A constitution to heal wounds
Statement by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to the media on the
drafting of a new constitution on January 17 at the Temple Trees.
 |
Prime Mnister Ranil
Wickremesinghe explainig the thinking behind the new
constitution |
In Sri Lanka, sovereignty is vested with the people as embodied in
the constitution, the basic law of the country. Our objective is to
involve the entire country in the formulation of a new constitution in a
transparent manner. The adoption of the new constitution will be done
not only by means of a 2/3 majority vote in Parliament but, also,
through endorsement at a public referendum. The consent of almost all
members of Parliament should be secured in the drafting of the new
constitution. If anybody says that the consent of 25 or 30
parliamentarians is adequate as against the whole 225, I would like to
question the reasoning behind such a school of thought.
A constitution is of paramount importance to a country. The 2005
Presidential election was held after pledges to abolish the Executive
Presidency. Various parties had maintained their different stances on
this issue. The 19th Amendment to abolish the Executive Presidency was
referred to the Supreme Court after consultations with the President.
The Supreme Court held that certain powers of the Executive Presidency
could not be curtailed without approval at a referendum. In compliance
with this decision, we decided to bring in a new constitution after the
General Election.
At the last discussion we had with him, the late Ven. Maduluwawe
Sobitha Nayaka Thera had requested the President and me to draft a new
constitution by means of a Constitutional Assembly.
The Constitutional Assembly would have to be constituted necessarily
with the Members of Parliament but not outside Parliament. As pledged by
the President at the funeral of the late Ven. Sobitha thera, we have
taken action to give effect to it.
Above all, we ought to examine as to how a constitution could be
drafted. The Soulbury Commission finally accepted Sri Lanka's
Constitutional draft prepared by the State Council. Although there was
no consensus in this process, there was good participation. Former Prime
Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike convened a Constituent Assembly in 1971,
having obtained approval for it in the Throne Speech, prior to that in
Parliament. Almost all MPs took part though some views were not
accepted. All participants got the opportunity to express their views.
In 1977, I was also a Member of Parliament in which the United
National Party Government enjoyed a 5/6th majority. It was only five
years since the promulgation of the 1972 Constitution. Due to the
failure of that Constitution, the people had given us a mandate to draw
up a new constitution.
Current constitution
When the question arose as to whether the entire parliament should
sit together to draft the new constitution, Mr.Appapillai Amirthalingam
argued that his party could not participate as they had received a
political mandate only for a separate state. That prevented the entire
parliament becoming a constituent assembly. Consequently, the question
cropped up as to whether the constitution could be drafted without the
participation of the TULF, then the second largest political party in
Parliament. This gave us the opportunity to hold discussions on the new
constitution with the SLFP and other Tamil political parties. There was
a condition imposed that the main parts of the constitution should be
amended and a referendum held thereafter. A referendum was held in 1982
and the tenure of parliament was extended for the first time.
President J.R. Jayewardene had decided to convene an all-party
conference and seek their concurrence when the 13th Amendment was being
drafted. This Amendment was passed by Parliament, despite two or three
parties boycotting the proceedings.
The conventional device of the 'Select Committee' in this context has
proved ineffective. It is because of this that we have now sought the
cooperation of the entire Parliament for the task of drafting a new
constitution. If a select committee is set up comprising all political
parties, at least 50 members will have to be appointed.
Consensus
Our objective is to ensure that all stakeholders participate in the
drafting of the new constitution.
At the beginning, I discussed this issue with party leaders having
summoned them on several occasions. Based on the pledge to abolish
executive presidency made by President Sirisena at Ven. Sobitha Thera's
funeral, a Cabinet paper to amend the constitution, abolish executive
presidency and introduce a new electoral system was presented last
November 16. Accordingly, the President proposed the appointment of a
Cabinet Sub Committee and the steps to be taken in this connection.
Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva, Lakshman Kiriella, Rauf Hakeem,
Susil Premajayantha, Rishard Bathiudeen, Patali Champika Ranawaka,
Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha, D.M. Swaminathan, Mano Ganeshan and Malik
Samarawickrema were appointed which functions under my chairmanship.
Former Justice Ministry Secretary Kamalini de Silva and Prof. Suri
Ratnapala were appointed secretary and consultant. Several groups
working on this process have submitted proposals under the leadership of
Jayampathi Wickremaratne.
I had held six-seven meetings with party leaders where we discussed
the issue of parliamentary committees. The Constitutional Assembly needs
to submit its proposals to us. We need the views of the people. We
needed to agree on the methodology and set up the Constitutional
Assembly without preparing the draft. The committee system needs to be
reintroduced.
There is no provision in the standing orders to appoint committees.
Consequently, we could submit our proposals to appoint a select
committee in terms of section 74 of the Constitution. A select committee
has been appointed by a parliamentary resolution. This is how we would
set up the Constitutional Assembly.
To entertain public views, names were proposed to the Cabinet after
consultations with party leaders. A committee was appointed on December
12, to seek public views on constitutional reforms. A period of three
months was given to this committee of 24 members to seek public views.
They could form themselves into sub-committees and go round the
country. They have been told to communicate to us the views they have
collected by end of March or in April.
Constitutional Assembly
On January 9, I had moved a resolution in parliament to set up a
constitutional assembly. Thus was after I had held a series of
discussions in November - December.
Our resolution to set up committees, moved on December 19, the last
day Parliament assembled, was passed. Who can question their validity?
If the committees are valid, so is the Constitutional Assembly. This
is a government decision. The SLFP proposed its amendments. The
cooperation of other parties is also sought, else there could be
allegations that the two major parties have got together to draft the
new constitution! The United National Party said that it has no
proposals to be made in this regard.
Several other parties have told us that they would also make their
proposals. We welcome the proposed amendments which would be discussed
at the Constitutional Assembly.
If we could ensure a 2/3 majority in Parliament for the new
constitution, it would be approved by the Cabinet eventually to go for a
referendum. We are ready to move forward after accepting as much
amendments as possible. The nature of the new constitution will be
decided only after receiving the views of all stakeholders.
Some have alleged that the proposed new constitution will destroy the
unitary character of the country and Buddhism too. We have never
discussed anything to violate the unitary character of the country. To
do whatever you desire, the 2/3 majority in parliament is a necessary
pre-requisite. We need to safeguard the unity in the country. All that
we are doing at the moment is to set up a Constitutional Assembly.
We all are Buddhists. I too am a Buddhist, a Sinhalese and a Sri
Lankan as well. My sole objective is to unite a divided country.
We should move forward. I would appeal to the political splinter
groups not to betray the country for the sake of narrow political gains.
Same as the President, I too have received a public mandate to
formulate a new constitution and we are not prepared at all to act
outside such mandate.
Sri Lanka became a dictatorship under the 18th Amendment and today
there is hardly any trace of such a dictatorship. We have decided to
entertain public views on the new constitution through the social media
as well. The future belongs to the youth of the country who hold diverse
views.
Sri Lanka is the first country so far to obtain public views through
the social media in drafting a new constitution. You can now easily
contribute your views on the constitution while staying at home. Please
keep in mind that the new constitution is formulated for the people
themselves. |