Constitutional reform - the panacea for all ills - Rohitha Bogollagama

by Manjula Fernando

Former Foreign Minister and SLFP organiser for Kotte Rohitha Bogollagama in an interview with the Sunday Observer said the 13th Amendment is no sine qua non for all ills for Sri Lanka and the time is opportune for the country to bring in much-needed constitutional reform.

"Any reform must come within the community. The international community will come to respect the mandate of any given country. They will only be concerned in the event it is used either to subjugate, deny, suppress or destabilize a section of society."

Excerpts of the interview:

With the introduction of the 13th Amendment Sri Lanka managed power devolution, but the 13th Amendment by itself, has earned the apathy of the people of the country because it is not something the country wanted instead it's something that has been forced on us.

From Prime Minister J.R. Jayawardene's administration, R. Premadasa to the then main opposition party - SLFP, and the JVP outrightly opposed the 13th Amendment.

However, it has become part and parcel of our Constitution. It went through because there was force used to get the Jayawardene administration to yield and with two thirds in hand, the 13th Amendment it went through. If at that time President Jayawardene did not have a two thirds majority, we would not have seen the colour of the 13th Amendment under whatever dictat or force.

There was resistance by President Premadasa, Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake and a large section of the then government. But it was simply steamrolled. That exercise need not be repeated merely because there are concerns expressed by outside sources.

We have to evaluate that after 25 years since it became part and parcel of our Constitution, people's impressions and sentiments have been much to the contrary of the purpose of the 13th Amendment.

Can we use the 13th Amendment as a vehicle towards addressing problems of the North and East for which it was introduced? At the time India thought it best that its introduction will address the needs of security and integration of all communities in Sri Lanka by devolving power within the ambit of the 13th Amendment.

But it has not been accepted by a larger section of the people as now seen from the sentiments expressed including that of the TNA.

Therefore I think the time is opportune for us to work towards an indigenous system of integrating our society, thereby we should bring in constitutional reform that can address the fundamental core aspirations of our people for greater integration, security, trust, confidence and the economic advancement of our nation.

If one thinks that the 13th Amendment is a sine qua non for all ills of Sri Lanka, that is a big mistake. For twenty five years it has not proved to be so. It has got the registered name today as a white elephant.

Why do people call it a white elephant because the amount of money that has been voted for provincial councils, has not been able to yield adequate positive results. I am told that Rs. 200 billion it spent annually in terms of the provincial council administration, out of which only 15% is spent on capital expenditure.

It is a waste of national resources. In replacing the 13th Amendment, we have to find alternative measures that can cater to our core needs, integration of our society, equality for all nationality and economic advancement of our country.

Therefore we need those to be brought in as our main objective in replacing the 13th Amendment.

I think the Government should look at constitutional reform. And President Mahinda Rajapaksa is best suited for that. He has the leadership to offer the needed reforms.

Repeatedly the Government had been looking at various options and alternatives. And one such option I could suggest is to have District Development level Councils and use the local government agencies in the country to strengthen their administrative framework and devolve more power for administrative work so that each of those units become a viable, and productive unit, catering to the basic and continuing needs of our society at the periphery.

Then you have the district council without making a heavily loaded political assembly, you can have a district level minister who can guide the envelopment agenda at the district level with administrative secretaries or district secretaries.

At the centre you must have a 'bicameral system' where you have a Senate that can look at the regional representation further strengthened at the centre, where the rights of all communities can be protected and equality administered.

There are a lot of systems currently working in the world where we could get ideas. If you take the extreme European system, like the Swiss, at the grassroots level there is devolution. If you take the bigger countries like India, at a different level there is devolution.

In India you have the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, In Japan a Senate and the Parliament, in Australia you have the House of Lords and Parliament, In UK you have the Upper House and the House of Lords, in Canada you have the Senate and in US a Senate and the House of Representatives.

All these countries have different races, varying districts, provinces but they have at the Centre a very unified national agenda being maintained, for an integrated society. What we too need is integration not segregation.

The Government must have the mandate of the people. Any reform must come within the community. The international community will come to respect the mandate of any given country.

They will only be concerned in the event it is used either to subjugate or deny, suppress or destabilize a section of society. But if you usher the fundamental values of democracy, and fairplay for all people, no outside force or country can express any dissent and it is not important. What is needed is a national agenda acceptable to all people.

The SLMC is a weak policy maker. Their policies change from night to day. We cannot attach credibility to the concerns they have expressed on the abolition of 13th Amendment.