Strategic Thinking To Sustain The Devolution Process
By Jehan Perera -October 7, 2013 |
Jehan Perera
One of the first decisions that the TNA had to take after its victory at the Northern Provincial Council elections was before whom to take the oaths of office. The overwhelming electoral mandate received by the party would have induced them to make the most of the occasion in symbolic and political terms. The option they were unanimous in rejecting was to have their members take the oath of office before the Governor of the Northern Province. As former army chief in Jaffna, Governor G A Chandrasiri has had to carry with him the legacy of that war which was very negative to the Tamil population n the North and East. The civilian casualties during the last phase of the war in the North exceeded any previous period of the three decade long war. This is a legacy that will take a long time to become erased from the consciousness of the people. Since the end of the war, and his appointment as Governor of the Northern Province, Governor Chandrasiri has also been working closely with the military that he once commanded in Jaffna.
The preferred option of the TNA was to invite President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Jaffna to administer the oath of office to the Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council. However, if their refusal to appear before the Governor meant that the President was obliged to go to Jaffna to administer the oath of office to the Chief Minister, there could have been negative interpretations in the rest of the country. Nationalist critics of the devolution process would have argued that the President’s journey to the North was an ominous sign of the increased power of the Northern Province and diminished power of the central government. In this context, the willingness of the TNA to have the oath taking ceremony of the Chief Minister in Colombo is another constructive and necessary step in the evolution of a political solution to the long festering ethnic conflict. This decision has ensured that a possible deadlock that could have eroded popular support for the devolution process was averted.
Both sides have shown flexibility on the issue of the oath taking ceremony. The government did not insist that the Chief Minister should take his oaths before the Governor in Jaffna. The TNA showed flexibility by agreeing to come down to Colombo to take the oaths before the President. The swearing in ceremony for the Chief Ministers of the Central and Northwestern provincial councils took place without fanfare at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo last week. This paved the way for a similar procedure to be followed in the case of the oath taking for the Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council. The supreme place of the Presidency, the central government and Colombo as the national capital even within the scheme of devolution of power was thereby reaffirmed. However, this has evoked a negative response by nationalist Tamil groups such as the Sri Lanka Tamil Lawyers Association which has condemned the oath taking before a President they accuse of committing war crimes.
