Leverage To Ensure More Power Devolution

By Dr Jehan Perera

C. V. Vigneswaren swearing in as the Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council before President Mahinda Rajapaksa

The focus of the international community is on the issue of accountability in the last phase of the war that ended in 2009. Each six month cycle of meetings of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva brings with it high powered international visitors to Sri Lanka. The 23rd visit of Japan’s special envoy on peace building has been the most high profile one in recent days. But there have been several other less high profile visitors who represent other countries who have been coming to Sri Lanka to make their own observations. They also contribute to the pressure being brought to bear on the Sri Lankan government.

Those who seek change in Sri Lanka tend to welcome this international pressure. The government has become so powerful within the country that it does not need to listen to anyone within the country. It believes it can do what it likes, even with impunity. It is in this context that international pressure is to be welcomed. It has provided leverage for positive change in the past. An example of such a positive outcome would be the promise made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the prime ministers of India and Japan that the government would hold elections to the Northern Provincial Council.

North Provincial Council

Even though the government had been thinking of scrapping the entire provincial council system a few months ago, it reversed itself and established the Northern Provincial Council instead. The elections to the Northern Provincial Council and its establishment as a political authority has considerable potential to address the problems faced by the people of the North in the way that they wish. It also has the benefit of showing who the representatives of the people of the North are, and what their priorities are. This is to ensure that decisions are made by their elected representatives who are closer to them than the central authorities in Colombo.

The issues that took centre stage at a meeting of the Jaffna Managers Forum that I attended a few days ago gave an indication of the priorities of those who are community leaders in Jaffna. At the centre of their discussion was the need to empower the Northern Provincial Council to give direction to the allocation of resources in the province, and for the benefit of the people. At this time legal power is vested with the central authorities who have not been responsive to the people’s problems or to their demands. In the discussion it was pointed out that there had been a spate of suicides of business persons due to the failure of their business plans and inability to repay the loans they had taken. A number as high as 20 was given for the past few months. The non-utilisation of the local labour force by south-based business enterprises was also noted.

Army-run businesses

Some of the other issues that came up were the re-emergence of army-run businesses, such as small restaurants and shops, along the main roads. It was noted that travelers from the South preferred to stop at them, but that this deprived the local people of a source of income. There was the observation that the ultra modern hospital put up with Japanese government assistance, which had 27 beds in the Intensive Care Unit, only used 16 of them as there was no nursing staff to ensure that all the beds were used. The digging up of limestone in Kankasanthurai, within the high security zone which is accessible only to the military had led to the possibility of sea water coming inland and to the possible loss of land to sea erosion.

Resolving such issues and empowering the provincial council to deal with them requires a liberal attitude on the part of the central government authorities and a willingness on their part to relax their controls. The 13thAmendment provides overriding legal powers to the central government vis-à-vis the provincial councils, not only in the North but in the other eight provinces also. The Governor of each province is vested with superior legal powers by the constitution, even though an appointed official, and not elected as the provincial council members are. If the provincial council system is to work there needs to be a cooperative spirit between the presidentially appointed Governor and the elected Chief Minister and his councilors.

In the context of the present tensions between the Governor and provincial council in the North, the issues of accountability for past human rights violations was not the priority concern of the community leaders or elected provincial representatives in the North. Their concern was what is happening today in terms of the lack of devolution of power to improve the lives of the people and what is standing as obstacles to that improvement. What is required is the leverage to change this situation. It may be that more liberal and conciliatory relationship between the central authorities and provincial council will come about due to promises that the government will make now to the international community in the run up to the next session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.