Wednesday, December 19, 2018

MR’s appointment unconstitutional - Sampanthan

METHMALIE DISSANAYAKE- PM DEC 19 2018

Another constitutional crisis erupted when TNA Leader R. Sampanthan claimed that there are two Opposition Leaders in the House, while challenging Speaker Karu Jayasuriya.

Sampanthan, who held the post before 26 October, claimed that Speaker Jayasuriya has not removed him from the position.

“As a result, Speaker Jayasuriya’s decision to appoint former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Opposition Leader could be suggested as one taken in haste and is in violation of the Constitution of Sri Lanka,” he noted.

Sampanthan, making a special statement, at the commencement of yesterday’s Parliamentary Sitting, as a Party Leader, pointed out that it has been alleged that former President Rajapaksa’s Parliament seat has fallen vacant as one month has lapsed since he ceased to be a member of the SLFP, after obtaining SLPP membership.

“The Speaker recognized him as the Opposition Leader twice in September 2015 and August 2018. The Speaker even said that was his final decision on the post. So, there is no need to recognize another person as the Opposition Leader in haste in a context where Cabinet is not yet constituted and Government is not yet formed,” he elaborated.

Moreover, he noted that appointing a member of the UPFA as the Opposition Leader, while its Leader Maithripala Sirisena is the Head of Executive, Head of Government, and Head of Cabinet, is incongruous and such matters must be sorted out through a Parliament Select Committee.

“The person recognized by the Speaker as the Opposition Leader does not even hold the position of MP as of the date of such recognition. This again suggests the Speaker’s decision has been taken in haste and it is in violation of our Constitution. I urge early corrective action, in the interest of the country as a whole, be taken to preserve the sanctity of our Constitution,” he added.

After Sampanthan’s speech, TNA Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran tabled three newspaper articles published on 12 November, which carried the story of former President Rajapaksa ceremonially obtaining SLPP membership on 11 November.

“This event had happened two days after the purported dissolution of Parliament by the President. It shows Rajapaksa obtaining SLPP membership soon after the dissolving of the former government. Therefore, a Parliament Select Committee should be appointed to look into this matter,” Sumanthiran said.

“UPFA Parliamentarian Susil Premajayantha, participating in the discussion, said that there is no evidence to claim that Rajapaksa obtained SLPP membership, except a few newspaper reports.
Rajapaksa has neither resigned from the UPFA/SLFP, nor was he expelled from the Party. According to the Constitution, the Speaker has no authority to appoint a Select Committee to make decisions about the Opposition Leader post, as the Government and the TNA suggest,” he stressed.

He also denied that he obtained SLPP membership, despite Chief Government Whip Gayantha Karunatileka showing photos of the former President and a group of his fellow MPs obtaining SLPP membership, to the House.

UPFA Parliamentarian Chandima Weerakkody alleged that it is wrong for a senior Parliamentarian like Sampanthan to make claims that there were two Opposition Leaders. “Parliament cannot investigate internal matters of the UPFA,” he added.

Parliamentarian Rauff Hakeem said that Parliament has again fallen into chaos, as Sampanthan challenges the Speaker’s announcement over the appointment of Opposition Leader.

“Former President Rajapaksa became the former Prime Minister and now he has become a former Parliamentarian. Once you obtain the membership of another party, your membership ceases automatically. This will be proven before a Parliament Select Committee. One of the most popular political leaders in this country has been made a political orphan,” he said.

Despite his statement that he is still the Opposition Leader, Sampanthan did not take the seat allocated to the Opposition Leader yesterday. The seat allocated to the Opposition Leader was empty.

Sampanthan sat in a front row seat, near the main entrance. Seating arrangements in the chamber have been changed, and the JVP Parliamentarians, who had been in the front row, have been shifted to the aisle.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa did not attend yesterday’s sitting. Speaker Jayasuriya’s ruling on the Opposition Leader post is due on Friday (21).

Parliament will commence again on Friday (21) at 10:30 a.m.

Rein in air pollution

by Dr Debapriya Mukherjee - -December 19, 2018, 9:29 pm

Former Senior Scientist

Central Pollution Control Board, India

Severity of air pollution problem is increasing faster than governments are responding to this problem. This problem has become a severe threat for human health in the past several years in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries. Rapid economic growth has resulted in an increase in motor vehicle; and industrial and agricultural activities leading to serious air quality issues across India and other countries. One of the most dangerous components of air pollution is fine particulate matter that measures less than the width of a human hair. These particles can penetrate deeply into the lungs causing serious health complications. Also gaseous substances present in the air further aggravated the health problem. According to estimates by the WHO (World Health Organization), ambient outdoor air pollution causes 1.3 million urban deaths worldwide each year. Exposure to these particles is thought to have caused 12.4 lakhs of those deaths aged less than 70 in 2017 and 77 percent of India’s population is exposed to outdoor air pollution across India.

SRI LANKA

In Sri Lanka, a rapidly industrializing lower middle income country, the burden of pollution-related disease is proportionately much larger than in high income countries and air pollution accounts for 6·5% of all DALYs (disability adjusted life-year). Estimated expenditures on disease due to air pollution in Sri Lanka account for 7·4% of all health-care expenditures. WHO estimated that the number of deaths attributable to indoor and outdoor air pollution in Sri Lanka in 2004 was 4300 and 1000 respectively?

Air pollution has been not only linked to illness and premature death but also linked to habitat, water quality, and ecosystem services. The impact of particulate matter on human health has been highlighted elaborately but the effects of that fine particulates on plants remain neglected. Tiny pores in the leaves, the stomata, are the gatekeepers that regulate how much water vapor is released to the atmosphere. Stomata also allow carbon dioxide for photosynthetic production of energy storing sugars. This causes a dilemma for plants, between thirst and starvation: either closing the stomata saves water but restricts the uptake of carbon dioxide or opening the pores allows carbon dioxide to enter, but at the cost of increased water loss. Plants have adapted stomatal regulation to prevailing ambient conditions over evolutionary timescales, but particulate matter concentrations with toxic compounds were generally much lower than they are today as advocated by the researchers. Severe damage of the plants is observed in rural areas close to the coal based thermal power plant and mines.

VEHICLES

The vehicles particularly old contributes major environmental burden in cites even in mountain area. Large trucks are the greatest contributors to black carbon emissions close to major roadways. Also fossil fuel combustion, biomass burning and construction activities contribute remarkable environmental burden in the form of fine particulate matter and other gaseous substances.

People are exposed to harmful particulate matter from industries , too, but fires produce fine particles into the air at a rate three times as high as levels noted in emissions inventories at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to a new study. In India, increase of fine particulate matter originating from crop residue burning and their expected trans-boundary movement cause severe air pollution and haze formation.

Increasing anthropogenic aerosols generally induce a more stable atmosphere leading to accumulation of air pollutants and contribute to haze formation particularly in many cities in India. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has implemented strict norms on stubble burning in India. The Centre has also approved a large sum of money for modern tools and technology to manage crop residue by converting them into compost. But many states continue to burn stubble despite the ban, a strong contributing factor for bad air quality. This problem is further compounded due to multiplicity of air polluting source mix (e.g. industries, automobiles, generator sets, domestic fuel burning, road side dusts, construction activities, etc.).

In recent past, severity of air pollution problem in metropolis and cities is highlighted but the people living in rural areas are also badly suffering due to trans-boundary movement of the pollutants originating from thermal power plant, sponge iron, coal washeries, crop burning, household and others. But this problem remains well hidden. The insufficient understanding of public pro-environmental intentions and behaviours has become a barrier to implementing appropriate regulations for air quality improvement. However, severity of this air pollution problem may be relatively low in Sri Lanka compared to India. But possibility of emission from these sources cannot be ruled out.

REGULATION

The regulatory agencies have stipulated a series of actions for almost all sectors to control air pollution over the past decade in developing countries. These actions include relocation of polluting industries, introduction of improved emission norms for vehicles, phasing out of lead from gasoline, reduction of sulphur in diesel and benzene in gasoline, city public transport fleet on compressed natural gas (CNG) and banning of 15-year old commercial vehicles in many areas.

Despite these initiatives, data generated over the years reveal that air pollution levels are still far above the permissible levels at many sites. Though regulatory authorities claim that actions taken by them have helped to reduce pollution level in this year particularly in Delhi but in reality suffering of the people has reached an alarming proportions as air quality is deteriorating rapidly over the years. Most importantly, the pollutants such as particularly polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), mercury, volatile organic carbon and benzene those are carcinogenic were found relatively higher than the values reported by regulatory authorities in many cities.

Declining trend that is observed in particular year and claimed as resultant effect of actions taken by regulatory authorities is mainly due to the influence of meteorological factors particularly wind speed and rainfall. Regulatory authorities frame the rules/regulations/permissible levels and serving the notices to noncompliant organizations from air conditioned room but without any sincere thought being given to their implementation. Our political rulers or governments both in centre and states practically ignore the gulf between permissible standard stipulated by the regulatory authorities and controlling air pollution realities at source.

Regulatory pressure compels the polluting units to adopt treatment technique for controlling environmental pollution but non-compliance is a common feature due to poor surveillance for whatever reason it may be. Thereby it is very common to see the emission from the chimney, vehicles, crop burning, diesel generator as well as dust from construction activities, roads etc. For supplementing these views, in recent past NGT had ordered to prevent pollution but concerned authorities completely failed to honour NGT’s directives as recently observed in Wet Bengal. NGT had recommended guidelines to the West Bengal government to curb the pollution two years back but government miserably failed to achieve. Consequently, NGT imposed the penalty of Rs 5 crore for its failure to reduce the pollution levels. This failure may be attributed to the apathy of the governments both in centre and states because pollution problem is not one of the priorities to them in absence of public pressure.

FINES

My experience clearly established that the fines practically imposed by regulatory authorities are not enough to act as deterrent. From an empirical point of view, estimating the costs of controlling pollution is very difficult since this not only involve the installation of abatement technology as filters, but also involve other options such as modifying the production process, reallocating productive activity to reduce emissions, substituting fuels, changing the characteristics of products and investing in R&D to control pollution, among others. The monetary quantification of the damages associated with pollution is a very controversial issue due to technical, political and ethical issues. Furthermore, the determination of environmental damages in monetary terms is very difficult to achieve due to the difficulty of measuring the damage generated by each source according to its spatial location, the difficulties to monitor and enforce the environmental policies, the uncertainty associated with the estimation of costs and benefits, the existence of previous distortions in the markets and also, the political, distributive and financial costs required to implement environmental regulations.

HARMFUL EMISSIONS

Sound environmental policy guided by science can only control air pollution and save lives, money, and ecosystems but at present, science faces skepticism because of paucity of facts and data that matter. The harmful emissions from various sources to be curtailed must be validated by environmental monitoring that is one of the most important requisites in evaluating the success or failure of environmental policies. Monitoring programme can keep a finger on the pulse of shifting environmental condition to track the effectiveness of pollution reduction policies. Thereby reliable ambient air quality data are urgently needed to recalibrate strategies if they are not working. At present hourly assessments of concentrations of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Ozone (O3), and particles measuring less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and less than 10 μm are being carried out by automatic analyzers installed at huge expenses but will not serve the actual purpose because hourly data are not properly used to calculate monthly averages and determine overall concentration levels correlating meteorological influence that is most critical factor in clear statistical terms (not statistical lie). Thereby whether pollutant concentrations has changed i.e. actual trend over the years cannot be brought to the public domain. Moreover adequacy and reliability of these data are questionable because mere interpretation of data cannot help in augmenting the knowledge of environmental processes and thereby lot of important dynamics of these pollutants in ambient air remains well hidden.

Air pollution problems must be addressed through collective and enforceable actions based on sound scientific evidences of serious air quality issues in developing countries. These should include improved urban and transportation planning, and improved fuel standards and emission control (especially targeting vehicles, power generation and industries that contribute significantly to air pollution), rather than advising individuals and leaving to them to protect themselves from the harmful effects of air pollution. In addition to the government's efforts to develop a legal system using technological tools or top-down approaches, public participation is also essential to achieve sustainable development. Also a lot needs to be done to increase awareness towards clean Energy. A shift towards renewable energy must include in the plan to reduce dependency on fossil fuels as well as provide clean energy to households to tackle air pollution problem and climate change.

Two more petrol bomb attacks in Jaffna

181218 Two more petrol bomb attacks Jaffna ND 1.jpg

18 December 2018

A further two petrol bomb attacks have taken place in Jaffna, despite the ongoing military and police presence on the streets in the area.

A gang entered a house in the Kaladdy area of Jaffna on December 15, before throwing a petrol bomb at the home.

The following day a petrol bomb was thrown at another house in Jaffna after the gate was cut with a sword.

One Jaffna resident criticised the police and authorities for lack of effort taken to control the situation despite the fact several soldiers and officers were on petrol.

Another resident, who wished to be anonymous, said that state forces are behind the gang violence, in order to disrupt the peace in the peninsula.

Are We Sri Lankans One People? Where Are Our Leaders?

DEVANESAN NESIAH- 12/18/2018

Politically, it may appear that we are not one people. We have a long history of ethnicity-based politics within a small island with a measure of ethnic diversity unrivalled in countries of our size. But socially and culturally the reality appears to be different. Our ethnic communities are closer to each other culturally and socially than in many others, whether in South Asia or elsewhere. While there are regions in which one or another of the ethnic groups is dominant, many contain mixed neighbourhoods. People in these neighbourhoods not only visit their neighbours of different ethnicity but often participate in celebrating their festivals, notably Sinhalese and Tamil New Year and Christmas. Further our children play together in mixed teams.

Though some of our major sports clubs bear ethnic names (Sinhalese Sports Club, Tamil Union, Moors Sports Club, Burgher Recreation Club, etc.) this is largely a colonial heritage derived from a divide and rule policy extended into participation in sports activities. But segregation was contrary to our cultural heritage, and the exclusiveness in sports has progressively broken down. For a long time virtually every sports club has, in composition and representation in sports activities, been multiethnic, although many of them have not shed their ethnic names adopted in colonial times. Thus, for example the Tamil Union cricket team today is predominantly non-Tamil. These are welcome developments.

Many of our political parties have ethnic names, again a colonial heritage, reflecting ethnicity based representation in government till the Donoughmore Reforms around 1930. These reforms included voting rights for the lower social classes of men and for all women, bitterly opposed by a revered conservative and sexist national leader “as casting pearls before swine”. However, ethnicity has got embedded into our politics. The two major political parties do not have ethnic names but are dominated by Sinhalese, many of whom regard this country as essentially Sinhalese. In fact these parties have been progressively deserted by significant sections of the minorities who were originally loyal to these parties. Their desertion, reflects the unfortunate rising tide of ethnic divisiveness in our politics. New ethnicity based parties with more extreme policies than the earlier ethnicity based parties are being formed. The Sri Lankan Tamils and the Malaiyagha Tamils always had their political parties but the main Muslim party, the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress, was formed many years after independence, and has absorbed many Muslims who were previously members of the United National Party or the Sri Lankan Freedom Party. We now have a bewildering array of political parties, many of them with ethnic labels. The old order appears indeed to be yielding to the new, but in many respects the new is worse than the old.

While many corrupt political ‘leaders’ are scrambling for office so as to enjoy the perks of such positions, it is heartening to come across spirited action by two courageous youth Surin Chamara and Kasun Ukwatta who have made bold public statements against the prevailing political culture of corruption and servility towards those holding political power. As reported by Ruwanthie De Chickera, at the annual National Youth Awards Ceremony held at Nelum-Pokuna on the 28th of November 2018, these two young artists refused to accept their well-earned awards from the chief guests, politicians Udaya Gammanpila and Duminda Dissanayaka. They eventually received those awards from public officials.

On another theme, that of teaching history for national reconciliation, there is an excellent article by another youth, Awahnee Mendis “Teach Everyone’s History For Reconciliation“. For many decades, enlightened scholars have been pressing, with little success, for a radical change in the teaching of our history. It is on this theme that Awahnee concludes that;

“If the history of the Sinhala and Tamil people are tied together and taught positively, about how for centuries before colonialism, the people lived in harmony, we can ensure that understanding and a feeling of national pride and inclusion is felt by people.

By formally accepting, acknowledging and teaching that this whole country belongs to everyone and has been this way for centuries before colonialism, we will allow for an organic, long-lasting, sustainable unity.”

While the actions of the Head of the Executive have been deplorable, those of the majority of the Legislative and, above all, that of the Judiciary have been reassuring. Our political leadership continues to be dominated by feudal elite, linked to each other by corrupt rival clans that derive power from caste pedigree and family wealth, whether inherited or newly ill-gotten.

Most welcome is that we now see courageous leadership emerging from a younger generation, devoid of such credentials. We are greatly encouraged by the initative of youth like Surin Chamara, Kasun Ukwatta, Awahnee Mendis and Ruwanthie De Chickera. After very many depressing years, the future looks promising.

Read more about Sri Lanka’s political and constitutional crisis here.

A tribute to a stoic nation 50 days of madness

Reputation is for time; character is for eternity-
~J. B. Gough

2018-12-19

It was indeed a fascinating period of time. The Executive branch of our Government ran amok; it did not understand the fundamentals of democracy, leave alone its nuanced constitutional interpretations. He did not bend the rules; he broke them.

On whose legal and constitutional instructions and guidance, one may never know. Yet, he did it, almost at the cost of the country’s precious democracy.

For fifty long days, before the country’s populace on whose tired and weary shoulders he ascended to power and before the world whose sympathy he needed most at this hour of crisis, he chose to play a very partisan game. Apparently, the survival of his beloved political party, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), was uppermost in his limited scope of governance. Political priorities overshadowed the grim realities of the moment.

As Executive MR et al go into madness, Speaker, Supreme Court and the people remain calm
Executive decision came into question
Character of people deserves admiration and applause.
No one enjoys eating humble pie. Yet Executive was forced to eat it

The Executive

When the Executive was expected to exercise his stupendous judgment on matters of governance-affairs, that judgment not only came into question, it was proven to be unequivocally deficient.

Irrational conduct of the Executive took the country by surprise; all the respect and honour one would bestow upon the office of Presidency was not to be; its glamour and lustre went, the holder of office became a laughing stock, not only in the social media, but it was even more evident among his own close supporters.

The social media went to town on him. The ‘Smart Phone’ fraternity was busy, sending either on Whatsapp or Viber many a creative cartoon or musical clip that made the highest officeholder in the country a minion subjected to disparage and mockery.

A deplorable behaviour on the part of the Executive did not do justice to either the Legislature or the Judiciary, the other two pillars of our Government structure. But for 50 days the people had to suffer this pitiful melodrama of willful violation of our Constitution.

A great part of the electorate does not belong to these fringes. They inhabit in the middle; their allegiance is basically to the more sensible and conventional principles of democracy and fair-play

No one enjoys eating humble pie. Yet the Executive was forced to eat it, not at the behest of his conscience; he was compelled to do the right thing by the country’s Judiciary and the Speaker of the Legislature. All in all, the Executive’s dissemination and his crazy conduct, specifically in relation to the unconstitutional dissolution of Parliament of our Constitution without any due regards for due diligence for wise governance speaks volumes for the lack of understanding of the nuanced aspects of constitutional matters and challenges to democratic well-being of the country. Wisdom is not a talent one is born with; nor is it a product of association with those who are below one’s grade in life and education. Wisdom is a human quality that is, as George Bernard Shaw remarked: ‘We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future’. The Executive seems to be bogged down in the past. His unwinnable battle to save the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) from extinction has taken priority surpassing the winnable wars against rampant corruption, nepotism and erratic exercise of powers to suppress and overturn the rightful dues from the ordinary men and women in the country. Wisdom has not dawned on the Executive and one cannot expect for such a miracle in the context of what occurred in the last fifty (50) days.

The Speaker and the Legislature

One conspicuous and hopeful side of the confusing drama that was played before our eyes during the last 50 days is the courageous and spirited part played by Karu Jayasuriya, the Speaker of the House of Parliament. He, in arguably the darkest days of our Parliamentary history, stood his ground and showed the entire world that the spirit of our constitution was indeed alive and pulsating without any breakage. Such courage is indeed rare and calls for praise and applause. The unruly bands of parliamentarians who claim to be loyal cohorts of the shameless Mahinda Rajapaksa went berserk; they resorted to the lowest of human behaviour and were successful in making Madávi Some and Choppe of a bygone era look like Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Theresa.

Armed with chili powder and water, they soiled and desecrated the floor of the House of the People, Parliament; knowing very well that they did not have the numbers to defeat the resolution which was before the Members, an utterly uncouth and despicable conduct as was displayed by petty thugs who were elected to Parliament, managed only to reaffirm the general opinion of the Mahinda Rajapaksa loyalists as puny representatives of a culture that was nurtured and nursed by the Rajapaksa family and their immediate bedfellows.

It was against such anarchical and pagan behaviour of the Mahinda Rajapaksa-supporters that Karu Jayasuriya made a gallant effort to uphold the fundamental values and ethos of a human fraternity which we call Parliament of Sri Lanka. However, he was not alone in his fight. The members of the United National Party (UNP) backed by the other members of the Opposition too exhibited some guts and poise in the face of these marauding armies of parliamentary hooligans unleashed by the Rajapaksa clan. Parliament used to be an educative institute which had within its hallowed walls some giants and luminaries who were role models for the younger generation of that era. We have bidden adieu to that domain some time ago. A new culture has replaced that particular powerful force of our society. Holding one’s own stead, keeping calm at all times and delivering legal and constitutional deathblows to the opposition is indeed a very daring and fearless act. Karu Jayasuriya did just that.

The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the country is the last refuge for those who seek justice and the rule of law. It is the sacred institution in which many a gallant and heroic argument is made for and against one’s position on any given supposition. During the years of the Rajapaksas, this institution came under severe criticism and disparage. Many a member of this ultimate arbiter of the law of the land is usually held in highest of esteem and honour. Considered to be in the elite of the country’s social pyramid, members of this small group of professional men of law, in the past have written and interpreted some complicated legal issues and passed judgments on them without any prejudice to the men and women whose arguments for and against a distinguished attorney would argue.

The infamous 50 days witnessed the splendour of our Supreme Court; its conduct and delivery of orders in each of the cases put before they represented a microcosm of an independent court of justice.

They justified their very presence in the Court with honour and admiration. Some wonder whether the Supreme Court during Rajapaksas would have been so impartial and just. But to pass judgment on the Supreme Court for a mundane writer would amount to questioning their intent more than the very substance of the issues involved. I would leave that to legal luminaries of a future time. Yet, one cannot disregard one reality: What was placed before the Supreme Court in the last few days of November 2018 was of great value in the legacy that each of the decisions would have left behind. Each and every member of that court would be remembered for the decision they made.

‘Legacy’ value of that decision would certainly have played an unambiguous part in their decisions. They certainly left a grand legacy of right against wrong; legal against illegal and constitutional against unconstitutional. As a matter of fact, the Supreme Court saved the day for democracy and its continued sustenance in Sri Lanka.

The infamous 50 days witnessed the splendour of our Supreme Court; its conduct and delivery of orders in each of the cases put before they represented a microcosm of an independent court of justice

The People

One cannot forget the role played by the people in Sri Lanka during these 50 days. Each party to the arguments for and against the Ranil Wickremesinghe-led Government has its fringe elements.
However, wrong their party’s stand, these fringe groups would not desert their political allegiances. But a great part of the electorate does not belong to these fringes. They inhabit in the middle; their allegiance is basically to the more sensible and conventional principles of democracy and fair-play. Those people still chose to trek in the middle without reaching the threshold of the fringes. They were patient and thoroughly poised; their demeanour did not change and they lent their ears to everyone but made no comment or pass judgment. That is a mark of a mature nature of the character.

That character stood tall. That is the most remarkable feature in the midst of broken down Executive and the Rajapaksa-legacy. That character of our people deserves undiminished admiration and applause.

-The writer can be contacted at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com

PRIORITISE JUST GOVERNANCE AND SOLVE NATIONAL QUESTION – NATIONAL PEACE COUNCIL

Press release/NPC.

18/12/2018

The restoration of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to his position as Prime Minister by President Maithripala Sirisena has brought to an end seven weeks of political crisis in which the country did not have a functioning government. As articulated by the Prime Minister himself, most of the people of this country joined together to protect the constitution, democracy, and the rights of the people. They joined this fight on behalf of their country and democracy without any personal gain. The National Peace Council wishes to appreciate the apex courts of the judiciary which proved their mettle and contributed immensely to bringing the political crisis to an end.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe made it clear during the political crisis that providing a political solution to the national question and enshrining it in constitutional law is a priority for him. The TNA votes in parliament during the crisis provided the majority in parliament that was needed to show President Sirisena, and the country, that Mr Wickremesinghe was entitled to be appointed as prime minister. The TNA leadership has been criticized for being more concerned about the prime minister than about the Tamil people. In our view the TNA’s contribution to the preservation of democracy, to respect for the constitution and to the Rule of Law goes beyond the personal.

During the next year the government needs to address the national question and provide a constitutional solution to it. This would require a 2/3 majority in parliament and approval by the people at a referendum. The National Peace Council believes that the coming period will be the most decisive in Sri Lanka’s post-independence history in regard to finding a just and lasting solution to the ethnic conflict and that the support of President Sirisena would be important for this endeavor to be a success. This is likely to be the last available time period for the UNP and SLFP that worked together for the first time in history to continue to work together. It is through their collaboration that the most vexed and intractable of the country’s problems, its ethnic conflict that gave rise to nearly three decades of terror and war, might be resolved.

A UNP govt. under a hostile President

By C. A. Chandraprema-December 18, 2018, 12:00 pm

The whole purpose of making it virtually impossible to dissolve Parliament until the lapse of a period of four and a half years was a knee-jerk reaction to the dissolution of Parliament in 2004 by Chandrika Kumaratunga, who sent the UNP into the political wilderness for over a decade. While the recent Supreme Court decision shows that the UNP has succeeded in achieving its objective, the wisdom of what it did through the 19th Amendment needs to be called into question. What is surprising is that there would be so-called ‘constitutional experts’ who would seek to insert such an ill-thought out provision into the Constitution without giving any thought to the practical aspects of running a government.

Under the present provisions of the Constitution, as confirmed recently by the Supreme Court, Parliament cannot under any circumstances be dissolved before the lapse of four and a half years. Article 48(2) of the Constitution after the 19th Amendment states that if Parliament rejects the Statement of Government Policy or the Appropriation Bill or passes a vote of no-confidence in the Government, the Cabinet of Ministers shall stand dissolved, and the President shall, appoint a new Prime Minister, and a new Cabinet. Those who introduced this provision to the Constitution for some reason do not seem to have realised that contrary to the objectives of the 19th Amendment which was ostensibly brought to reduce the powers of the executive presidency, what has now happened is that the executive president has now been strengthened immeasurably and he has been vested with powers that J. R. Jayewardene never even thought of.

Under the provisions of the present law, the executive president can give a portfolio to any one of the 225 Members of Parliament. In the event an incumbent government loses the vote on the budget, the vote on the statement of government policy or loses a vote of no confidence, that means that the group that earlier had the majority in Parliament, no longer has that majority to be able to run the country. In such a situation, more often than not, there will not be any single group that can command a majority in Parliament. Under such circumstances, before the introduction of the 19th Amendment, Parliament would have been dissolved and the people given the opportunity to elect a new government. However in circumstances where Parliament cannot be dissolved, the responsibility for forming a new government will fall entirely on the shoulders of the President. He will have no option but to take a few MPs from one party, a few more from another party and somehow cobble together a majority even if he has to appoint all 113 MPs needed to maintain a bare majority as Ministers, State Ministers and Deputy Ministers.

The telling off of the century

The only reason why President Sirisena has not had to do that in the present instance is that the UNP government has got the backing of the TNA to be able to have a majority in Parliament and in any case, the UNP government that was in power before October 26th did not lose a vote on the budget, a vote on the statement of government policy or a vote of no-confidence motion. So, in this instance, the UNP has a majority in Parliament and that majority was able to prevail upon the President to appoint as Prime Minister the person they wanted appointed to that job. President Sirisena has now done that. But to think that they have brought the President under their control would be a bad mistake.

Last Sunday, President Sirisena appointed Ranil Wickremasinghe as Prime Minister, then got all of the UNP stalwarts who had come to witness the swearing in, seated around a table and proceeded to give them the kind of telling off that no Prime Minister has ever had to stomach immediately after being sworn in.

The video of that telling off went viral on the internet and that was the first taste that the UNP got of what life was going to be like under a hostile President. There will be worse to follow. Under the provisions of the 19th Amendment, the President can only if he sees fit, consult the Prime Minister, in determining the number of Ministers and the assignment of subjects and functions to such Ministers. Even though the President is mandatorily required to consult the Prime Minister in appointing MPs as Ministers, the President may at any time change the assignment of subjects and functions and the composition of the Cabinet of Ministers.

Furthermore, according to the provisions of the 19th Amendment the President is not only the head of the state and the executive, but also the head of the government and the head of the Cabinet as well. Thus, whether we like it or not, he will be compelled to shape the government according to his wishes. The reason why that parting of ways of October 26 took place was because the President had not sought to assert himself earlier. He watched the doings of the UNP as a passive partner in the government and over a period of time resentment built up. There were periodic outbursts as when he instituted a Commission of Inquiry to probe the Central Bank bond scam and disbanded the UNP’s economic affairs committee but his role and the role of the large number of UPFA Parliamentarians that he had within the government was mostly passive at least as far as policy making was concerned.

Remember what happened to Justice K. Sripavan?

If the president had actually been driving policy as his titles of head of state, head of the executive, head of the government and head of the Cabinet would suggest, there would have been no break up on October 26. This time, because the President has had to reappoint Wickremesinghe under protest, and the two will be compelled under the Constitution to continue together for at least one year and three months, the President will have to do whatever is necessary to browbeat, whip or flog that government into the shape he desires. The President is the head of the Cabinet and the head of the government. Therefore anything that the UNP does will also be his responsibility. Between 9 January 2015 and 26 October 2018, the people of this country did hold President Sirisena to be responsible for everything that was happening in the country.

Even though President Sirisena tried to distance himself from the doings of the UNP led government during the Feb. 10 local government elections, the people did not accept the President’s platform rhetoric. Now once again, if he plays a passive role in government letting the UNP do just as they please while he retains the titles of head of government and head of Cabinet, that will be the end of his political career. Thus, the exigencies of politics will compel him to stamp his imprimateur on the government that he is now in the process of forming with the UNP. Even after the President broke up with the UNP on 26 October and then lashed out at the UNP, many speakers of the UNP began saying that the President cannot escape blame for all that happened after 9 January 2015, because he too was part of the government and the Cabinet which makes collective decisions.

It must also be remembered that some time ago, the former Chief Justice K. Sripavan was given the impression by the then President of the Bar Association Geoffrey Alagaratnam that the Bar Association was recommending the appointment of a member of the private bar one R. Kannan as a High Court judge. When Kannan was appointed as a High Court judge there was an outcry against it from the career judges at the District Judge level who were waiting promotion. At that point the BASL issued a letter saying that no decision had been made by the BASL that Kannan should be appointed as a High Court Judge and it turned out that the president of the BASL had been canvassing for Kannan in his private capacity. What had happened in fact was that Alagaratnam had misled the Chief Justice and the members of the Judicial Services Commission.

By that time Kannan had already been appointed as a judge. Later, instead of apologizing to Justice Sripavan for having led him up the garden path, Alagaratnam had the temerity to say that the former Chief Justice should have exercised ‘due diligence’ in appointing Kannan as HC Judge. That is to say that if the CJ had been taken for a ride, the CJ was at fault. That was yahapalana morality at its best. Most normal, non-yahapalana types would think that the Chief Justice of the country should be able to have implicit faith in the President of the Bar Association and to accept his word without further scrutiny. These are the types that President Sirisena now has to contend with. So if he does not want to become another Sripavan, President Sirisena will have to whip the UNP government (both figuratively and literally) into a shape that is acceptable to him as the head of the government and the head of the Cabinet.

So Sri Lanka!

If President Sirisena does not do that, he will have only himself to blame when he has to share the responsibility for what happens in the country in the next one year and three months. The mighty harangue that President Sirisena started his new journey last Sunday shows that he is in fact acutely aware of this unwanted and unsought responsibility that has been thrust upon him by the Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court. The President has now been burdened with not only having to tolerate and coexist with a political party and individuals that he detests but even to function as their leader and to take collective responsibility for their doings! At least in this case, he was lucky to some extent because there was a readymade majority which he could appoint as a government and he did not have to exert himself to cobble together a majority to form a government.

However, if President Sirisena had found himself in a situation like that which President Chandrika Kumaratunga found herself, in 2001, he would have had to offer various inducements to reluctant MPs to join his government because the Constitution placed the responsibility of forming new governments and continuing until it was possible to dissolve Parliament on his shoulders. This writer has been saying, since the time this controversy broke out, that the power of dissolution is an integral part of the parliamentary system and that no Parliamentary form of government can be expected to run successfully without being able to dissolve parliament when the Parliamentary government can no longer command a majority.

However, the drafters of the 19th Amendment seem to have thought that the way to prevent a hostile President from dissolving parliament on a whim was to turn the MPs who aspire to form a government into prisoners of that same President. As former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has pointed out in his speech on 2 December, there is no legislature in the world with the sole exception of Norway which cannot be dissolved even if the incumbent government loses a vote on the budget, the vote on the statement of government policy or a no-confidence motion. Over the next one year and three months, the UNP and all of us Sri Lankans are going to learn the hard way why the power of dissolution was always an integral part of the Parliamentary tradition.

Sorry Women Of Sorry Politics

By Grusha Andrews –DECEMBER 19, 2018

“All Men – No Women” constitutional crisis has finished. In true UNP fashion the Galle Face tamasha complete with Flashback playing has ended with Rajitha Senaratne having the last word. He reminds one of Ranasinghe Premadasa, nicknamed Kaanu Kataa, the Gutter Mouth of UNP. Premadasa used to give the wind up speech of UNP rallies of the yesteryears. In traditional Sri Lankan rallies the last speech meant to titillate and entertain the gallery is delivered by the speaker with the highest capacity to utter filth, demean and disrespect opponents and deliver cheap words. In the Pohottu stage this is Wimal Weerawansa.

There is rising concern about the absence of women speakers in the crucial rallies of the UNP during the constitutional crisis. Hirunika Premachandra was used much like Ranasinghe Premadasa in the Live Streams from the Temple Tress to provide ‘bites’ to an intoxicated gallery. She spoke and spoke till our ears were full of her ignorant logic, rants, whining, cursing, justifications and inflating her own political image. She even came on TV and proclaimed that Kavinda Jayawardana was not petting her, but was restricting her in a corner of the parliament while the infamous chili attack was going on. The rest of us cringed. While our constitution is violated and our republic is sieged, Good Lord, did she seriously think that we care?

Death: The Jackpot Of Politics

In Sri Lankan politics a woman’s father, brother or husband just has to die for them to emerge to fill a reactionary vacuum. The vacuum may be emotional, race or caste based. Or it may have political utility. The more violent and gruesome the death, better political cash it is for the female aspirant in politics. The list is obvious: Sirima Bandaranaike, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Srimani Athulathmudali, Srima Dissanayake, Sudarshini Fernandopulle, Hirunika Premachandra, Ferial Ashroff, and Vijayakala Maheswaran- the list goes on.

Dynastic Politics

To recall some of the daughters, sisters and wives of the men who left their female relative as heirs to their thrones: Sunethra Ranasinghe, Amara Piyaseeli Rathnayake, Sumedha Jayasena, Samantha Karunarathna, Nirupama Rajapaksa, Chandrani Bandara, Rohini Kumari Wijerathna Kavirathna, Anoma Gamage, Thalatha Atukorale and Pavithra Wanniarachchi.

Except for Sunethra Ranasinge who notedly served as the Minister of Health and Women’s Affairs under President JR Jayewardene, none of the others in this select list are known for any positive contribution to society. I’m sure the readers can’t put a face to most of these names. The majority of them have apparently “served” in the parliament for so long, now enjoying the perks of retirement. The currently serving women in this list are mainly known for being mere decoration, dolled up to the occasion, in full make up. For example Chandrani Bandara, throughout the constitutional crisis was seen in the front of UNP stage making cute gestures and making cuter faces. I ask you, what great purpose does that serve? What wise word, comment on policy have you heard, coming out of her lips?

Worse are the likes of Pavithra Wanniarachhci, who, through violent behavior and her consistently filthy vocabulary helps bring the universal reputation of all women across the world to the gutter. Less said about Sudarshini Fernandopulle, the thug doctor who attempted to demolish the Speaker’s chair, the better.

More dangerous is Thalatha Atukorale who is apparently civilized. Apparent is the key word. When a media person questioned her about the Bond Scam as a contributor to precipitate the constitutional crisis, she sarcastically responded, face twisted in arrogance, “what is the bond scam? Can you explain to me what it is? We don’t have to answer your questions. You first learn about it and them come and question me!” More like a line from a Walawwe Hamu in a cheap teledrama. Looks like the woman seriously thinks she is better than the reporter. Why, one wonders? The reporter may be inexperienced, but he has not scammed the people’s money. The UNP has. See from 0.52 second to see the attitude of UNP’s female politicians. See how they get together to bully the reporter like a scene from Mean Girls.

Lesson from India to Sri Lanka as India powers to $ 2 trillion

Indian Vijay Mallya can be sent to India in fraud case, UK judge rules

Thursday, 20 December 2018

In the backdrop of the exchange rate fluctuations due to the strengthening of the dollar, the Indian Government pushed for ‘governance’ by asking the British Government to extradite the Indian liquor baron Vijay Malaya who has taken refuge in the UK after defaulting 13 banks in India.

The media hailed the decision by the Modi Government and pushed for finding all refugees who have engaged in similar acts in the past, given that most of them are alleged to have worked in collusion with banking officials and politicians.

This is a clear lesson for Sri Lanka given the President’s speech on the appointment of the Prime Minister on 16 December where he clearly referred to the issue of the Central Bank bond scam and the action taken to hold the responsible officers for the issue.

India powers to $ 2 trillion

Even though India has slipped one place from eighth to ninth position, the power of the country is seen by the 5% growth to the $ 2.1 trillion by a strong performance on exports, tourism and FDI which are key pivots to the nation brand computing score whilst the Modi Government is keeping the pressure on the governance front like in the case of the Malaya of Kingfisher fame. Once again a lesson for Sri Lanka on how competitive a nation must become in today’s world.

India as a nation has beaten Australia, Spain, Mexico and Switzerland, which indicates the power of driving the economy. India has jumped five places in the Global Competitiveness Index in the World Economic Forum (WEF) due to the strong reforms driven on research, innovation and nation’s e-governance which includes digitalisation at a provincial level. Once again this indicates the State role in facilitating the private sector to power the nation.

In 2017, countries like Algeria and Ukraine beat Sri Lanka on nation brand value which is the competitiveness of the country on a combination of factors that includes governance, people, tourism, exports and FDIs. The next set of countries that will overtake us will be Slovenia, Iraq and Angola, which is we must not allow at any cost. The question is, who do we have to tell this reality?

Indian brands grow 110% to $ 146 b

The HDFC brand continues to be the strongest brand in India with 21% growth to $21.7 billion dollars as per WPP analysis. This further consolidates the position that India remains the fastest growing country on brands, beating China. It also tells us about the policy reforms that the Modi Government is carrying out to facilitate the private sector to drive the economy whilst outpacing China.

In simple words the conducive Government policy with the increasing use of digital technology is shaping India to be a dominant country globally in the top 10 rostrum – a lesson that Sri Lanka can pick up irrespective of which party was responsible for the last three years’ economic lag, the Central Bank robbery that increased interest rates by 3% and the drastic decision by the President that led to the judicial impasse.

Malaya issue

A man with an image of the celebrating the ‘Good Times of India’ anchored by Kingfisher Airlines is on multiple bailable and non-bailable warrants issues against him by various judicial courts in India, due to the complaints lodged against him by Enforcement Director (ED), Central Bureau for Investigations (CBI) apart from the 13 banks that are stating that commitments have not been met.

The court verdict on the extradition from the UK was damning given the strong language used which actually can create a dent in brand India given the linkages to the alleged link with politicians and banks that have lent money based on a nontangible asset like brand value of the company.

Be that it may, the lesson for Sri Lanka is how important it is to push the law-enforcing officials on the alleged scams at SriLankan Airlines, etc. that were investigated by organisations like FCID and CIABOC but has not proceeded for conclusion. These impact the overall performance of a country which is valued by the nation branding score.

Pakistan – trailblazer at 15% growth

Believe it or not, a country straddled by political instability, terrorism and internal issues, Pakistan, is a trailblazing nation that has grown its brand value from a mere 54 billion in 2011 to $ 196 billion in 2017, at a year on year growth of 15% and a commanding 263% growth between 2011 and 2018 which is rooted to the deep cutting-edge reforms at play. Another clear lesson for Sri Lanka.

The country has been implementing the IMF reforms though it is hurting the people which is a key pick up to Sri Lanka in my view. The appointment of cricketing legend Imran Khan as the Prime Minister and the focus drive taking place with China-Pakistan economic corridor will sure add weight to the country’s performance.

The reality as at now is that Sri Lanka has been downgraded by international rating agencies Moody’s and Fitch, the country has slipped on the nation brand ranking from 59 to 61 this year; from a consumer household consumption point of view – food, household and personal – it has contracted seven times in a row quarterly, meaning from 2017 onwards, which is very serious. So whilst we see neighbours India and Pakistan pushing the economic agenda, for Sri Lanka it is more a case of survival.

SL will bounce back

Whilst things can be rough given that Sri Lanka has slipped two places in the global Nation Branding Index and been beaten by Algeria and Ukraine hopefully, with the appointment of the Prime Minister last Sunday we might be able to stabilise the economy.

If we track back to the darkest times in Sri Lanka’s history in 2009, Sri Lanka experienced the toughest environment where the city was being raided daily by the LTTE, whilst the barrel of oil was being traded globally at $150 plus with Sri Lanka having just under one month of cover on foreign exchange reserves. The stock exchange had crashed to 1900 by April 2009. But Sri Lanka rode the wave.

The war came to a close by May 2019 and Sri Lanka recovered within six months to beef up reserves to $ 6 billion and the stock market spiralled past 7000 whilst the economy that was just $ 30 billion in 2009 crossed $ 80 billion in just six years. That is the power of brand Sri Lanka and on the resiliency attribute withered Sri Lanka will sure bounce back to become a strong nation. My estimate is that it will be 2020 when Sri Lanka can get back the lost glory.

The issue

But the issue that we must not forget is that the world is moving faster and is passing Sri Lanka. We are continually getting beaten on FDI investments, the ability of attracting quality tourists and entering quality export markets.

In 2017, countries like Algeria and Ukraine beat Sri Lanka on nation brand value which is the competitiveness of the country on a combination of factors that includes governance, people, tourism, exports and FDIs. The next set of countries that will overtake us will be Slovenia, Iraq and Angola, which is we must not allow at any cost. The question is, who do we have to tell this reality?

(The thoughts are strictly the writer’s personal views and do not reflect the organisations he serves in Sri Lanka or globally. Dr. Athukorala was the first Executive Director of the pivotal policymaking body the National Council for Economic Development in the Finance Ministry.)

When an unchanging man promises change

2018-12-20

Ranil Wickremesinghe (left) taking oaths as premier for the 5th time
The United National Part (UNP) has gone from strength to strength reminding the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) of an old saying ‘united we stand, divided we fall’.

The UNP was in tatters many years ago when a sizable section of the party rebelled against its Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was on December 16 (Sunday) sworn in as Prime Minister for the fifth time.

Being a shrewd politician Wickremesinghe survived all that, including a series of election defeats by the Green Party, to hold on to the party leadership. Later on, probably due to the maturity of other Green Party members, the rebel movement within the UNP died a natural death. During the recent 52-day political crisis witnessed in Sri Lanka, UNP members stood behind its leader like never before; showing that they couldn’t be bought over for money. This was a time when one parliamentarian who showed an interest in crossing over to strengthen the Rajapaksa-Sirisena regime was allegedly offered as much as rupees 500 million. The UNP showed through its actions that democracy can’t be undermined and is invaluable.

Ranil has not changed as a person regardless of whether he is in the government or the opposition
Sirisena’s national thinking policies were often undermined by the Western influenced Wickremesinghe
The prime minister isn’t a people friendly person to obtain such a large number of votes

Today the SLFP can only envy the Green Party. SLFP parliamentarian Wijith Wijayamuni Zoysa, who has decided to sit on the side of the Government, told Parliament about the woes of the SLFP. But what’s important at this juncture is that Zoysa along with Lakshman Senewiratne and Indika Bandaranayake choosing to throw their weight behind the Government to be formed by the newly appointed Premier Wickremesinghe. Zoysa’s shift in alliance may not be because he fancies Wickremesinghe, but could be largely influenced by the fact that he felt that the country was suffering due to the selfish motives of politicians and something had to be done about it.

The individual who caused this chaos, Sirisena, gives all indication that he would give the Wickremesinghe led government a hard time. The president has informed all SLFPers not to accept posts in the Cabinet to be formed. Sirisena has said that he would not take disciplinary action against any SLFPers who offer support for a UNP led alliance that intends forming the new government. But Sirisena, with his back to the wall, can at this time be a ruthless individual. Though the 19th A clips some of his executive powers he can annul certain decisions taken in Parliament. A good example is when he annulled the approval of an increase in the salaries of Government ministers by over 200%.

What Ranil sees

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe clash leaves a trail which if closely viewed shows that there is a confrontation between the thinking of the elite and those from the village. Sirisena’s national thinking policies were often undermined by the Western influenced Wickremesinghe who believes in the thinking that the brains of foreign nations would bring the much needed solutions to the island’s economic woes. A good example is the hurriedly signed Free Trade Agreement Sri Lanka entered into with Singapore. Many are of the opinion that this FTA would not provide any significant or worthwhile benefit to Sri Lanka.

Sirisena continues to warn that foreign powers are looking for an opportunity to get involved in the affairs of Sri Lanka. This is nothing new given that Sri Lanka’s geographic location is so important to countries like India, China, Japan and the USA. But Wickremesinghe has seen what Sirisena has failed to see in the form of an opportunity that has arisen for Sri Lanka to develop its country through the brains and finances of other nations. But what’s of concern are the attempts by Wickremesinghe to sell off government assets to foreign nations.

Now Wickremesinghe is busy getting ready to form a new alliance by the name Democratic National Front (DNF). He claims that he has the support of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, All Ceylon Makkal Congress, Jathika Hela Urumaya, Tamil Progressive Alliance and some members of the SLFP who are threatening to break away.

Wickremesinghe’s idea to form an alliance is probably backed by the realization that the UNP alone would not in the future have the numbers to form the majority in Parliament. The UNP badly needs the support of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). But the TNA has put its support on hold pending receiving the UNP’s approval or consent regarding the many demands by the Tamil Ealam Liberation Organization; a constituent party of this alliance.

Wickremesinghe’s idea to form an alliance is probably backed by the realization that the UNP alone would not in the future have the numbers to form the majority in Parliament

If the Wickremesinghe initiated NDF is formed and the goal of mustering two thirds of the votes in parliament is achieved, it would help abolish the executive presidency. If this happens Sirisena would be reduced to a puppet. The shrewd thinking of Wickremesinghe unfortunately seems to fuel his ambition to retain power for ever; rather than lift the country from the financial mess it is in. The large crowds that gathered at Galle Face green on Monday (December 16) don’t really say much about the real support for Wickremesinghe. . Much of the crowd looked like they were there on the promise that they would be well looked after later in the evening.

But Wickremesinghe has got the approval he most needs. And that has come from the European Union, United States of America, China, Canada and Australia. These foreign forces have commended Sri Lanka for peacefully resolving its political crisis keeping in accordance with the Constitution. And that Sri Lanka is now headed by Wickremesinghe and eventually he’d take ownership of the compliments paid to this country’s legislators by the outside world.

‘Better living conditions’

Wickremesinghe early this week promised the people of this country ‘better living conditions’ in the future. For this to materialize the government to be formed must curtail extravagant spending by ministers and introduce a reasonable tax policy.

Wickremesinghe has not changed as a person regardless of whether he is in the government or the opposition. He is accused of wanting luxuries which is confirmed by the fact that the Yahapalana regime wanted more perks for ministers. He also sees his real opponent, Mahinda Rajapaksa, being the same unchanged person he is; both sharing one common trait and that is to hold on to power forever.

As far as ambition is concerned Wickremesinghe does not seem to be short of fuel. But given his age and the capacity needed for a seasoned politician to understand the real needs of the people, Wickremesinghe has really fallen short of expectations.