Good Governance – In Crisis
Lal Wijenayake
‘Good Governance’ is respect and adherence to the basic law of the country, the constitution of the country. Our constitution envisages a democratic form of government and the basic structure of our constitution is governance based on democratic values.
Democracy entails:
(1) The right to elect your rulers at free and fair election held from time to time.
(2) Rule of Law.
(3) Independence of the Judiciary.
(4) Respect for human rights.
(5) Separation of powers with checks and balances.
Sri Lanka has a long history of democratic governance though there has been incidents which are deviations from the norm.
But what is witnessed during the last decade is a sustained effort to challenge the basic principles of democratic rule.
The introduction of the Executive Presidential system in 1977 has shifted the center of power from Parliament to an Executive President, with no significant checks on the exercise of the enormous powers vested on the President.
The elimination of the traditional left from Parliament at the Parliamentary elections in 1977 had a significant impact on respect for democratic values and good governance.
From the 1930’s the traditional left, was in the forefront of the struggle to protect and advance liberal values with the backing the left had from local political organizations at village level and the powerful trade union movement that emerged during that period.
This led to the acceptance of ‘democracy’ and the ‘welfare state’ based on social justice as the basic norm in governance. Any deviation was challenged in the legislature as well as outside on the streets with the trade union movement playing a major role. This was the barrier that protected and fostered democratic rule and social justice from attacks on the system.
The elimination of the left from the legislature and the breakdown of the powerful trade union movement (as seen from the failure of the general strike of 1980, which turned out to be the turning point in the disintegration of the trade union movement) removed the barrier that defended democracy, liberal values and social justice. Since then no movement of any significance has emerged to fill this space.
In fact, what we have seen during the last decade, is the use by governments the support of the traditional left (which has ceased to be powerful) and the trade union movement in the attack on democracy, liberal values and social justice.
The depths to which the traditional left and the movements that stood for democracy, liberal values and social justice has sunk, was seen from the support that was extended to enact the 18th amendment to the constitution and the impeachment of the Chief Justice.
The political movements and/ or civil society movements of any significance and the lack of political activism among the masses against the erosion of democratic values and social justice has brought about the present challenge to good governance. It has reached a stage where we are heading towards authoritarian rule. The 2/3rd majority that the government claims to enjoy in Parliament has gone a long way to justify the authoritarian rule. The 2/3rd majority is made up of a large number of members of Parliament from other parties, specially the UNP, who has crossed over to accept Ministries or Deputy Ministries.Read More
