News
22nd Amendment hangs in the balance
View(s):SLPP lays down conditions on dual citizenship, independent commissions
By Damith Wickramasekara
The SLPP also wants the clause prohibiting dual citizens from holding membership in Parliament removed, General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam told the Sunday Times.
A party delegation will meet President Ranil Wickremesinghe next week to convey its demands “for the final time”. The 22A is unlikely to be passed without SLPP support.
The dual citizenship clause was inserted to target Basil Rajapaksa, SLPP National Organiser and former Finance Minister, he said. The party would not vote for an amendment that targets “specific individuals.” Mr Rajapaksa is a dual Sri Lankan and US national.
The party has also raised concerns over what it calls the lack of accountability of members appointed to the independent commissions by the Constitutional Council (CC).
“We had issues with some of the actions taken by certain members of the Election Commission and the Police Commission under the previous 19th Amendment,” Mr Kariyawasam said. “No action could be taken against them, whatever they did. In the present draft, too, Commission members have no accountability. Their actions cannot be challenged. This is extremely disadvantageous to a Government and must be changed.”
The SLPP would not support 22A if these demands were not met, he insisted. “Ranil Wickremesinghe is our President but we will tell him plainly that he will have to bear the shame of defeat if he does not accept our proposals and rushes the amendment through with Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe.”
A defiant Minister Rajapakshe said, however, that the dual citizenship clause would remain.
“The harm done by dual citizens to this country is worse than in any other country,” he asserted. “Basil Rajapaksa signed an agreement to hand over the country’s energy security to a third party after deceiving Cabinet. Former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran was responsible for causing billions of losses to the country. They can go back to their own countries, but it is the people here who have to pay for their misdeeds,” the minister said.
He said he was also not prepared to entertain amendments that compromised the independence of the Commissions. “We will only consider amendments that are justifiable. If anyone wants to vote against 22A, let them. The people will then see which MPs are prepared to aid and abet wrongdoers.”
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