The Political Column

President's prorogation gambit

The move plunged a confused nation into further confusion, with people and opposition political parties finding it difficult to establish a link between the prorogation and the referendum where they have been called upon to say yes or no to a broader question that could mean many things. According to the government communiqu‚ faxed to media organisations on Tuesday midnight, the question at the referendum would be whether they believed the country needed a constitution of national importance and one that is an essential requirement.

Who will say no to such a question? Yes, everyone wants a constitution of national importance. But the question of what is national importance varies according to the way one interprets it. This is the very question Constitutional Affairs Minister G. L. Peiris raised at the tumultuous cabinet meeting this week. More about it later. 

Prorogation was not something unexpected. It was in the news and political parties were discussing about it before it really happened. When a UNP delegation held talks with Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake on the possibility of forming a government of national reconciliation, the Premier assured them that there would not be a prorogation. But when early this week, the Premier took a hardline and said he had abandoned all talks with the UNP, the opposition began to think that a prorogation would be imminent.

Yet, the UNP was shaken by the move, because it was talking to government leaders, including the President on the formation of a national government. The UNP had extensive discussions with both the Prime Minister and the President, going into details on the configuration of the new government and portfolios to be shared among the PA, the UNP and other minority parties.

The UNP suggested the formation of a cabinet of around 20-26 members and recommended that important portfolios such as finance, education and industries be shared between the two main parties. 

The President was apparently in a dilemma. She told some of her confidants that accommodating Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister posed a problem because Mr. Wickremanayake was holding the office.

"He is asking for the premiership. If it is any other portfolio it would have been alright," President Kumaratunga is reported to have said.

But the UNP was at one stage thinking of creating a vice-presidency to accommodate Mr. Wickremanayake, but did not go ahead with the idea because it would require a series of constitutional amendments.

The formation of a national government was also the topic when Speaker Anura Bandaranaike met Mr. Wickremesinghe at his Rosmead Place residence over lunch on Monday. Mr. Bandaranaike assured Mr. Wickremesinghe that he would be the prime minister of the new government of national reconciliation.

The UNP leader said that salvaging the economy and finding a solution to the 18-year-old ethnic conflict would receive priority on the new government's agenda. 

On Tuesday morning, Mr. Bandaranaike met the President where he presented the UNP's case and discussed the political crisis. The talks appeared to be fruitful and made Mr. Bandaranaike to believe that a government of national reconciliation was very much on the cards.

On the question of the no-faith motion, Mr. Bandaranaike told his sister that his hands were tied and he had no alternative but to agree with the opposition which had handed over a petition signed by 115 MPs, seeking a July 18 debate. 

The opposition move to press ahead with the no-confidence motion reportedly infuriated Prime Minister Wickremanayake, provoking him to call off the dialogue with the UNP.

Government leaders described the UNP's move as "stab in the back." They were angry over the UNP's two-track policy _ talking to the government on the formation of a national government while going ahead with the no-confidence motion. But the UNPers point out that the national government talks were initiated by the PA in an apparent bid to stave off defeat at the vote on the no-confidence motion after the government was reduced to a minority in parliament with the crossover of seven SLMC parliamentarian's on June 20. 

But it was not only the UNP but also the PA which had a two-track policy. The PA, too, while holding talks with the UNP, tried other avenues to prop up the governments strength.

Prior to the prorogation, President Kumaratunga is reported to have made overtures to the Hakeem faction in a bid to get them back to the PA fold. But again her move was linked to strengthening the hand of Ferial Ashraff _ SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem's rival. The President wanted members in the Hakeem group to support Ms. Ashraff. But the Hakeem group was sticking to its guns.

On Tuesday evening, Mr. Bandaranaike after his talks with the President, met UNP parliamentarian Rohitha Bogollagama and assured him that Mr. Wickremesinghe would be the prime minister of a new government.

Mr. Bogollagama immediately broke the news to Tyronne Fernando, Mahinda Samarasinghe and Karunasena Kodituwakku _ who along with him were the members of a UNP delegation which held talks with the government on the formation of a national government.

The news gave some assurance to the UNPers that a prorogation of parliament would not take place. But this optimism was short-lived. While Mr. Wickremesinghe was attending a public meeting in Horana on Tuesday, Mahinda Samarasinghe asked him whether the government was planning to prorogue Parliament.

Mr. Wickremesinghe told him that he had taken measures to counter or pre-empt such a move. He said he had asked the party's constitutional expert K.N. Choksy to look into all possibilities in the event of a prorogation. 

Later in the evening, the topic of prorogation resurfaced at a dinner hosted by Mr. Bogollagama to a UNP group comprising Tyronne Fernando, Karunasena Kodituwakku and Mahinda Samarasinghe at Hotel Oberoi.

They were confident that a prorogation would not take place and the national government headed by Mr. Wickremesinghe would be formed on July 18. An apparently jubilant UNP team even spoke about the need to make sacrifices for the sake of the country as everyone could not be accommodated in a small cabinet of about 26 members. But soon the mood changed, when they received the news about the impending prorogation and the referendum on August 21.

Mr. Samarasinghe sprang into action. He tried to contact Mr. Wickremesinghe but failed. Then he telephoned Mr. Choksy. The UNP's legal expert told Mr. Samarasinghe that he had drafted a joint opposition letter to the President, asking her not to prorogue parliament and instead dissolve the cabinet since the PA had lost the majority in Parliament.

But before the Opposition moved into action, President Kumaratunga prorogued Parliament after a meeting with ministers Lakshman Kadirgamar, Mangala Samaraweera, Sarath Amunugama and Anura Priyadarshana Yapa.

Some people believe that Mr. Amunugama, well-versed in statecraft, had advised the President on the political implications of such a decision. Mr. Amunugama, a senior officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, worked as the Secretary to the Ministry of State in the J. R. Jayewardene regime and later worked along with the Gamini Dissanayake as a prominent member in the DUNF and the UNP. He returned to Parliament as a member of the UNP and later crossed over to the PA after forming the UNP's alternate group.

When the President took the decision to prorogue Parliament, it was Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa who took charge of the task of announcing it over the state television and the print media.

When UNP leader Wickremesinghe heard the news about the impending prorogation, he also sprang into action. He got journalist Chulawansa Sri Lal, who was onetime press secretary to President Kumaratunga, to phone and ask politicians participating at the "Ratu Ira" TV talk show whether they were aware of the latest development.

With the surprise announcement on Tuesday night, a number of UNP members of parliament rushed to the 5th Lane residence of Mr. Wickremesinghe for urgent talks while Mr. Bogollagama along with Manoj Wijeratne met with Speaker Bandaranaike around 1.00 a.m. 

Mr. Bandaranaike said he was unaware of the prorogation of parliament and reportedly expressed his disapproval and surprise at the move. 

On Wednesday evening, a UNP team comprising Mr. Choksy, Mr. Fernando, Mr. Samarasinghe, Mr. Kodituwakku, Mr. Bogollagama and Daya Pelpola worked on another document and studied legal provisions pertaining to prorogation and no-confidence motion against the government.

They claimed that no where in the world had a parliament been prorogued when a no-confidence motion had been entered in the order book and prepared a case whereby they would urge the Speaker to summon parliament on July 18 to debate the no-confidence motion irrespective of the presidential proclamation for a prorogation.

The UNP also called upon the Speaker to summon a party leaders' meeting to discuss the issue. A letter to this effect was handed over to the Speaker on Thursday morning by Mr. Wijeratne and Mr. Bogollagama.

Also on Thursday morning, the UNP leader held talks with the Speaker, arguing in favour of a course of action against the prorogation.

While the UNP and other opposition parties were weighing the options in the face of the prorogation, the weekly meeting of ministers also took place on Thursday. 

The President said she had to prorogue parliament to safeguard the party and PA MPs, including the ministers. She said she was too busy with governmental affairs and had no time even for her daughter who had come home after her graduation at Cambridge. 

The President said she could not hand over the premiership to Mr. Wickremesinghe, sidelining Mr. Wickremanayake.

She said the UNP wanted a cabinet of twenty ministers and if she had acceded to the suggestion, most of the ministers would be out of job.

The President said she had no intention to go for an election earlier than the stipulated date. She also said she feared the UNP would destroy the SLFP if it formed the government.

Then she took a swipe at the UNP leader by saying he was sending messages emissaries of questionable credentials when she had set up a hotline for such communications.

"The UNP sends people like Malik Samrawickrema (who asked for an appointment through Chandrananda de Silva), Karunaratne of the PSD, and Sudath Chandrasekera. Who are these people?" an angry President asked.

The presence of Minister S. B. Dissanayake made the meeting more vibrant. He had been staying away from the cabinet and group meetings since a disagreement broke out between the President and him over several issues. Raising his voice, Mr. Dissanayake told the President not to take the present crisis lightly and think that people supported the government.

"I know the pulse of the people. They are veering away from the government and rallying around opposition parties," he said citing as an example the dwindling sales of Samurdhi tickets.

When Mr. Dissanayake was on his feet, the President went out for a few minutes but when she returned Minister Dissanayake had already left the meeting hall.

"I came back to reply to Mr. Dissanayake," the President said. "Where is he". Then the President took a shot at Mr. Dissanayake for his role which she said would eventually help the UNP.

On the sidelines of this meeting, several ministers made a beeline to the toilet with minister Anuruddha Ratwatte going twice.

A visibly upset Minister G. L. Peiris, too, spoke out at the meeting. He said he was not consulted about the prorogation decision and added that he got to know about it from the JVP. He seemed to look for some sympathy that was not available from ministers who would have lost their jobs probably if not for the prorogation. 

He also raised technicalities of the question to be asked at the referendum, saying that it had not been worded properly. He said it differed from the question he and the President drafted when they tried to pass the August 2000 draft in parliament and at a referendum. 

The President replied that then it was a legal question but this time it was a political question and a different exercise. 

Prof. Peiris said that the provisions of a referendum were like a river with continuous flow.

"Once we hold a referendum and get positive results, we should be in a position to use that to achieve the objective. But this is not possible here," he said adding that different people would need a new constitution for different and incompatible reasons.

For example, the UNP would want a new constitution to set up the five commissions, the PA might need one for greater devolution and to abolish the executive presidency, the Sihala Urumaya for a unitary state and the LTTE for a confederation, the professor said.

"What does the yes vote mean? How do you use the vote to carry forward the process?" he asked.

Replying to Prof. Peiris, Minister Ronnie de Mel said the shortcomings had to be rectified accordingly. The President also agreed. 

Mahinda Rajapakse, a loyal but outspoken minister, went along with the prorogation idea but said he felt it was better if the cabinet was taken into the President's confidence.

Among those who spoke in favour of the Presidential move at this 90-minute meeting was Mahipala Herath for obvious reasons. At the time of prorogation, a no-confidence motion against him had been tabled in parliament for his alleged role in the Mawanella violence. Others who spoke supporting it were Ministers Richard Pathirana who was the first to speak, Batty Weerakoon, Dinesh Gunewardene, Alavi Moulana, Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sarath Amunugama and Wijeyapala Mendis who called it a blessing. Conspicuously silent were Ministers Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, Arumugam Thondaman, Mahinda Wijesekera and Ferial Ashraff.

Immediately thereafter, the PA parliamentary group meeting was held. However, Ministers Dissanayake and Peiris did not turn up. Some reports later said that Premier Wickremanayake was meeting the duo to patch things up. If the referendum gives a victory for the yes vote, it would mean a mandate to formulate a new constitution and on the strength of it the President might form a constituent assembly to achieve that purpose. But now some legal experts say the decision to change the constitution through a referendum could be challenged. They point out constitutional provisions which clearly spell out the process for repeal of the constitutions and the introduction of a new one.

The referendum, it appears has created another crisis. Legal challenges apart, opposition political parties are wondering whether they should carry out a campaign against it.

The UNP on Wednesday discussed the matter at length. While the meeting was on, SLMC Leader Rauf Hakeem called the UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. The UNP leader invited him to attend the meeting.

Mr. Hakeem told this meeting that they agreed that the country needed a new constitution, but raised doubts about the motives behind the referendum move. He called for joint opposition action against the move since the government had failed to specify the nature of the new constitution.

The Fifth Column 

Editorial/ Opinion Contents