19th Amendment a victory for all

Despite the tug-of-war between the Government and the main Opposition UPFA on two major clauses in the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, sanity prevailed at the eleventh hour when both parties reached a compromise to pass the much-awaited piece of legislation in Parliament with an overwhelming majority of 211 votes due to President Maithripala Sirisena's candid efforts to iron out the differences between the SLFP and UNP on the core issue.

The President who remained in the Parliament complex during the whole day on Tuesday manifested his genuine desire to turn his election pledge into a reality in passing this key legislation to prune the powers of the Executive Presidency.

President Sirisena intervened to put an end to the issues that cropped up between Government and Opposition members over two Amendments to be incorporated to the 19th Amendment and eventually mustered their support to get the Bill passed with an overwhelming majority.

Disagreement

Government legislators during the two-day debate on the 19th Amendment expressed disagreement to the proposal by the Opposition to change two clauses envisaging that the President should appoint Ministers to the Cabinet with the concurrence of the Prime Minister and the appointment of three external persons to the Constitutional Council (CC).

The Opposition members who initially voted for the Second Reading of the Bill demanded that the Government should amend the clause, 'President seeking the Prime Minister's approval to appoint Cabinet of Ministers' and also insisted to change the clause, 'the CC should comprise only Members of Parliament (MPs)'. Parliament worked over time after the Opposition refused to agree to the clauses in the 19th Amendment.

After extensive talks President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had with Government and the Opposition members, consensus was reached to amend the two clauses and change the composition of the Constitutional Council into seven MPs and three non political persons.

Flexible

The passage of the 19th Amendment thwarted the conspiracy engineered by a faction of UPFA parliamentarians who were ardent supporters of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, to prevent the passing of this historic legislation. Opening the debate on the 19th Amendment, President Sirisena told the House that no other Head of State in the world had been flexible and willing to give up his Executive powers the way he did.

President Sirisena said that bringing the 19th Amendment before the House was a victory for the people in keeping with the mandate given by 6.2 million people who voted for him.

Ardent supporter

Both the Government and the main opposition UPFA had tabled 174 Amendments to be incorporated into the proposed Bill on the 19th Amendment at the Committee Stage. This included 63 Amendments from the Government and 111 Amendments from the Opposition.

Yet another highlight was that it took over four hours to make Committee Stage Amendments which commenced at 7.00pm and continued till 11.00pm. UPFA Digamadulla District parliamentarian Sarath Weerasekera, an ardent supporter of former President Rajapaksa became the solitary parliamentarian who voted against the Bill while Front Line Socialist Party member Ajith Kumara abstained from voting.

Absence

The Former President's son, MP Namal Rajapaksa also voted in favour of the Bill. Ten parliamentarians at the time of the Third Reading Vote-Prabha Ganeshan, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, D.M. Jayaratne, Keheliya Rambukwella, Basil Rajapaksa, Premalal Jayasekara, Jagath Balasuriya, Janaka Bandara, Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera and A. Vinayagamurthi were conspicuous by their absence.

The Right to Information (RTI) Draft Bill also turned into a hot topic on the floor of the House due to the Point of Order raised by UPFA MP Dinesh Gunawardena that though the RTI Draft Bill had been referred to the Supreme Court, the Members of Parliament had not seen it as yet.

Contradictions

Leader of the House and Plantation Industries Minister Lakshman Kiriella told the House that the Draft Bill would be tabled in Parliament subsequent to the Supreme Court determination.

UPFA Parliamentarian Prof G.L. Peiris said that the Draft Bill could not be brought in as an urgent Bill according to the provisions of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

If the 19th Amendment is passed, the RTI Bill could not be brought in as urgent. There are many contradictions, he said. Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva said that as the Government gave a timeframe to study the contents of the 19th Amendment, ample time was needed to study the RTI Bill.

Adequate time should be given to the people to understand its contents and then refer it to the Supreme Court, he said.

The Prime Minister said that the RTI Act and National Auditing Act would be presented in Parliament only after the 19th Amendment was passed.

Critical

The Premier who was critical of the Opposition's response to the Bill alleged that when the RTI Act was brought in by the then MP Karu Jayasuriya as a Private Member Bill, these very same people opposed it.

If the Opposition wants to know the contents of the Draft Bill, they could peruse the Bill brought in by MP Jayasuriya.

He accused the Opposition of hindering the efforts of bringing in the Right to Information Act.

Opposition members raised serious concern on the Government's decision to set up a special bureau similar to the Serious Frauds Office of the United Kingdom to probe financial frauds.

Responding to a query by Colombo District UPFA parliamentarian Gamini Lokuge, the Prime Minister said that many countries had institutions to investigate financial crimes of a serious nature and not having a similar one here was a severe hindrance to punish the fraudsters. Premier Wickremesinghe has become a policeman himself and was interfering with matters, MP Lokuge alleged.

The Prime Minister rejecting his allegations said he was not a policemen to intervene in police matters. He requested the House not to support protecting crooks and fraudsters.