Life and times of former Speaker

Mohamed Haniffa Mohamed who passed away on April 26 at the age of 95 :

By Pramod de Silva

October 7, 1991. This was to be a watershed date in Sri Lanka's political annals. An impeachment motion that would set the stage for the ouster of the incumbent Executive President was placed with the Speaker for the first time in local political history. It had 127 signatures of MPs. Even the word "impeachment" (and the equivalent Sinhala term "Doshabiyogaya") was unheard of until then. The entire country was collectively holding its breath, waiting for the Speaker's decision.

The President in question was Ranasinghe Premadasa, whose popularity was at a low ebb following internal turmoil in the UNP that saw several leading frontliners break its ranks. These dissidents including Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake, who felt marginalized under the Premadasa administration, had secretly gathered signatures for an Impeachment motion against the President from both sides of the political divide.

The Speaker at the time was M.H. Mohamed, the veteran politician from Central Colombo and Mayor of Colombo from 1960-1962 who was widely known as a key pillar of the UNP. In fact, he was the first Muslim politician to hold the Mayor's post. Mohamed, the 14th Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, had a no-nonsense approach to affairs of the House. He easily filled the shoes of his predecessor in the post E.L. Senanayake and quickly won the confidence of both ruling party and opposition members. When the Impeachment saga came around, Mohamed was already two years into his job.

The impeachment saga was in 'motion' for quite some time. President Premadasa's attempts to get the process stopped did not bear any fruit. The movers of the impeachment motion handed their document to the Speaker on August 28, 1991.

As a matter of courtesy and formality, he informed the President that he had accepted the impeachment motion. The acceptance signified that the Speaker had reason to believe the President deserved to be brought before a Court of Law.

In the interim, even in those pre-Internet days, versions of the impeachment motion had leaked and almost everyone in the country basically knew what the charges were. They were of a very serious nature which essentially argued that the President was no longer fit to hold office.

Premadasa, and by extension the UNP, were not happy with Mohamed's role in the process. Many Premadasa loyalists thought the Speaker should not have accepted the motion at all. The party's fury was naturally directed at Mohamed, who was removed from the Borella organizer's post soon after accepting the impeachment papers. Even his son, Hussain Mohamed, the then mayor of Colombo was targeted for harassment. Many Premadasa loyalists attacked Mohamed in and out of Parliament.

However, there is another twist in this tale. Although Mohamed received the papers, he was yet to include it in the Parliament's Order Paper for whatever reason. President Premadasa's camp was also keen to ensure that the motion was not on the Order Paper. Under the terms of the Constitution, once an impeachment motion is included in the Order Paper, the President cannot prorogue or dissolve Parliament. Moreover, an impeachment process does not lapse even if Parliament is somehow prorogued. In the meantime, Mohamed went on a trip to India.

Drive

The President's group then engaged in a drive to win over some of the signatories.

Some of them somewhat preposterously claimed they did not know about the contents when they signed on the dotted line.

By this time, without even knowing who has signed the impeachment document, Premadasa loyalists managed to get 116 signatures for a letter rejecting the impeachment attempt.

It was delivered to the Speaker with a letter from the President which quoted the Attorney General as saying that in the above scenario the motion was no longer valid.

Mohamed did not subscribe to this view and rejected the claims of the Attorney General. This incident too, emboldened the impeachment camp who thought that Mohamed would be fair in deciding on the future of the impeachment process.

Until October 7, the motion did not appear in the Order Paper. There were only two choices he had to make on October 7 - either include it in the Order Paper or just let it lapse without including it in the Order Paper. If an impeachment motion is included in the Order Paper, it has to be passed with a two-thirds majority. If that too succeeds, the next step is to go to the Supreme Court for its determination. However, the Court could rule the President innocent.

If the SC finds the President guilty of charges, that decision is conveyed to the Speaker. The Parliament then has to sit once more to decide on the actual expulsion of the President through a two-thirds majority. If that majority is not found, the process ends there.

Controversial decision

On October 7, everyone in the impeachment camp was certain that the process would go through. But their hopes were dashed when the Government-owned radio and TV stations made an announcement saying, 'the Speaker had declared the Impeachment Motion handed over to him against the President has been set aside and that he had taken the necessary steps to inform the President of his decision'.

This was a bolt from the blue to the impeachment camp but the Premadasa loyalists were jubilant.

That controversial decision ended one of the most nail-bitingly interesting chapters of local political history. Soon afterwards, stories began swirling in political and social circles about various machinations behind this decision. Disappointed impeachment movers then moved a No Confidence Motion against Mohamed but he prevailed in his post until June 24, 1994.

It would not be incorrect to say that the impeachment saga haunted Mohamed for the rest of his life as he never quite managed to shake these allegations off. In fact, whenever the impeachment saga is mentioned, most people think of Mohamed first, even before Premadasa himself.

Although most people expected Mohamed to fade away from the political scene after the harrowing impeachment saga, Mohamed was made of sterner stuff. Regardless of the impeachment saga, Mohamed remained immensely popular in his core predominantly Sinhalese constituency.

He actually had more Sinhalese and Tamil friends and followers than any other contemporary Muslim politician.

He even managed to beat Vivienne Goonewardane, a giant figure in local politics, at one election at a time when the Muslim population in the area was only about three percent.

High poverty

Mohamed went on to become Minister of Western Region Development (2001-2004 UN Government) and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs (2007-2010). Many UNP politicians criticised his decision to join the Mahinda Rajapaksa camp and accept a ministerial portfolio, which was another one of his controversial decisions.

Mohamed retired from active politics in 2011, but he was still a live wire in the local political scene. He remained physically and mentally active until his last days and was seen at an Islamic Centre engaging in an animated discussion near his home just a few days before his death.

He visited the homes of his constituents regardless of their faith and community at times of joy and sorrow. He was a bridge that linked all communities together from his young days, having been educated at Wesley College, which had students from all communities.

Hailing from an area which is known for its high poverty levels, Mohamed was keen to uplift the residents' living standards.

Mohamed was a well-known figure in the Muslim world, having been the local representative of Rabithah, a world Muslim organisation right until his death. A key figure of the All Ceylon Muslim League, he was also a vociferous defender of the rights of the Palestinian people.

His family is also known for their involvement in translating the Koran into Tamil. Former Minister Imitiasz Bakeer Markar, whose late father Al Haj Abdul Bakeer Markar was a political contemporary of M.H. Mohamed, said the former Speaker was the best example he knew of a politician who was unreservedly committed to reconciliation.

"He was at the centre of controversy on a number of occasions, but that does not in any way diminish the role he played to bring the communities together.

He was friendly with everyone regardless of religion or community. He may have been the Third Citizen of the country once, but he did not let it go to his head."