Editorial-September 12, 2014
Ministers continue to draw heavy flak for wasting public funds on useless ceremonies and travelling the length and breadth of the country to ‘declare open’ or, as the government propagandists say, ‘vest in the people’ culverts, school buildings, public conveniences etc. It was only recently that a minister vented his spleen liberally on some officials for not being present at a ceremony he attended in a province. Ordinary MPs representing both the government and the Opposition are no better. They, too, neglect their legislative duties. Most of them do not even attend Parliament regularly as we report from time to time.
On Tuesday the government failed to have a set of regulations under the Imports and Exports (Control) Act passed for want of a quorum in the House. They had been presented on behalf of the Ministry of Finance which is under President Mahinda Rajapaksa! Even government MPs did not care to be present in the House to ensure the passage of their big boss’s regulations!
We often have party leaders waxing eloquent on parliamentary traditions, quoting as they do Erskine May, Alice Sturgis, John Bourinot et al. But, before parading their knowledge of parliamentary practice and procedure they ought to ensure that their MPs attend parliament, oughtn’t they? The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) consisting of government and Opposition lawmakers rip state institutions and officials to shreds for dereliction of duty among other things. But, never do the MPs, save a few, turn the searchlight inwards.
Strangely, Chief Government Whip Minister Dinesh Gunawardene told the Chair on Tuesday that the party leaders had decided that the regulations concerned could be passed with or without a quorum. The presiding member, however, adjourned the House on the grounds that the Chair had to do so when a member pointed out there was no quorum—21 members out of 225. The government had to wait till the following day to have the regulations passed.
The remedy reportedly proposed by the party leaders is baffling, to say the least! One may recall how the incumbent government solved the problem of the illegal transfer of duty free vehicle permits prior to the expiry of the stipulated five-year period. It amended the law to legalise the transfer of permits immediately after their issuance! We hope and pray that our politicians in their wisdom won’t try to solve problems such as murder and robbery by decriminalising those offences. The solution to the issue of MPs skipping parliamentary sessions is to make them mend their ways and do what they are paid for with public funds. Nothing else will do.
Party leaders including the President have to take the blame for the deteriorating parliamentary standards and poor attendance. The time has come for them to get cracking and grasp the nettle without papering over the cracks and proposing ludicrous remedies which only make one wonder whether they have no control over their MPs.
A multi-million-rupee new administrative wing for Parliament is said to be on the drawing board. Why should the parliamentary complex be further expanded at a massive cost to the state coffers when its members do not make use of even the existing facilities?
In 2011, an urgent Bill was steamrollered through Parliament, regardless of protests, to take over ‘underperforming enterprises’ and ‘underutilised assets’. The government insisted that it had done so in the public interest though it was patently clear that the expropriation law was politically motivated. Why no frantic effort has ever been made over the years to enhance the performance and productivity of political institutions, especially the national legislature is the question.
