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| Sunday, 18 May 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Development Lotteries Board controversy : Timing of President's take over poorly calculated by JEHAN PERERA
The prospect of a breakdown in the peace process looms ahead as the LTTE continues to stick to its refusal to recommence the peace talks. In its most recent meeting with the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen the LTTE leadership has reiterated its determination not to recommence the peace talks unless the government fulfils certain pre-requisites and delivers on its promise made at previous rounds of peace talks. If the LTTE and government do not begin to talk again to each other about resolving their differences, it is reasonable to believe that sooner or later there will be a slide towards escalated confrontation and violence. The speedy resolution of the dispute that has arisen with the LTTE's suspension of its participation in the peace talks should be at the heart of a national endeavour. The government, opposition parties and civil society should be expending their energies in finding ways and means to end this deadlock. Instead of which President Chandrika Kumaratunga's decree taking away the Development Lotteries Board from the Ministry of Economic Reforms has thrown the country into crisis, albeit an unnecessary one. It has distracted the country from overcoming the obstacles to the peace process. Both the President and Prime Minister have been spending time in discussions within their parties, exchanging letters and in staking out their opposing positions on the matter of the Lotteries Board. The outcome of the dispute is still in doubt more than ten days after the issue was first raised. Both sides appear to be sticking hard to their positions. Legal experts have given conflicting views on the question of what constitutes Presidential powers under the constitution. There is a possibility that the matter will be taken to court, with the Supreme Court being asked to make the final decision. But for the sake of preserving the Court' integrity as a non-partisan institution of highest repute, it is always better that divisive political matters be settled by the politicians themselves. The outcome of the dispute about the Lotteries Board may be in doubt. But there is none whatsoever that the timing of the President's take-over bid was poorly calculated, if the national interest is taken as the criterion of its assessment. It is ironic that of all the government boards she could have taken over, the President chose to pick the Development Lotteries Board run by one of the government's two top peace negotiators. Instead of being given the space to find ways to get the LTTE back to the negotiating table, Minister Milinda Moragoda is being compelled to fight to preserve one of the government departments entrusted to him. Self destructive To make matters more distressing, at the present time it is not only the peace talks that stand suspended. The very success of the Tokyo donor conference to be held in a mere three weeks is in question. The opportunity for international prominence and economic progress provided by the Tokyo donor conference scheduled for June comes rarely to small and poor countries like Sri Lanka. These opportunities should not be lost especially if the well-being of the people is of foremost concern. And yet, that is what seems to be happening due to the inability of the government, opposition and LTTE to overcome their self-seeking rivalries for the greater good. For the past three years Norway and now Japan have been investing a great deal of time and resources in the success of the Sri Lankan peace process. They will probably invest even more to keep it successful and make it a model for their future endeavours in international conflict resolution in other parts of the world. In particular, Japan, as the second richest country in the world, and one of its most generous, can help to transform the Sri Lankan economy and make up for all the lost years of development due to civil strife. On the other hand, if the LTTE stays away, as it has threatened to do, the pledges of massive economic assistance for the reconstruction of the north and east and the development of the rest of the country would suffer a body blow. The Norwegian foreign minister has expressed his fears that an unsuccessful conference in Tokyo would make international donors lose their present interest in Sri Lanka. The primary attention of the government, and indeed the entire nation, should be devoted to finding ways to get the LTTE back into full participation in the peace process. But the power struggle between the government and opposition led by the President is continuing to take the centre stage. Sage words The escalating crisis over the matter of the Lotteries Board calls to mind the sage words of one of Sri Lanka's foremost intellectuals, Dr Godfrey Gunatilleke who, until recently, was chairman of the country's Human Rights Commission. Writing in a Marga monograph series on the ethnic conflict, Dr Godfrey Goonatilleke outlined one of the key reasons for the Sri Lankan political leadership's inability to resolve the ethnic conflict for the past half century. He said that competitive party politics between political elites was so strong that they invariably relegated the resolution of the ethnic conflict to the second place. To quote Dr Goonatilleke, "A clear lesson emerging from past failures is that no effort at resolving the conflict will succeed unless there is a broad-based consensus within each community, Sinhala and Tamil, around a solution that is perceived by both as equitable. The internal power struggles within both the communities- Sinhala and Tamil- have continuously thwarted such a process of consensus building..." "The other feature in the Sinhala-Tamil relations was the incapacity or unwillingness of the Sinhala leadership to resist the well organised, highly vocal pressure groups within their own constituency. This became a recurring characteristic of Sinhala-Tamil negotiations'... Above all, the Tamil issue seemed to be at the periphery of the political agenda, and largely for demographic reasons the dissatisfaction of the Tamils seemed manageable. What pre-occupied Bandaranaike and other Sinhala leaders was the socio-economic socialist agenda and its impact upon the population as a whole." Opportune moment The seeming deadlock over the Lotteries Board is an opportune moment for the Sri Lankan political elite to come to grips with the reality of divided power in the polity. The present constitution was not designed to take into account a situation in which a President from one party coexists with a Prime Minister from another rival party. So far the cohabitation of the President and Prime Minister has been an arrangement based on tacit understanding rather than explicit agreement. This arrangement worked for 18 months primarily due to the restraint of the President. She complained that she was not being consulted by the government, especially in regard to the peace process. But she complied with all of the government's decisions. But with the directive that seeks to take over the Development Lotteries Board, the President has been aggressive for the first time in her rejection of the old understanding. She has reached into an area of governance from which she had withdrawn following the defeat of her party at the last general elections. Ironically it is now the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who is complaining that the President did not consult him or the Economics minister before making her decision on the Lotteries Board. The lack of consultation is the common factor in the grievance that the two leaders have with each other. But still, it should be noted that compared to the crisis besetting the peace process, the conflict regarding the Lotteries Board is a relatively insignificant one. It is about which institution of government should control a lottery. Undoubtedly the Development Lottery is a money spinner. But it is still only a lottery. The running of the lottery is not one that affects the country in any fundamental sense. It is not like taking over one of the ministries. The intention of the President to take over several ministries has been the subject of speculation in the media with the encouragement of members of the opposition. But it is the lottery she has targeted for take over, not a ministry. If the President's take over had been that of a government ministry it would have certainly been a major issue, worthy of being considered a national crisis that required the government's full attention. If the President started to use her presidential powers in a manner that deliberately sabotaged the government's ability to govern effectively, this would be a serious matter. Society itself would rise against it. But the present attempt of the President to take over the Development Lottery cannot be considered to be of a similar magnitude. Cohabitation agreement Before the present crisis either leads to further political deadlock or escalation, it is important that the President and Prime Minister agree to work out a detailed cohabitation agreement that specifies what each of them is entitled to do and not entitled to do. They should do this not only with regard to the Development Lotteries Board, which is a relatively unimportant matter. They should reach agreement on larger matters as well, including the peace process. Ultimately, for any cohabitation agreement between the President and Prime Minister to succeed, there must be mutual respect and recognition born of the fact that both of them have electoral mandates obtained separately from the people. In drafting it they should not only think of the present, but also of the future. An agreement between the President and Prime Minister regarding the peace process is vital to its ultimate success. Not only is the final political solution one that will have to be put before the people, there will also be a 2/3 majority required in Parliament. Even the granting of power sharing and fiscal devolution to the LTTE as an interim measure would require a 2/3 majority in Parliament. The government may have been able to proceed at a very fast pace without consulting the President in the first phase of the peace process. But now 15 months later the limits of this non-consultative and unilateral approach are becoming more evident. The Liam Fox agreement that was brokered by the British government in 1998 could provide some elements of the new agreement. Eminent individuals drawn from civil society, such as Dr Godfrey Gunatilleke, who have proved themselves to be non-partisan and non-racist in their long years of public service could be pressed into playing a mediatory role in the drafting of the agreement. Ideally, the President should accompany the Prime Minister to the Tokyo donor conference in June to present the international community with a united governmental commitment towards peace and the reconstruction of the country. Ideally the LTTE should agree to participate at the Tokyo donor conference to ensure the success of a unique partnership that has no parallel elsewhere in the world and which can serve as a model of conflict resolution for the future. |
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