Dignity and decorum of Parliament at highest levels

By Uditha KUMARASINGHE

Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody said there should be more unity between the Government and the Opposition on issues of national importance. If we take any developed country, as far as national issues are concerned, it is not only MPs but also the people stand together as citizens of that country irrespective of politics. The Deputy Speaker in an interview with the Sunday Observer said except for a handful, the majority of Sri Lankans stood with President Mahinda Rajapaksa over his decision to eradicate terrorism. Politicians and political parties should not try to mix up their petty political agendas with the future of the country. It is entirely upto the main Opposition UNP to resolve their internal problems and make an effective contribution to develop the country.

According to the Deputy Speaker there is a general improvement among MPs to maintain the dignity and decorum of the House. First of all he thanked Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa who always tries his level best to ensure discipline and impartiality as Speaker which has contributed immensely to maintain the dignity and decorum of the House. He said the President’s frequent visits to Parliament indicates his firm commitment to uphold Parliamentary democracy.

Q: It has been observed on many occasions that both the Government and Opposition benches are mostly empty even during important debates. How could MPs contribute more fruitfully to the Parliamentary process?

A: That has been an issue right through in Parliament history. But of course time is equally allocated for the Opposition and the ruling party. So invariably all members don’t get an opportunity to participate in every debate specially with a massive ruling party. Not very often will a member get more than 10 or 15 minutes to express his views. It does not mean members are not keen to contribute.

Very often there is competition to participate in debates. At the same time, when you look at the Chamber as an outsider, it looks empty. Because sometimes though members remain within Parliament, they are either in the library, lobby, canteen or some may attend to various committees while Parliament sessions are on, the Consultative Committees are also in progress. Members of Parliament prefer to be present in these meetings and make a positive contribution. In addition COPE, PAC and the Public Petitions Committees are on. That is why an outsider sees an empty Chamber.

That is one reason why Parliament sessions were put off to start at 1.00pm to enable Ministers to attend to ministerial work during the morning hours and to participate effectively in Parliament after lunch. This is the main reason behind the decision to start Parliament sittings at 1.00pm to get the best contribution of members. We have also planned to convert Parliament into an “E Parliament”. We have taken a decision to install computers on every table and fix about 20 laptop computers outside the lobby so that MPs will learn to access and work on that. Once this system is fully developed, every MP will know as to whatever is presented by him stands. Internal bureaucracy will come to an end, while transparency and accountability will be at the highest degree. President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa are very keen to implement these initiatives immediately. We have taken a decision to successfully move this forward in Parliament.

Q: There have been many criticisms about privileges given to MPs . What is your view regarding this?

A: As far as the law is concerned, Parliament privileges of MPs are limited to those who attend Parliament on that day. If somebody is a Parliamentarian, he or she cannot be obstructed or disturbed on his or her way to Parliament. Their privileges are restricted to those two points. Other than that the provision of lunch to MPs cannot be considered as an extraordinary privilege. If we take the private sector, all three meals are provided free of charge. But one may try blow it up and call these as privileges. If the JVP talks about it, I don’t want to dig into personal things. But you should go and see who is enjoying the best out of the cafeteria.

Q: What is the progress of plans to telecast live Parliamentary proceedings?

A: At present anyone can see the proceedings live on the Parliament web. This is nothing new in the country. But lot of people don’t know they can view Parliament proceedings live on the web. It is the Speaker’s initiative to telecast proceedings live. But we have to say this live telecast does not mean that any disturbance or obstruction will be permitted to be transmitted or viewed. Even now any video clip pertaining to a situation of disturbance or obstruction in Parliament is not released to the press. These are parliamentary practices and such parts are expunged from the record. Parliament is not there to provide entertainment for people to laugh at. Whatever content that is contributed in Parliament should be for the betterment of the country and it should be made available to the public. But no time frame is set out as yet to telecast Parliament proceedings live. It is being discussed and we will have to have meetings with broadcasting institutions.

Q: The real work of Parliament is done mostly through committees. But the public has little or no idea about the work done by these committees. How can this situation be improved?

A: Very often people are ignorant on this count. The majority don’t know as to why they appoint a Member of Parliament. Actually they don’t know what should be expected from a Member of Parliament. Such people are there only to elect members. Later they get annoyed if the MP elected by them is not present at their wedding, funeral or any other family function. That has been the expectation of the majority. But a Member of Parliament is not elected only for that purpose.

I don’t say that an elected MP should not visit his voters and be present at weddings or other family functions. That is also a part of our culture. But at the same time, that should not be the criteria or reason for electing a member. A member is elected to Parliament to effectively participate in Parliament in formulation of policies to move the country forward. It is also the responsibility of elected member to see that ministries and departments function according to these programs, plans and expectations of the Government and the people. They should also review and propose amendments and suggest where the directions should be varied.

The role of the committees are mainly for that purpose. Especially Consultative Committees and even COPE and PAC are there for that purpose. The clearance of bottle necks is a key thing in a rapidly developing country like Sri Lanka which was lagging behind for a long time.

At present committees meet regularly . The ministries consultative committees have to meet every month and other committees also meet up very often. However, some are still not making use of these committees through their Mps due to ignorance and false expectations.

Q: Do you think there should be more unity on national issues between the Government and Opposition in and out of Parliament?

A: Absolutely. That is something that we all have to think of . If you take any developed country, as far as national issues are concerned, it is not only members of Parliament but also the people stand together as the citizens of that country irrespective of politics. We should also intend to look at our achievements. Excepting for a handful, a majority of Sri Lankans stood by the President towards his decision taken to eradicate terrorism. I would say that was one key factor which contributed to that great victory. Now terrorism has been eradicated.

What is left now is to develop this country and improve the economy. For that also we may have various personnel grievances. Even in a family, every member may not have the same opinion. But as a family it stands together. Likewise all of us as politicians and political parties should not try to mix petty political agendas with the future of the country.

At this phase of reconciliation and reconstruction, the Opposition should also look at that as their responsibility. At present the Opposition in this country is very weak.

There are so many groups among the main Opposition UNP. First they have to resolve their internal problems before looking into to the requirements of the people and expectations of the nation.

It is entirely upto the main opposition UNP to resolve their problems and make an effective contribution to develop the country.

Q: Is there a general improvement in the MP’s attempts to maintain dignity and decorum of Parliament?

A: Certainly. First of all we must thank Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa who always tries his level best to ensure discipline and impartiality as the Speaker which has immensely helped to maintain dignity and decorum of the House. At the same time a majority of newly elected members are well behaved in Parliament.

Q: Only a handful of women MPs are there in Parliament. What should be done to increase their representation?

A: This is an issue which voters should think. Of the country’s total population, over 52 percent are women. Unfortunately when we put forward a woman candidate to a Pradeshiya Sabha, even women don’t vote. If you take woman MPs in Parliament, unless they are appointed from the National List, almost every women MP is there because of their father or husband who died or was assassinated. Therefore the increase of women representation is a matter which the public and voters should think.

Q: There are a large number of young MPs in Parliament. How do you see this trend?

A: I must say that this is a very good sign on the part of voters. They have chosen young blood probably with lots of expectations of rebuilding this country as much as possible.

This election was held soon after the end of the war against terrorist. This indicates the people’s expectation is to see the country being developed with the use of young blood and energy.

Q: The President visited Parliament again last week. How does this strengthen democracy?

A: It shows the President’s commitment to uphold Parliament and its democracy. It has been able to build a cordial relationship between the Executive and the Legislature. The President’s frequent visits not only officially bridge the gap but also provides an opportunity to the President to interact with Members of Parliament on both sides. We have always seen every time when the President visits Parliament, more Opposition members are there to meet him and conduct various points of discussions with him. I believe this is something which has never happened after the introduction of the 1978 constitution to the country. I think this is a very significant development, of which all Sri Lankans should be proud and happy.

Q: How has the 18th Amendment strengthened Parliament and democratic traditions?

A: The 18th Amendment brought in amendments to appoint a Parliamentary Council of which all members are elected by the people. So it is a composition of all parties. There is also a likelihood of the majority falling to the Opposition. The Speaker of the last Parliament was from the Opposition.

That is the case, the majority can be even from the Opposition. It signifies the people’s choice. Under the 17th Amendment a person who sets to be an independent, a person who has not been elected by the people and sometimes a person who may be hated by the people or the individual may hate the majority of the people could get into a commission.

No political party will want to propose a person who is absolutely independent. We don’t find such people. What is the political party that will nominate a person’s name if that person is not loyal to that political party. These are fictions of imagination. It was an attempt to be govern with fictitious illusions.

There was a Police Commission which was headed by a very reputed and senior lawyer who has contributed a lot during his young days. By the time he was appointed by the President he was very old and the entire Police transfers, promotions and everything were at a standstill.

That was the case in some other commissions as well. But now it is not the case. Now the Parliamentary Council has taken an initiative to appoint election, bribery and the public service commission. The members appointed to these commissions are competent people who can deliver good results. At present these commissions are functioning. I believe the 18th Amendment has brought a value to the vote that the people have caste at the election. Whoever takes decisions, it is answerable now.

If the members elected don’t perform up to the expectations of voters, at the end of the term they can be sent home.

But if he is a socalled independent person, he cannot be sent out even if he goes against the people. Now that danger is taken out and given back to the people of this country.

Q: Is the Government planning to implement the 13th Amendment or even go beyond it?

A: What is important right now is to develop this country and to resolve the misunderstandings created among the communities. In order to achieve these targets with the expectation of moving this country forward, we have to think of what amendments we are trying to bring into our constitution and also our proposals for devolution.

If the then UNP Government attempted to introduce the 13th Amendment, even the members of the then Cabinet of President J.R. Jayewardene did not know its contents.

But we don’t want something like that. We want something that is acceptable to all the communities in this country.

We have to maintain a cordial relationship with the neighbouring countries and the international community. We must not endanger President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s foreign policy or the close relations maintained with India. That is why the Indian Prime Minister is planning to come to Sri Lanka after a lapse of 13 or 14 years.

At the same time we have to maintain our relationship with other nations as well. But it does not mean that we are being pushed into a situation by any of those countries.

We know what our policy is and which direction we are moving towards. But we get a handful of so called ‘interpreters’ who are trying to spoil our international relationship by saying either we are being dictated or we don’t listen at all. Either way they attempt to damage our international relations.

As a country, we must be extremely careful of these few elements in the country who are trying to give misinterpretations to create political disharmony in and outside the country specially with the international community.

It is we who fought the war against terrorist and suffered. It is we who want this country to be taken forward and it is for this Government that the people have given a mandate. With the leadership of the President , we have moved forward to the best satisfaction of the people.

Therefore I don’t see the issue as being a 13 plus or minus. The issue is an acceptable solution which will keep Sri Lankans happy and as a result of it we will be able to maintain or strengthen international ties with almost every country that will be our strategy.

Q: You are the youngest Parliamentarian appointed to the Deputy Speaker’s post. How do you view your appointment?

A: First of all I must be thankful to the President for giving me this opportunity and all Members of Parliament for having accepted it. I believe that is something that I have to handle. Because there are so many people who are younger than me who have handled high positions. I think age is not the main issue that should be taken into consideration. This is an opportunity I got and I believe I would be able to handle it and fulfil my duties to the satisfaction of the people.