Colombo Municipal Council at 150 years:

Springboard for many greats

by Ranil Wijayapala

The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC)- the prime local government body governing the commercial capital was first introduced in 1865 by colonial rulers, almost 150 years ago. They not only governed the city, which was earlier under the Government Agent of the Western Province, but also plant the seed for self-government in colonial Ceylon.

The CMC became the first political institution to have elected Members despite the country not having universal franchise at that time. It became the springboard which groomed politicians to take up positions in the Legislative Council, State Council and later Parliament. For many politicians, during the pre and post Independence era, becoming a CMC member was considered a qualifying factor to climb the ladder of politics to take up top positions in the country. The CMC was more like a mini- parliament and a mini government as it comprised almost all the features of a government.

Stellar heights

The CMC has produced three national leaders during the post Independence era. It was the springboard for many political aspirants. It provided the environment for politicians of the calibre of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, J.R. Jayawardene and Ranasinghe Premadasa to reach stellar heights in the political firmament.

S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike who became Prime Minister in September 1956, after the formation of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1952, was a Member of the CMC from January 1927 to December 1931. After completing his Oxford Education and qualifying as a barrister, he chose to begin his political career with the CMC.

He contested the Maradana Ward and defeated A.E. Goonesinghe, a labour leader of that time. He was the first CMC Member to become the Prime Minister after beginning his political career in the CMC.The first Executive President of Sri Lanka, J.R. Jayewardene also represented the CMC from the family bastion, the New Bazaar seat from January 1941 to December 1943. J.R. Jayewardene's father E.W. Jayewardene and his two paternal uncles Hector Jayewardene and T.G. Jayewardene also represented the CMC from the same family bastion. It was after his debut in politics that he became a Member in the State Council and then became a Member of the first Cabinet.It can be seen the elite family in Colombo chose the CMC as the springboard to commence a political career, as it was the only opening before entering national level politics. This was before the setting up of the Provincial Council system in 1987.

Not only the Banadaranaikes and Jayewardenes, even the Senanayakes used the CMC as the springboard to mark their debut in politics. F.R. Senanayake, brother of Sri Lanka's first Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake, represented the CMC from 1915 to 1920.

Ranasinghe Premadasa who succeeded J.R. Jayawardene as the second Executive President was also a member of the CMC from February 1950 to December 1957. Initially he joined the political activities of the founder leader of the Ceylon Labour Movement, A. E. Goonesinghe, in 1949 and unsuccessfully contested a seat in the CMC elections held in December. subsequently, he entered the CMC in 1950 contesting the San Sebastian Ward and became the Deputy Mayor in 1955.

In 1961, he represented the CMC, until he contested parliamentary elections. He was Deputy Mayor from August 5 1955 to December 31, 1956 and was the first Deputy Mayor of the CMC to become a Head of State. William Gopallawa, the last Governor General of Ceylon from 1962 to 1972 later became the first non Executive President of Sri Lanka when Ceylon was made a Republic in 1972, also started as Commissioner of the CMC from 1951 to 1957.Two Speakers also rose from being Mayors at the inception. M.H. Mohamed who represented the CMC from 1947 to December 1957 and again from January 1960 to 1963 later became a Minister and was appointed Speaker from March 1989 to 1994.

Present Speaker Karu Jayasuriya also entered politics in 1997 after contesting the CMC elections. He was Mayor of Colombo from 1997 to 1999 and resigned to contest parliamentary elections from the Gampaha District. Gitanjana Gunawardene who was a Deputy Speaker from 2004 to 2009 also represented the CMC when Karu Jayasuriya was the Mayor of Colombo.

Kickstart

It was during Karu Jayasuriya's tenure as Mayor, that young politicians of the calibre of former Minister Wimal Weerawansa and MP Sunil Handunnetti had their debut in politics. Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva also began his political career as Member of the CMC and was the Opposition leader from 1983 to 1989. The CMC was the springboard for politicians of the calibre of A.E. Goonesinghe, Dr. N.M. Perera, Vivienne Gunawardena, Peter Keuneman to kickstart their career in politics and serve the country as veteran politicians and ending up being Ministers. Other prominent politicians who represented the CMC was Minister A.H.M. Fowzie who was the Mayor of Colombo from 1974 to 1977. Former Minister and prominent leader of the UNP Sirisena Cooray was also a Mayor of Colombo from 1979 to 1989. He was the longest serving Mayor of Colombo.

The CMC was in the UNP's grip from the date party politics entered CMC politics, the only exception was in 1954, when Dr. N.M. Perera leader of the Trotskyite Sama Samaja Party became the Mayor. After this instance, it was only in 2006 when the UNP Nomination List was rejected, the independent group led by Uvais Mohammed Imtiyas, also supported by the UNP, grabbed the chance to become Mayor. Former Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara also contested the CMC election as the Mayoral candidate of the UPFA but failed to become Mayor and ended up being Opposition leader, before becoming a Minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa's cabinet.

Former Minister Milinda Moragoda also contested the CMC election targeting the Mayoral post but failed and ended up being Opposition leader. The CMC has produced top level and the secondary level leaders of the country thus turning out to being a prime political institution which groomed politicians who ended up being leaders of the country.