A hidden world: Desperation for hundreds of homeless families in D.C. motels

Tiera Williams, 25, and her four children Amari, left, 3, Ariyanna, center, 5, Isaiah, right, 1, and Quintin, in baby carrier, four weeks, prepare to leave a Days Inn in Northeast Washington. (Allison Shelley/For The Washington Post)

Tiera Williams, 25, reads a letter as her children Quintin, four weeks, Isaiah, 1, and Ariyanna, 5, play in the family's room at the Days Inn in Northeast Washington. (Allison Shelley/For The Washington Post)

By DeNeen L. Brown-January 28

Tiera Williams and her four children dodge cars on a winter evening as they cross the parking lot of the Days Inn to the Washington motel room the children call “Mommy’s house.”

“Hold his hand. I told you to hold his hand,” the 25-year-old single mother urges her oldest, Ariyanna. The 5-year-old with cornrows and pink barrettes grabs the hand of her 3-year-old brother, Amari, and they walk just ahead of their mother, who carries a newborn baby covered in a blanket in a bundle against her chest. With her right hand, Williams reaches down to guide her 1-year-old, Isaiah, bundled in a bubble coat and frog hat and running fast on little legs to keep up.

They pass the Checkers and the Dunkin’ Donuts on a busy, battered stretch of New York Avenue in Northeast Washington and walk alongside the black iron fence that encircles the motel pool covered by a green tarp. People at the Days Inn — one of at least 12 motels being used by the city to house 730 homeless families this winter — lean over the balcony that overlooks the courtyard lit by the December glow of yellow lights.

They occupy a hidden world of desperation and poverty mixed with every-other-day maid service, free WiFi, continental breakfast in the lobby, and lunch and dinner in the 170-room motel’s banquet room.

Little is known about the conditions at the Days Inn and other motels in Washington and Maryland being used to house homeless families. Like the shelter for homeless families at the former D.C. General Hospital, they are officially off-limits to reporters. And there has been minimal information provided by city officials about the welfare of 1,300 poor children living in such cramped quarters with struggling, mostly single parents.

[Hundreds of D.C. homeless families to ride out storm in Maryland motels]

Williams and her children pass mothers who sit in doorways, half inside their rooms, half outside, as they watch restless children ride bicycles in circles in the parking lot. A woman in a pink headscarf has pulled a nightstand out of her motel room and is yelling something incomprehensible at someone inside the roo

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Proton beam cancer therapy 'effective with fewer side effects'

Ashya King left the UK to have proton beam therapy in the Czech Republic

By Dominic Howell-30 January 2016

A cancer treatment at the centre of an NHS controversy in 2014 causes fewer side effects in children than conventional radiotherapy, according to new research.

The study, published in The Lancet Oncology, suggests proton beam therapy is as effective as other treatments.

Researchers looked at 59 patients aged between three and 21 from 2003 to 2009.

In 2014 the parents of Ashya King took him out of hospital in Hampshire to get the treatment abroad.

Their actions led to a police operation to find them.

Ashya, who was five at the time of his treatment, is now cancer free, his family said last year.

'Acceptable toxicity'

All the patients who took part in the study, led by Dr Torunn Yock from the Massachusetts General Hospital in the US, had the most common kind of malignant brain tumour in children, known as medulloblastoma.

After five years, their survival rate was similar to that of patients treated with conventional X-ray radiotherapy, but there were fewer side effects to the heart and lungs, the study found.

Dr Yock told BBC Radio 5 live: "The major finding is that proton therapy is as effective as photon therapy [conventional X-ray radiotherapy] in curing these patients and what is also very exciting is that it is maintaining these high rates of cure but doing so with less late toxicity, which has dramatic quality of life improvements."

The paper said: "Proton radiotherapy resulted in acceptable toxicity and had similar survival outcomes to those noted with conventional radiotherapy, suggesting that the use of the treatment may be an alternative to photon-based treatments."

What is proton beam therapy?

It uses charged particles instead of X-rays to deliver radiotherapy for cancer patients.

The treatment allows high-energy protons to be targeted directly at a tumour, reducing the dose to surrounding tissues and organs.

In general, it gives fewer side effects compared with high-energy X-ray treatments.

It can be used to treat spinal cord tumours, sarcomas near the spine or brain, prostate cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer and some children's cancers.

Independent expert Prof Gillies McKenna, who is the head of the department of oncology at the University of Oxford, said the research suggested that the "side effects are indeed dramatically reduced" with proton beam therapy.

"There were no side effects seen in the heart and lungs and gastrointestinal tract, which are almost always seen with X-rays, and no secondary cancers were seen at a time when we would have expected to see them in X-ray treated patients," he added.

But Dr Kieran Breen, from Brain Tumour Research, said there was still more research needed into the treatment.

"In the longer term, we need to try and understand what effects it will have on people and there are many other forms of tumour both in the brain and in other parts of the body," he said.

Proton beam therapy is currently only available in the UK to treat eye cancers, but patients with other forms of cancer can apply for NHS funding for the therapy abroad.

The first proton beam facility in the UK is due to be made available in Newport by the end of 2016, as a "result of direct investment by the Welsh government," according to a Welsh Assembly spokesman.

The Department of Health has said that from April 2018 the treatment will be offered to up to 1,500 cancer patients at hospitals in London and Manchester, following investment worth £250m.

Two years ago a dispute about the use of the treatment prompted Brett and Naghemeh King, of Southsea, Hampshire, to remove their son Ashya from a hospital in Southampton against his doctors' advice.

The parents wanted their five-year-old to undergo proton beam therapy in Prague, which had not been recommended by his care team in Southampton.

Their actions sparked an international police manhunt, and the couple were later arrested and held in a prison in Madrid.

They were eventually released and Ashya's therapy took place, with the NHS later agreeing to pay for it.

A spokesman for University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said that medulloblastoma was not currently on the list of tumours approved for this treatment on the NHS.

"However, we welcome any update to the existing clinical evidence on cancer treatments and will follow any expansion of the current national criteria," a spokesman added.

---

Key events for Ashya's treatment

• Ashya had surgery for a medulloblastoma brain tumour at Southampton General Hospital in July 2014
• His parents, Brett and Naghemeh, removed him from the hospital on 28 August and sparked a manhunt when they travelled to Spain
• They were arrested but later released and Ashya was flown to Prague, Czech Republic, for proton beam treatment
• He had six weeks of proton beam therapy, which cost between £60,000 and £65,000, according to the treatment centre, and which was paid for by the NHS
• Ashya returned to hospital in Spain
• In March 2015, Brett King announced his son was free of cancer

Responsibility, Autonomy and the Geneva 

Resolution (2015)

2016-01-30
he resolution co-sponsored by our government at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a mutual agreement entered into by Sri Lanka, as a Sovereign Member State of the UN, which recognises our responsibility to embark on a process of reconciliation among communities that will foster peace and prosperity. 

This resolution is an opportunity to do what is right, by ourselves and for ourselves, and for our future generations. Over the many decades, including the post-war period, there have been assassinations, abductions, torture and conscription of children and sexual violence perpetrated on women. These realities have often been denied by most politicians who have tried to promote racist and divisive ideologies to achieve short term gains. In this environment, we, the citizens must support the efforts to establish an impartial investigation, probing the events that are perceived differently, so as to arrive at a consensus on what happened, and what needs to be done. It is only in this way that we may achieve a common understanding of a troubled era in our history.  

"Extremism, adversarial and divisive politics, and the cynical exploitation of sectarian fears and insecurities,  would obstruct our common search for truth, justice and reconciliation."

The joint resolution is a reminder that truth-seeking and justice, however complex, ensure social integration, and that their absence is detrimental to civic order and the Rule of Law. Prudent investment of resources in critical areas of national life such as education, health, protection of the environment, strengthening our institutions and the media, and wise and responsible political leadership, will be our best chance to detect and resist recurrence of injustice, discrimination and impunity for violence and abuse of power.  
If we are serious about a non-recurrence of the human rights abuses of the past, we should acknowledge that those who were guilty of criminal behaviour under our law must be brought before the Courts, and held responsible. This is an issue of individual accountability for unlawful conduct, and must not be thought of as punishment for heroism or as political vengeance. We cannot condone impunity or amnesty for brutal acts of violence and abuse. The prosecution process must also respond to individual suffering, and support victims and people who come before the Courts as witnesses. Psycho-social support is required for these people both during and after the process.
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Skeletal Remains Found in Sri Lanka Secret Navy Prison Where Missing Persons Detained

திருமலை இரகசிய தடுப்பு முகாம், நிலத்தின் கீழ் சிறை...! விசாரணைக்கு உத்தரவு

( Military base in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka)

29/01/2016

Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya yesterday ordered the CID to launch a probe into the discovery of skeletal remains in the underground prison named ‘Gunside’ located within the Ocean Science Faculty premises of the Naval Command in Trincomalee, during the visit there of an overseas monitoring group that was probing disappearances in the East. The CID also told Court that a Dolphin Mitsubishi vehicle bearing number 6021 had also been discovered in the underground prison. Inquiries carried out on the chassis number had revealed that the vehicle had belonged to John Reed of Kotahena from whom it had been stolen.

The CID also told Court that its investigations had revealed that 11 persons had been abducted and detained at this underground prison.

The CID also told Court that the underground prison cell known as ‘Gunside’ had been sealed on 22 April 2015. The case is to be called on 18 May.
Ceylon Today

Missing persons taken into underground cells at Trinco Navy camp: CID

The 11 persons abducted by unidentified groups in Colombo and surrounding areas in 2008, had been taken to underground detention cells at a Navy camp in Trincomalee which were supervised by a Navy Lieutenant Commander, the CID informed the Colombo Chief Magistrate yesterday.

While revealing the progress of the investigations into the habeas corpus petitions filed by the parents of missing persons, the OIC of CID’s Gang Robbery Unit-Inspector Nishantha Silva told Court that several skeletal remains found at the detention cells have been referred to the Judicial Medical Officer for an analytical report.

Meanwhile, Inspector Silva told Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya that the van which was robbed along with abductee Kasthuri Arachchilage John Reed was found at a Navy camp in Trincomalee.

He said the original colour of the vehicle and its chassis number had been changed. The vehicle has been currently referred to the Government Analyst.

The missing persons had been abducted by an unidentified group at Dehiwala, Battaramulla and Wattala in 2008.

Counsel Achala Seneviratne appeared on behalf of the family members of the missing persons. Further magisterial inquiry into the matter was fixed for May 18.

Daily News

Sri Lanka: Does President Sirisena seriously think about justice for Lankan Tamils?

Sirisena knows that Rajapaksa is likely concerned now about protecting himself and his family from criminal prosecution as well. Ensuring that his eldest son Namal Rajapaksa, who is also a member of parliament and stays politically active is probably a priority for the former president too.

by Dr. Abdul Ruff

( January 29, 2016, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Criminals, howsoever big or tall they may be, should be held responsible for their actions and accountable for their crimes. Punishment is absolutely necessary to place accountability on those who committed the crimes.

Sri Lankan constitution, old or new, does not state that the rulers are above law and they should not be punished for their crimes, even if the charges are proved beyond doubts. In fact in no country a Constitution specifies that the rulers should also be punished if involved in criminal operations, directly or otherwise. So much so all corrupt leaders and rulers do not expect any punishment for their illegal interference with the nation’s resources, thereby creating grave inequalities in the society. Countries like India have become a safe haven for corrupt people for all such illegal operations day in and day out.

Proper punishments for serious crimes make a society healthy. However, punishment for the criminal or corrupt rulers does not happen as a usual phenomenon as governments make all out efforts to save the rulers and top leaders, former and incumbent.

Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena’s election last January to presidency gave rise to hopes for all sections of the island nation, especially the Tamils and Muslims as major minorities who have very high expectations from the new president they happily elected.

Elections in January when Sirisena defeated the increasingly authoritarian Mahinda Rajapaksa in his quest to win an unprecedented third term and August parliamentary polls, combined with the recently passed UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution on Sri Lanka, have presented the country with some real hopes for better treatment of minorities even if not given them any preferential treatment in jobs and other domains.

Upon assuming office, President Maithripala Sirisena declared reconciliation with Tamils as his main premises of governance and he promised proper action on former president’s war crimes. However, he did not undertake steps to realize his stated objectives. Recently he said the year 2016 will be the year of building of the economy of the country. He said a lot of programs will be implemented this year to bring about prosperous lives to all people in this country. The government has entered into the program to bring about prosperous lives to the people by doing required political reforms and saving the people from poverty,” Sirisena said. However, he did not refer to UN probe into war crimes.

                                                                                                     

                                                                                                       

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Sri Lankan military watches over Hindu ceremony at temple inside HSZ
29 January 2016

The Sri Lankan military oversaw the running of a religious ceremony at a temple located inside a High Security Zone this week, reports a military website.

Devotees from the Palali Rajarajeswary Amman, Gnana Vairavar, Myliddy Kannagi Amman and Murugan Temples had to seek military permission in order to hold ceremonies at their places of worship, which continue to be inside the army cantonment, accessible only to the armed forces. 

Villagers were loaded onto military buses and escorted to and from the temples on Sunday, by troops from the 515 Brigade and 16th Battalion the Gamunu Watch.

Land Grab In Mullaitivu

Israel Palestine Conflict: History Repeating Itself In ISRAEL LAND GRAB

• Spolight On Navy….

by Hafsa Sabry-Friday, January 29, 2016

Secretary to the Ministry of Defence,
Karunasena Hettiarachchi

The armed forces occupied many properties in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of the country during and after the civil war. The former government with its powerful politicians, allegedly encouraged the process of illegally ‘grabbing’ land in the North and East during its tenure.

The issue of encroaching into public lands has still not been addressed by the relevant authorities, even after the change of government last year. One of the election pledges by the government of good governance was to release properties forcibly occupied by the forces.

Some people affected by the war live in refugee camps. The Ministry of Defence and the Sri Lankan Navy are now accused of attempting to construct a ‘navy camp’ in the public land comprising 617 acres of land in Mullaitivu. They claim that a navy camp is indeed required as a means of ‘national security.’

People were not allowed to enter the place as the Navy and the forces have built fences and boundaries along the borders the land they have occupied.

Some of the villagers who resided in these areas before the civil war have lost their documents of ‘ownership’ to the place whilst others have them in their possession.

However, the land in question seems to be occupied by the Navy who claim that it does not belong to the people.

When the ‘land owners’ claimed that such a large amount of land was not required to build a navy camp in the north, a group of people is attempting to encroach into their lands while obstructing them. Officials said that the government would take over the land if it decides to but, a decision is yet to be arrived regarding the issue. They also said that the government would compensate the people with land or money if the land will be taken over by the Navy to which the land owners expressed concern claiming that they are not ready to give away their properties.

“If the government will compensate the people with land they will have to deforest some of the natural reservoirs and forests to replace them which is a threat to the environment of the island,” said the Director for the Center for Environment and Nature Studies (CENS) Ravindra Kariyawasam.

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Is Ethnotionalism The Religion Of Sinhalas?

By Suren Rāghavan –January 29, 2016

Dr. Suren Rāghavan

Outside a modernist paradigm, I have always doubted that all forms of nationalisms–especially an ethnonationlism is the rigorous form of religion that was seen in the 20th Century. Because like in religions, nationalism demands unquestioned worship of the unknown past/divine origin, an overflowing emotion capable of blinding the immediate realities and a pride in some kind of mission of the ‘choseness’. What is once again seen on the streets ( and now even in court houses) of Lanka is a historicized display of the ‘presenting’ the past. Not just the near past but a textualized glorious distant past.of the hegemony of powerful Sinhala Sangha. Lanka has witnessed island wide intercommunial unrest on the basis of Sinhala nationalism as a pattern of recurrence. In 1883 it was Catholic-Buddhist clash, in 1915 a Sinhala-Muslim clash and in post independent times, 1956, 1978, 1983. Of course between these were the much lesser regional clashes and the 1971 and 1988-9 two up rises largely a Sinhala-Sinhala confrontation. For most part like religion, ethno nationalism is a privately held deep believe waiting to conquer the public space. And the inclusion and exclusion who is ‘us’ and who is the ‘other’ is as evangelical in thick nationalisms as seen in Lanka. For Lanka’s true nationalists like Prof Nalin Silva, it is not enough to be a Sinhala Buddhist to be a real Lankaputra. He does not consider president Sirisena, PM Wickremesinghe or even my colleague Dr Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri. Because they don’t subscribe to a thick monoethinc discourse. For Silva these are not true Sinhala Buddhists. Of course his list is ever narrowing to exclude the Sinhala Catholics, liberal moderates, those who believe in a universal cosmopolitanism and so on.

Looking from a comparative political prism, almost provocatively I have doubted if one can term the 20th Century Sinhala nationalism as a version of ‘Buddhist Zionism’ if such category could be identified. Now I can hear the fire breathing in most of my nationalist fellow citizens. However difficult it may be to fathom, the signs are so closely inter-reflective between ethno (religious) nationalism and Sinhala Buddhism. 
Mahāvamsa, the epic of the 5th century is the textual recodification of Dīpavamsa. Venerable Mahanāma of the Theravadian Mahavihāra begins saying his motivation is      Read More

‘Sleaze’ should not be leads in American newspapers

Quality journalism will not emerge from cutthroat competition based on selling news as a commodity. American journalism should revise its news values to reflect mindfulness  and convince the rest of the world to do the same.

by Professor Shelton A. Gunaratne

( January 29, 2016, Moorehead – Minn, Sri Lanka Guardian) American newspapers used to set the trends that the rest of the free world’s newsrooms followed to raise the quality of journalism in the world.

Therefore, I was disappointed to see today’s (January 28, 2016) edition of my hometown newspaper, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, splashing the banner headline ND’S ONLY PLAYMATE OF THE MONTH DISCUSSES MAG’S DECISION TO STOP PUBLISHING NUDE PICS under the deck “July 1987 centerfold proud of Playboy, still goes to parties at the mansion,” to get reader attention to a story filed from Beverly Hills, Calif., by reporter Adrian Glass-Moore.

The Forum allocated almost the whole front page of its main section to its putative lead report except for a minor story at the very bottom on the Fargo police investigation into the suspicious death of a young man.

In my 22 years as a journalism educator in Minnesota, never would I have imagined the possibility of giving so much prominence to such  “sleazy” trivia in a family-oriented newspaper published in a prairie state noted for its conservative values.  I would have .no compunction of giving an F grade to a student who submitted me an assignment with such a pathetic distorted news sense.

I believe that change, insubstantiality and unsatisfactoriness are the three marks our cyclic existence. Thus, change is inevitable in the course of time. However, it is up to us effect change for the better, not the worse, by disciplining the five aggregates, of which we all are composites– material form, feelings, perception, dispositions, and conscientiousness. By not restraining these aggregates, we are engendering the three roots of evil –greed, delusion, and hatred.

The changes in the news sense signified by The Forum’s reversion to  “sleazy” news as front-page leads is the result of greed/desire for increasing its sales and profits by downgrading its public responsibility to promote ethics and morals in society. The resulting delusion will inevitably lead to unsatisfactoriness among its readers.  The gains it accrues by this myopic change will be insubstantial to prevent the demise of the print newspaper before the middle of this century.

The Forum, as well as other American newspapers, may be able to survive longer by adopting the strategy of mindful journalism as suggested in my book “Mindful Journalism and News Ethics in the Digital Era: A Buddhist Approach” published by Routledge in 2015. The goal of the American newspaper should not be making ceaseless profits but providing a dedicated public service to the community it serves on a non-profit basis.

Quality journalism will not emerge from cutthroat competition based on selling news as a commodity. American journalism should revise its news values to reflect mindfulness  and convince the rest of the world to do the same.

Sri Lanka's missing thousands: one woman's six-year fight to find her husband

When journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda went missing, police told wife Sandhya ‘getting abducted was fashionable’ and he would soon return. More than 90 court appearances and a change in government later, she is still searching

Sandhya Eknaligoda stands before an image of her husband, missing Sri Lankan cartoonist and journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda in 2012. Photograph: Ishara S.kodikara/AFP/Getty Images

Tamil women hold portraits of their missing relatives during a protest in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, in November 2013 during a visit by British PM David Cameron. Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena/AP

Amantha Perera in Colombo-Friday 29 January 2016

Sandhya Eknaligoda has had a date at court in Homogoma, Sri Lanka, every month for the past six years.

The 52-year-old counts the number of appearances at more than 90 and they are aimed at securing one thing – finding her husband.

Journalist and cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda disappeared without a trace on 24 January 2010 after a mysterious telephone call led him to an equally mysterious meeting.

Since then not a word has been heard from Prageeth, who was 50 when he disappeared, not even from third parties. He worked for website Lankae News.

The Eknaligoda case is one among tens of thousands of missing persons cases that the new government of Maithripala Sirisena has pledged to resolve. A presidential commission has already recorded more than 20,000 such cases, including more than 5,000 security services members.

“I will go anywhere, any time to get information on Prageeth,” says Sandhya.

And she has – from court hearings in Colombo to sessions of the UN human rights council in Geneva. It is a marathon endeavour to seek justice for her husband. But it has not endeared her to some.

Last week, as she was leaving court, she was accosted and allegedly threatened by a prominent monk.

The monk, Galagodatte Gnanasara, heads the nationalist movement Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force). He had come to court with several other monks to offer to be remanded in place of six security personnel taken into custody over the abduction of Eknaligoda.

He accused Sandhya of tarnishing the name of the armed forces by alleging that her husband had evidence of use of chemical weapons.

Such brickbats aside, Eknaligoda told the Guardian that in the past year, since president Sirisena and his prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took office, investigations into her husband’s abduction have made progress. The investigations have revealed links to the military and a camp in the north east where the journalist is suspected to have been transported.

It is a far cry from six years back, when she first complained to police. “I was told that getting abducted was fashionable and that my husband would soon return. They asked me to go home and wait.”

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Rule Of Thumb For Police Spokesman: “If You Are In Doubt – Leave It Out”

By Ranga Kalansooriya –January 29, 2016

Dr Ranga Kalansooriya

The infamous Embilipitiya incident turned yet another page on the story of Sri Lanka Police in many fronts – but professionalism being the foremost factor. The entire episode still depicting the fact that how unprofessional our police force has been in handling crisis issues and the damage controlling efforts in the aftermath of such a crisis.

But there seems to be two clear sets of officials when it comes to their professional conduct. The most senior officials including the Inspector General handled it in a professional manner without attempting to cover up the wrong-doing of his junior officials, as I see it. Added to this credit is Senior DIG Chandana Wickramaratne who prepared a thorough investigative report on the incident that left no stone unturned.

Senior DIG Wickramaratne’s attempt was somewhat contrary to his own colleagues who tried to justify the brutal attack on protesting HNDE students through holding press conferences a several months ago. Their justification of the attack proved wrong within a few weeks as the police commission found it erroneous and took action against the officials involved.

Former Anandian Senior DIG Wickramaratne is known for his professionalism within the rank and file since he joined police force as a young graduate commissioned officer in early 90s. He exposed the unprofessional conduct of his junior officers in the Embilipitiya police division through his lengthy report to the Police Chief while recommending seeking advises from the Attorney General to take legal action against the errant officials. Thus, the magistrate ordered the arrest of an ASP and the Embilipitiya HQI on Wednesday (27). More action to follow.

As reported in the media, Senior DIG Wickramaratne’s report was explicit about the totally uncalled-for conduct of these concerned police officers of Embilipitiya. This particular incident not only demands stern action against those officials, but also a total assessment on the psychological status of the men and women in police uniform. A comprehensive study is required – first to understand the reasons behind their unusual conduct and then find solutions to those issues through a comprehensive process of perception change. It may also require structural changes within the police force since most of those unstable conditions are derived from job frustration – a common lamenting that one could hear from almost every police officer.Read More

Governability in the absence of a powerful executive presidency 

Wednesday, 27 January 2016

Abolishing the executive presidency and reforming the electoral system are two key issues under consideration in the proposed constitutional reforms. During the 8 January to 19 June interregnum of 2015, a new President functioned under an old Parliament, but there was a sense of urgency for reforms as a result of President’s promise to both abolish the Presidency and reform the electoral process within 100-days of power. The two issues were to be addressed through Constitutional Amendments 19 and 20, respectively. Some Parliamentarians emphasised the importance of linking the two amendments, but their rationale may have been more political than functional. Amendment 19 was carried but short of abolishing the presidency. Amendment 20 was gazetted but not carried. Both will be reconsidered in the overarching constitutional reforms envisaged.

From a functional point of view, once an election is concluded, a Government has to be formed and the new Government has to make decisions. Even the most democratic process and the most representative result will not benefit a country if the newly-elected Government is not able to govern. It is well and good indeed that the current debates are focused on violence free and democratic election processes and a proportionality representative result that gives sufficient representation to minorities and smaller communities.

However, as I point out in this article, perfect or near perfect proportional representation in the Parliament in the absence of an executive presidency can lead to non-governable situations that we can ill afford. Unfortunately, there has been little analysis on the connection between proportionality of representation and governability. This article is an attempt to fill the gap and is based on a presentation by the author at a symposium jointly organised by the University of Peradeniya and LIRNEasia with the support from Campaign for a Free and Fair elections (CAFFE).

Need to balance proportional representation with governability

- See more at: http://www.ft.lk/article/521272/Governability-in-the-absence-of-a-powerful-executive-presidency#sthash.QMr9uk83.dpuf