A great beginning

The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was passed by Parliament 212 to 1 with a single abstention. Ten MPs were absent. Thus it was almost a unanimous approval. Up to now, it was the absolute power of an individual that was reinforced by each amendment to the Constitution except the 13th and the 17th. After 37 years this power has been pruned and vested in Parliament. It is definitely a step in the right direction. A step away from despotism towards democracy.

 

It is truly a historic decision which made ‘the impossible possible’. Credit for it should go first and foremost to President Maithripala Sirisena, who voluntarily agreed to relinquish his absolute powers and led the fight for the 19th Amendment. He has shown remarkable pragmatism, negotiation skills, flexibility and above all clarity and sincerity of purpose.  

 Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe too was accommodative despite being at the butt end of most of the criticism levelled against him for sneaking again through the back door amendments vetoed by the Supreme Court, criticisms some of which were not devoid of substance. Needless to say that all MPS who voted for the 19th Amendment deserve credit.  Yet the principal force behind the change was the people and their civil society representatives who spearheaded the campaign for it.

 

The change though positive is not adequate. The entire system of Executive Presidency should be abolished. However, the adoption of the 9th Amendment is a great beginning. Well begun is half done, goes a saying. It is now up to the people to campaign further for its complete abolition. This should be one of the policy platforms of the new Government that would be formed after the next general election.

 

Though inadequate the 19th Amendment was not delivered on a platter. It was the result of an intense struggle during the last three months. It was a struggle for democracy against authoritarian rule, a struggle between the forces demanding change and those that wanted the continuation of the status quo that existed during the last regime. In short, it was a struggle between forces of progress and reaction. The SLFP in its dual role as the Opposition and the Government was a mirror of that struggle. The fact that the SLFP almost unanimously voted for the 19th Amendment despite the stubborn attempt to subvert it overtly displayed by a section of its leadership on the instigation of the former President, testifies to the unique leadership of President Maithripala Sirisena.

 

With the adoption of the 19th Amendment and the impending passage of the 20th Amendment ushering new electoral reforms the 100 Day Program of the Government would be fulfilled in the main. We hope that the Right to Information Bill and legislation to institute a Commission to inquire into exchange frauds will also get adopted before dissolution of Parliament, in which case the present Government would go down in history as the one that fulfilled most of its election pledges, however modest they were.

 

The significance of the 19th Amendment is quite obvious. It annuls the reactionary 18th Amendment which enabled the Executive President to go beyond the two-term limit earlier set and again brings into force the independent Commissions (now cleared of their shortcomings) thus ensuring good governance and end to cronyism in the appointment of high level public officials including the judiciary. Rule of law is also better guaranteed by giving independence to the law enforcing authorities.

Finally, a word of caution. The euphoria on the success of the 19th Amendment should not blind one to the realities of politics. Now that the Prime Minister is not a figure-head and is vested with more powers and the SLFP still commands a majority in Parliament the deposed President and his select band of rogue MPS and Provincial Councillors would redouble their attempts to grab the premiership in the next administration. Needless to say that such an outcome would be suicidal for democracy in the country.

 

The people should not let their vigilance slacken. IT is especially necessary to see through the hidden intentions of reaction that is using laudable objectives to realize their sinister aims. Suffice only to refer to their objective of excluding civil society representatives from the Constitutional Council under the pious wish of limiting it exclusively to ‘people’s representatives’ in Parliament. It is as if the entire font of wisdom comprises only MPs. This in the context of drug barons and ethanol dealers being represented there in person. Actually, under the executive president all thinking, all innovations and all wisdom emanated only from the Leader and any dissent was suppressed ruthlessly.

 

What has been achieved is only a first step. It is only a battle that has been won. The war has to be won. It is a long road ahead. What is required is the complete abolition of the executive presidency and perhaps the presidential system itself. As pledged during the Presidential election, the next step should be the formation of a Constituent Assembly after obtaining a mandate from the people for it at the next general election which should come the sooner the better. Such a constitution should without fail have a democratic solution to the National Question among others. It should rectify any shortcomings and anomalies that may surface in the working of the independent commissions.

 

A wide public discussion and debate is essential for this to happen.  Hence the key to its success is the participation of wider and wider sections of the people in the political process culminating in a new Constitution. Needless to say, it would be a strongly fought class battle that is on way. Complacency of the public would be only advantageous to the reactionary forces who would spare nothing to stall any progressive change and return to the old order, if possible. They have both material and intellectual resources for it. There is no dearth of the latter is quite evidenced from the pronouncements of so-called political analysts and academics who pontificated through the media in opposition to the 19th Amendment calling it an international conspiracy. Well, almost the entire Parliament has fallen prey to the conspiracy! So forward to the next battle. Periods of rest are unaffordable luxuries till the war is won completely and definitively.