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| Sunday, 9 November 2003 |
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Government's cavalier attitude gave rise to conflict with President - LSSP The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is not surprised by the political crisis that has been precipitated by the President's takeover of three key ministries of the UNF government. In fact what is surprising is that it did not surface sooner. It is the inevitable consequence of the anomalous nature of the J.R. Jayewardene constitution of 1978 which did not contemplate a situation in which an Executive President is confronted with a legislature in which an opposing political party at variance with him commands the majority. The late Dr. N.M. Perera in his searching study of this Constitution just at the time it was being made known focused on this insoluble problem - the Gordian knot, as he called it - and commented that 'the ensuing deadlock may create an impasse which may lead to the discrediting of democracy itself.' In the run up to the last general election the UNF boasted of its ability to create the conditions necessary for 'cohabitation' should it gain a majority in the legislature. This was forgotten and ignored even where consensus between the President and the government was called for in seeking an adequate political solution to the ethnic problem. The government's cavalier attitude to its promises gave rise to the inevitable result of continuing conflictual relations between itself and the President. The LSSP recognises that the takeover of the ministries is no solution to the conflict and that it in fact sharpens it. The President's claim that in a situation which she recognised as a threat to the security of the country she had no alternative to acting in accordance with the powers given to her by the Constitution in respect of Ministers and Ministries cannot be lightly dismissed. The wisdom of this precipitate move has to be judged by unfolding events. The LSSP sees the dangers to the peace process that are inherent in this move in respect of the ministries especially in the situation in which communalist extremists see this as their achievement. The LSSP urges both the President and the Prime Minister to defuse the crisis by seeking consensus among themselves on the agenda for negotiations with the LTTE and the monitoring of the Ceasefire MoU. Such consensus is essential to the next step which is meaningful talks with the LTTE on the final political solution to the ethnic problem. It should not be forgotten that the rationale the LTTE offers for its demand for an interim 'administration' is its perception that with the subsisting conflict between the Government and the SLFP on the matters in issue it cannot lay reliance on the possibility of a permanent political solution being available in the foreseeable future. |
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