Parliament plays most vital and crucial role

By Lalith WEERASINGHE

Excerpts of the welcome address made by Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga at a banquet hosted in honour of the participants of the Asia Regional Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association recently.

Let me thank the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Chairman and the delegates to the Third Asia Regional Conference for having deliberated upon three key themes at the Conference during its two-day sessions. These three themes, namely Poverty Alleviation, Natural Disasters, and Mother and Child are also themes that we are much interested in and therefore will benefit from the outcomes of the conference.

We have seen these issues of vital importance affecting the well-being of our people, the most recent being the natural calamities affecting nearly 1.5 billion people in our region.

As you may already be aware, Sri Lanka is pursuing vigorously the proposals in the Mahinda Chinthana, the Future Vision, the election manifesto of Mahinda Rajapaksa, which he presented to the people when he contested the Presidential elections in 2005 and in January 2010.

The Mahinda Chinthana is now the policy document of the Government since it has been overwhelmingly endorsed by the people, not only at the two Presidential elections, but also at the Parliamentary election last year. Incidentally, the recent Parliamentary election resulted in the ruling coalition enjoying a historic two-third majority in Parliament. It is significant that after three decades of suffering, we are able to concentrate on development of our vital infrastructure, both physical and social, to ensure the well-being of our people. Parliament stands as the beacon in this process articulated by the President of Sri Lanka.

It is noteworthy that President Rajapaksa’s Government has been able to reduce poverty to 7.6 percent in 2009 from a 15.2 percent in 2006.

It took us 57 years, since Independence, to reach the per capita income level of US$ 1,053, but it took only five years since 2005 to increase this to over US$ 2,050, doubling this significant indicator of our economy. President Rajapaksa’s Government has set a target for us to achieve the US$ 4,000 per capita income level by 2016. These are very significant achievements.

Literacy

Our literacy rate has, over a long period of time, been hovering around over 93 percent and our infant mortality rate is 15 per 1,000 live births. Almost 99 percent of our child births take place in a medical institution. Primary healthcare at the village level is carried out extremely satisfactorily. We are also keen to improve our IT literacy. Under President Rajapaksa’s personal guidance and supervision, we have increased our IT literacy from under five percent in 2005 to over 30 percent in 2010.

All these have been possible because the legislature and the executive worked in harmony to ensure the well-being of our people.

In pursuit of the development plans placed before the people through the Mahinda Chinthana, Sri Lanka’s Parliament plays the most vital and crucial role despite an Executive Presidential system. This is because public finance and the consolidated fund that provides the resources to the development process are under the total control of the Parliament.

Let me quote the relevant provision. “Article 148. Parliament shall have full control over public finance. No tax, rate or any other levy shall be imposed by any local authority or any other public authority, except by or under the authority of a law passed by Parliament or of any existing law.”

In giving effect to this provision, the Parliament of Sri Lanka among many other measures has established two very strong bodies, the Public Accounts Committee and the Committee on Public Enterprises. As per Parliamentary tradition, the composition of the membership of these two committees reflects the composition in Parliament.

The government in power has an overwhelming majority and as such these committees are headed by very senior members of Parliament from the government side and they exercise the powers with much authority and has never been reluctant in bringing to book any official irrespective of the position he holds or power such officers wields. We as public officers have great respect for these institutions and throughout their tenures these committees have ensured that the public service conducts its activities with decorum and integrity.

Article 156 (1) provides for an Ombudsman, another measure to exercise authority of the Parliament over the public service. “Parliament shall by law provide for the establishment of the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman) charged with the duty of investigating and reporting upon complaints or allegations of the infringement of fundamental rights and other injustices by public officers and officers of public corporations, local authorities and other like institutions, in accordance with and subject to the provisions of such law.” All these entities have worked with a high level of decorum and integrity.

Three institutions

It is a matter of great pride for public officials like us to state that our Parliament has always been a robust, lively and impactful institution in the public life of our country. The Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary have always acted in a manner that has ensured the well-being of the people of our motherland. These three institutions also have understood their respective roles and have complemented each other to ensure that development of the people and for the people are not jeopardising at any juncture. In defeating the most brutal terrorist organisation, this harmony was evident.

I am sure it is not out of place for me to quote from a conversation between President Rajapaksa and the present Leader of the Opposition of the Lok Sabha of India Sushma Swaraj during President Rajapaksa’s visit to India in June last year. Ms. Swaraj said that it is the policy of the opposition to work with the government in all international matters and act as one, to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India, but that in local politics, the opposition would fight the ruling party tooth and nail wherever any impropriety is witnessed. This is a lesson for all of us in vibrant democracies.