, the rule of law and the devolution of political power to the Provinces. The state should be inclusive of all the communities and their cultures in the country and without such an inclusiveness they do not feel that they belong to this country. The state should protect and foster the values of plural democracy as a hallmark of the Sri Lankan state. The Sri Lankan state should underpin the values of gender equality and justice and this is essential owing to the fact women now represent more than half of the Sri Lankan population. The Sri Lankan state should reclaim its previous constitutional status of secularism, which disappeared in the 1972 Republican Constitution. No one religion should have a special constitutional favor. Such constitutional guarantees discriminate other communities and faiths and that would affect the harmony essential for the peaceful coexistence of the multi-cultural and multi- religious communities in the country. The Sri Lankan state should be committed to the rule of law and the Constitution should make strong provisions to protect our people’s right to exercise the rule of law.
Due to the centralization of political power at the center during the colonial times and its continuation after independence despite the opportunities of dismantling it we have paid a heavy price. Both the Constitutions of 1972 and 1978 failed to address the issues of centralization and its harmful effects on community cohesion as far as the regional democratic aspirations are concerned. Therefore, regional power sharing needs to be non- reversible part of the state and the Constitution should make a strong commitment to power sharing.
Form of Government
We would like to propose the abolition of the executive presidential system of government. Any effort to replace it with an executive prime minister would result in the same political disaster experienced in the executive presidential system of government. The country has given a clear mandate to abolish the executive presidential system in the 2015 elections.
However we would also like to propose the appointment of a non-executive President and a Vice President by the members of Parliament in order to carry out certain functions. We would like to see the constitution making recommendations in relation to the ethnic sensitivity in this regard. If the President is appointed from the majority community the Vice President should be appointed from a minority community. If the President is appointed from a minority community the vice President should from the majority community.
With the abolition of the current executive presidential system we also propose that the leadership and power should be given to the prime minster and the cabinet. The ministries should be empowered to act as executive committees and it is important to consider the possibility of appointing independent scholars who are competent enough in the their respective fields to act in these cabinet committees. These appointments should be non-partisan.
