The Cabinet Conundrum

Speculation rife as to who will get what and the political tug-o-war:

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Forming a Cabinet in the good old days was never controversial, as parties emerged with a clear majority after a General Election.

Today, the diversity of political opinion has split votes and no single party finds it easy to command a majority.

Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera

Duminda Dissanayake

Prof. Siri Hettige Pix: ANCL Media Library

The UNP which won 106 seats is busy brokering to form a government with the rival SLFP. Continuous negotiations between the two blocks have centered on the number of portfolios, especially the major ministries to be shared.It is not political ideology or principles that has caused the indecision.

Speculation is rife over 70 SLFP parliamentarians joining the UNP- headed national government.

In time to come, perhaps it will be cobbled up governments with no absolute majority, since voters are divided between the UNP and the SLFP with the balkanized-Left driven to oblivion.

Despite speculation on the swearing-in of the new Cabinet of the national government on September 2, party sources have confirmed that the swearing-in is not likely to take place as scheduled due to a tug-of-war between the SLFP and UNP over the allocation of portfolios.

SLFP Acting General Secretary, Duminda Dissanayake’s Thursday’s (August 27) remarks clearly reiterated his party’s stance, when he categorically said that a national government should be formed by Parliament and not by political parties.

Earlier, the media reported that after a series of extensive discussions, the UNP and the SLFP had reached consensus to share the portfolio and the swearing-in ceremony of the new Cabinet would take place on September 2, after the first session of the eighth parliament convenes on September 1 to approve the exact number of members to be in the Cabinet.

Anniversary

However, SLFP Acting General Secretary Duminda Dissanayake told a news conference on Thursday (August 27) the swearing-in of the Cabinet would not take place on September 2 as scheduled, because the 64th anniversary of the SLFP would be held in Polonnaruwa on September 2 under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena who is the party chairman.

UNP party sources also confirmed the swearing-in of the new Cabinet may not be possible on September 2, if party leaders demand a parliamentary debate on the composition of the national government when the UNP put forward the proposal to form a national government at the party leader’s meeting scheduled to be held on September 1. If party leaders turn down the request to form a national government, it will have to be debated in Parliament most probably on September 2.

The UNP-led United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) secured 106 seats while the SLFP-led United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) obtained 95 seats, but both parties failed to secure an absolute majority in the 225-member Parliament.

No consensus

This paved the way for the two major parties, the UNP and the SLFP to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on August 21 to form a national government soon after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s swearing-in ceremony. The UNP during its Presidential and Parliamentary elections consistently stressed the importance of forming an all-party national government, thus creating a new political culture.

After extensive discussions, the UNP and SLFP reached a consensus, putting an end to the controversy over allocating portfolios between the two parties.

According to party sources, the nw Cabinet to be sworn in during this week would allocate 30 portfolios to the UNP and 15 to the SLFP. In addition, 40 Deputy Ministerial portfolios are also to be shared.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and three Cabinet Ministers of the new government, Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe and Resettlement Minister D. M. Swaminathan have already taken oaths before President Maithripala Sirisena.

During the past few days, the UNP and the SLFP had failed to reach a consensus over the number of ministerial slots in the Cabinet as Parliament had to decide on the exact number of ministers to be in Cabinet when a national government is formed.

According to the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, the number of ministers in any government should not exceed 30, unless a national government is formed to cater to the needs of the people. Subsequently, a proposal has to be presented in Parliament seeking approval to increase the number of members when Parliament convenes on September 1.

According to informed political sources, the SLFP during the initial discussions had demanded at least a few key ministerial posts such as Finance, Highways, Higher Education, Power and Energy, Irrigation, Agriculture and Samurdhi.

SLFP Senior Vice President and Ratnapura District UPFA parliamentarian, W.D.J. Senewiratne told the Sunday Observer almost all the subjects to be allocated to the SLFP have already been finalised with 15 ministerial portfolios to be given to SLFP seniors in the national government.

He said the swearing-in would not take place on September 2 as the President had to attend the 64th anniversary celebrations of the SLFP in Polonnaruwa on September 2.

In all likelihood, the swearing-in will take place on September 3 or 4. An SLFP stalwart said some key ministerial portfolios such as Agriculture, Social Empowerment, Labour, Sports, Petroleum, Power and Energy, Public Administration and Home Affairs, Science and Technology and Vocational Training will be given to the SLFP.

He also said over 70 SLFP parliamentarians have expressed their support to the national government saying that this number would further increase after forming the national government.

Key issues

Senior Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Colombo, Siri Hettige told the Sunday Observer that President Maithripala Sirisena who addressed the Public Policy Forum organised by the University had requested intellectuals to come up with a proposal on the composition of the Cabinet.

“We proposed a 30-member Cabinet on a scientific basis to facilitate development and other burning issues in the country. We clearly explained how the subjects should be devolved in a rational way and it was a logical framework.

What is now being discussed is entirely different to what we proposed. The Cabinet will accommodate various political shades and not provide a solution to key issues. They have come together to form a government to sustain political pressure and we have past experiences about it,” he said. “Politicians use their position to consolidate their power base.Consequently, national development and the vision for the future have become secondary matters.

Ministers in the Cabinet will always think of the next election and fight one another at the next election as well. But people expect some thing else.

They want the political establishment to get on with the job. At present, the economy is in disarray while the national question is hanging in the air, and various sectors have serious problems.If we are serious about development, we can’t act with a jumbo Cabinet and can’t arbitrarily decide on subject areas and that will not serve any purpose,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Convenor of the National Movement for a Just Society, Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera has also criticized the move to appoint a large number of ministers merely to usher in a National Government.

Ven. Sobitha Thera told the media that Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government appointed an unrealistic number of ministers and nobody protested against it.

He said he is optimistic that President Sirisena will not repeat the mistakes committed by that regime. He said the 19th Amendment had not specified the exact number of ministers in a ‘National Government’. It has to be decided by the decision-makers of both parties. Ven. Sobitha Thera also criticized the move to form a ‘National Government’ and warned that such a move might lead to a crisis between the Legislature and the Executive. He told the media in the wake of the UNP winning the highest number of seats in Parliament, Prime Minister and UNP Leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe should have formed a UNP-led government by inviting those who were willing to join his government thus securing at least a simple majority.