SLPF’s message to the SLFP on the ‘Super Minister’ Bill
By C. A. Chandraprema-December 20, 2016, 7:59 pm
In a statement to The Island, the interim leader of the Sri Lanka People’s Front and member of the Joint Opposition Prof. G. L. Peiris lashed out at the ‘Development Special Provisions’ Bill referring to it as a dictatorial piece of legislation and charged that it brings into being not one, but two super ministers. The objectionable features of this proposed legislation according to Prof. Peiris are as follows.
1. Section 17 of the proposed Bill, seeks to create a powerful Development Agency under the super minister styled ‘Minister for National Policy and Economic Development’. This agency will have the power to give directions to a number of important institutions including the Board of Investment, the Export Development Board, the Information and Communication Technology Authority, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, the National Water Supply and Drainage Board and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau. These bodies have been created under particular statutes which confer certain powers and responsibilities on them. Section 17 says that these bodies cannot on their own exercise the powers conferred on them by the statutes that created them. They must exercise those powers at the behest of and in accordance with the directions issued to them by the Development Agency. This means that the ministers in charge of those bodies will no longer have control over those bodies. Section 17 goes on to say that when for example the Board of Investment wishes to develop a project, they must apply to this authority to seek approval for such a project. This gives rise to a fundamental question of accountability. It is the minister under whose purview these institutions come under who is responsible for their proper functioning to parliament. For example the Export Development Board comes under the purview of the minister for trade who is responsible to parliament for the functioning of the EDB. This basic principle which is a pillar of constitutional government will no longer apply under this Bill. Now all these bodies come under the authority of the super minister. The other ministers will cease to have any real authority.
2. Section 18(5) says that all these powers of the Development Agency will be exercised by a Managing Director who will be an official handpicked by the Minister.
3. Section 16(6)(b) gives this Development Agency the authority to coordinate ALL development plans of the nation and not just of the institutions mentioned above.
4. According to Section 19, the Development Agency can delegate its powers to ‘regional boards’ which brings into play sweeping powers without any limit on delegation.
5. Under section 12(4), the super minister is given the authority to designate any area of the country as an economic development area and to issue a gazette notification to that effect. He also has the power to decide for what purpose land in that area can be utilised. If he declares it to be an agricultural area, non-agricultural activities in that area will be ipso facto barred.
6. Under Section 17(5)(a) the super minister has the power to register investors and those who are registered by him, enjoy exemption from restrictions that apply to other investors in respect of the utilisation of land. This proposed law states specifically that the Land Registration and Alienation Act will not apply to such investors. Not only will this give a certain group of investors privileges not available to other investors but will also be an open invitation to corruption.
7. Section 12(5) deals with the development of areas which are connected with fisheries. Under this section, coastal fisheries and fish farming, offshore fishing, construction of ports for deep sea fisheries, infrastructure, value addition, storage and distribution of fisheries products all comes under the super minister. What then remains for the fisheries minister to do? The present minister of fisheries is the Secretary of the UPFA and one of the most powerful ministers in the government and this is what happens to him under this proposed legislation!
8. According to Section 12(2), when the super minister makes a regulation, that has to be placed before parliament. Later if parliament rejects that regulation, everything done by the minister during that intervening period remains in force notwithstanding the rejection of those regulations by parliament. This places the super minister even above parliament.
9. There is also to be a Policy Development Office established under the super minister. According to Section 11 of this Bill, any officer of this office can call for any information which they claim is related to economic development from ANY individual and there are penal sanctions that attach to non-compliance. Such information can be sought even from any private individual. Not even the president of Sri Lanka has that kind of untrammelled power.
10. Section 7(1) says that the Policy Development Office has the authority to make plans or proposals on any subject ‘including’ economic policy. So the scope of the super minister’s work is not restricted to economic policy - it can be on any subject – there is no limitation.
11. The other super minister under this proposed legislation will be the Minister for International Trade and Development Strategy. There is to be an Agency for International Trade established under him. Section 43(4) of the Bill says that this agency has the power to give binding directions to the Department of Commerce, the Import- Export Control Department, the Tea Board and the Tourism Authority. The Department of Commerce functions under the Minister for Trade and Commerce. The Tea Board functions under a different minister. All these bodies will now have to take instructions not from their respective ministers but from the second super minister. What happens to the responsibility of those ministers to the president of the country and the parliament?
12. It will be the Minister for International Trade and Development Strategy who determines the criteria for tax incentives, not the Minister of Finance. The whole Bill seems to be designed to grab power from other ministers and concentrate power in the hands of a couple of people.
13. Section 51 confers immunity from suit on the Agency for International Trade. That office is made up not only of government officers but also people from the private sector. If they cause any loss to a private citizen who applies to court and gets an award for damages, the Bill says that the damages will have to be paid out of the consolidated fund. This means that the taxpayers will have to pay for the misdeeds not only of government officials but also individuals from the private sector serving on this body.
14. According to Section 1 of the Development Special Provisions Bill, the duration of this mechanism will be limited to a period of three years after which it will cease to exist leaving in its wake what would probably be complete chaos.
Prof. Peiris points out that there are certain provisions in this Bill which will be of interest to Chief Ministers and provincial councils. The 8 th Schedule to the Sri Lankan constitution specifies the nine provinces. According to this proposed legislation, three of these provinces, the North Central Province, Sabaragamuwa Province and the Uva Province are to go off the radar. The Moneragala and Ratnapura Districts will be transferred to the Southern Province. Badulla is to be transferred to the Central Province. Kegalle is to be transferred to Wayamba. Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa are to be transferred to the Eastern Province. So three provinces will cease to exist for the purposes of this law.
Furthermore, according to Section 21 of the Provincial Councils list of powers, subject to the formulation and implementation of national policy in regard to development and planning, the power to promote, establish and engage in agricultural, industrial, commercial, and trading enterprises and other income generating projects within the province will lie with the Provincial Council. Under the proposed legislation, this power is to be taken over by the super minister and the Development Agency functioning under him. The interim SLPF leader charged that one of the aims of this Bill appears to be to take over all powers to the UNP marginalising all the SLFP ministers serving in the government and even the president himself and he said that the SLFP ministers must familiarise themselves with this Bill and decide whether they approve of all that is to be done under this proposed legislation.
