Sri Lanka has been fighting a war for 30 years while striving to overcome poverty, illiteracy, education and health problems.
Above all there was serious concern about good governance in the public sector due to despotism, corruption, nepotism, favouritism, abuse of power, inefficiency, maladministration and more. Law abiding people were also concerned with the failure to uphold the Rule of Law. Some say all those are problems arose as a result of the war that existed for a long period. Then one may contend that as a result of the continuous failures on the part of the governments that existed during the relevant periods the war had emerged.
 On the surface, democracy looks like an intricate bundle of doctrines and theories that no one understands besides doctors and professors in law or political science but there are ways to comprehend it by looking at a simple definition. In short democracy is nothing other than upholding the Rule of Law which means that not only the ruled but also the rulers are subject to the law and the country shall be ruled by the law and law alone. In the absence of recognition for this theory and giving effect to it, governance shall fail and unequal treatment and discrimination will emerge.
We have already experienced more than once during the last four decades, human uproars which had ended up in a series of calamities. The main reasons for such conflicts were due to failures of successive governments to uphold the Rule of Law, discrimination, unemployment, youth unrest, etc. Youth in Sinhala communities raised their horrendous movement which took a heavy toll of over 10,000 lives in 1971. The same ugly history was repeated in 1987/88 by a further sacrifice of over 60,000 lives.
As it appears at present, it is impossible to rule out of the emergence of any movements from the lowest economic segment of our society commonly called the down-trodden people. Since the JVP entered into the democratic political stream in 1994, the aspirations of the common people are substantial and there could emerge further conflicts in the near future.
It is for the betterment of everybody to affiliate with the JVP so they remain in the democratic process. The danger may arise if the JVP loses their grip and seek alternatives by waging wars as in the past. If anyone resorts to vituperative politics wit a view to eradicating a political party like the JVP, they should also undertake the responsibility of any subsequent emergence of movements with rippling effects which might claims lives.
In the present context it is suggested that the following reforms shall be considered as timely needs and it shall be assured that they are implemented. If not, it could be predicted for certainty that the problems that we are facing at present will emerge with more and more rippling effects.
Proposed Reforms in the Executive:
1. Executive Presidency shall be abolished. The former President received the mandate from the people as she promised to abolish the Presidency
within six months. Similarly the incumbent President also got the mandate by promising to abolish it at the expiry of his first tenure.
2. The President shall be elected from and out of the Members of the Parliament by majority votes of the Members in the House.
3. The President remains head of the State, but he shall exercise all powers, functions and duties only on the advice of the Prime Minister..
4. The President shall be the head of the Cabinet but cannot hold any ministerial portfolios.
5. Immunity from suits to the President as provided in Article 35 of the Constitution shall be repealed. (All these proposals are included in the proposed amendment to the Constitution I submitted as a private member bill titled 20th amendment in 2005)
6. The Cabinet of Ministers shall not exceed 24 in number and Deputies shall also be same as of the number of Ministers.
7. The ministerial portfolios shall be defined in a schedule to the Constitution.
8. The Prime Minister shall be directly answerable to the Parliament and the People.
9. Ministers shall not be entitled to more than two official vehicles. (maximum)
10. In Ministers foreign travels, they can be accompanied only by the most essential officers at the cost of the State and no entourages shall be permitted as picnic tours.
11. Ministers shall not be paid any housing rentals or allowances.
12. Ministers' Private Secretaries shall not get involved in the function or affairs of the Ministry. Affairs of ministries shall be attended only by Permanent Secretaries. Private Secretaries shall attend only to political matters and affairs of the electorates of Ministers.
13. All permanent Secretaries shall be from the Sri Lanka Administrative Service and they shall attend to all official affairs of ministries quite independently and according to the law.
14. The laws of the land shall be respected and protected by everybody and the law and order situation shall be maintained strictly.
15. Police Department shall be brought under a strict code of discipline and any violation shall be dealt with forthwith. Police torture which has become a menace to our society shall be stopped.
16. 17th Amendment shall be suitably amended, till such time the Constitutional Council is constituted which should be forthwith.
17. It shall be amended to state that the Speaker shall take steps to fill any vacancy in the Constitutional Council within one week from the date of the occurrence of any such vacancy and the President shall make the formal appointment within one week from the date of communication by the Speaker.
If President fails to do so on or before the 7th day from the date of communication, the person/s nominated by the Speaker shall be deemed to be duly appointed as member/s to the Constitutional Council. Even if 2/3rd majority is not available to amend the Constitution, the lacunas could be filled by introducing an ordinary legislation passed with simple majority.
18. Election Commission, Public Service Commission, National Police Commission, Bribery Commission and Human Rights Commission shall continue without interruption. There shall be provisions made that sitting members shall continue until the subsequent members assume their duties.
19. Members of the said commissions shall consist of active members in the services of public sector, such as judiciary, SLAS, Attorney-General’s Department, Auditor General’s Department etc. No retired public servants shall be appointed to any such commission.
20. There shall be a permanent staff for Bribery Commission including a Police Division for investigation. Once the officers are appointed, the promotions, transfers, disciplinary conduct shall be made only on the recommendation of the Bribery Commission and I.G.P. shall not have any authority on their transfers.
21. Bribery Commission shall entertain even an anonymous complaint or petition and they shall conduct every possible investigation to ascertain the truth and then to prosecute if any materials are found.
22. There shall be a separate High Court consisting of three Judges to hear and determine bribery cases (except minor matters).
23. Human Rights Commission Act and Administration Appeals Tribunal Act shall be amended making provisions that their recommendations are implemented unless the party aggrieved apply to the Court of Appeal within one month and have them set-aside.
24. All elections for Provincial Councils and Local Government Institutions shall be conducted at the same time, unless there exist any genuine and exceptional circumstances..
25. No State owned organizations or shares of any State organization or any asset of the State shall be sold or privatized unless the prior approval of the Parliament is obtained by way of a resolution presented to it.
26. They shall not appoint consultants or advisers or secretaries or co-coordinating secretaries for the sake of providing employment unless there exists a real necessity and also they are fully qualified experts in their respective fields.
Legislature
1. Independence of the Legislature shall be restored. The Parliament shallresist any undue interference by the executive. The exercise of any powersby the President in relation to the Parliament shall be made only on advice of the Prime Minister.
2. Select committees such as Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) shall be strengthened to focus and ensure principles and norms of good governance in the State machinery with a view to restoring public confidence in the democratic form of the governmental system. Thereby it shall be assured that the Public Trust Doctrine is not breached or violated.
3. The said committees shall consist of members only with those that are not holding any cabinet portfolios or deputy ministerial portfolios.
4. Chairpersons of the said committees shall be elected from and out of the members of the opposition in Parliament.
5. The rank of Chairpersons of such committees shall be equated to the rank of a Cabinet Minister and committees shall ensure their independence, integrity and unbiased conduct in the affairs of the committees.
6. The Parliament shall enact a statute to empower such select committees to issue directives to State institutions to remedy or to rectify eventsoccurred due to despotism, corruption, nepotism, favoritism, abuse of power, inefficiency, maladministration etc in the public sector.
7. The said two select committees or a similar committee selected from the members of the said committees shall scrutinize budget proposal before being presented to the Parliament and the Parliament shall have a pre-budgetary debate to enable the government to identify the failings and frailties and to obtain views and opinions of the public representatives before finalizing the budget estimates. Thereby the government will be able to identify the priorities and requisites as well while apprehending the pulse of the people.
8. It shall be made mandatory that every State institution shall submit its annual audit accounts and statements of account on before the 30th of April of the following year.
9. Any institutions in which the government or any governmental agency has invested by way of shares or equities or otherwise exceeding the 5% of the issued share capital of such institutions, shall be liable for scrutiny by the relevant select committee. (COPE or PAC)
10. Each and every such institution shall be examined by the said select committees at least once in every six months period.
11. There shall be an independent secretariat for the said select committees.
12. The proceedings in the select committees shall be open to the media except in sensitive matters affecting defense and finance of the country.
13. There shall be a fully fledged Budgetary Secretariat in the Parliament with a data bank enabling the Members and the general public to have access to this facility.
14. The Budgetary Secretariat shall be equipped with all facilities and experts in the fields of economics, finance, accountancy, audit, law etc.
15. Parliament shall pass a Code of Conduct for Members and any misconduct shall be dealt with by a committee consisting of Senior Members and Members with high integrity and honesty. There shall be a system adopted to remove those Members who are found guilty of any corruption or abuse of powers.
16. The provisions of Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2003 shall be strictly implemented and adhered to.
17. Suitable amendment shall be made to the election mechanism. There shall be a system to make sure that public representatives are directly responsible to their voters.
18. It shall be a duty of every political party and their leaders to put forward candidates with unblemished track records and those who have maintained a high integrity and honesty in their lives both political and private.
19. They also shall give prominence to their party disciplinary code and action shall be taken forthwith against those who violate the disciplinary rules.
20. Bribery and Corruption law shall be amended to include private sector corruption too as it has been amply proved during the recent past that no white colour corruption could have taken place in the absence of the participation and encouragement of the private sector.
21. The Independent Audit Commission Bill which had been finalized as far back in 2004/2005 shall be presented to the Parliament and enacted.
22. The Right to Information Bill which also had been finalized as far back in 2004/2005 shall be presented to the Parliament and enacted.
23. The proposed Bill to regulate the Contempt of Court shall be presented to the Parliament and enacted. There is a large number of victims who had been subjected to ad hoc punishments due to non availability of a proper code to govern the law relating to contempt of court.
Judiciary
1. The Government shall establish a solid judicial structure which can ensure and uphold the Rule of Law and to act upon Rule of Law alone.
2. Civil and Criminal procedure shall be simplified to avoid or minimize the long delay in litigation. Ordinarily litigation shall be concluded at least within a period of one-two years.
3. The Executive shall not tamper or interfere with regard to the appointments of Judges and their functions.
4. The Government shall refrain from appointing retired Judges of the Superior Courts to any public office (except for temporary commissions) as there are possibilities that some Judges may be tempted to curry favour with prevailing governments to secure some benefits for their kith and kin and specially during the latter part of their career with the expectation of securing employments such as in the diplomatic service, commissions, consultants etc. and other benefits. That has led to a severe deterioration of public confidence reposed in the judiciary. At the same time they shall be assured with a reasonable pension in commensuration with their living standards.
Ethnic Issues
1. Full implementations of the 13th amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing the equality to every citizen irrespective of their race, language, religion, caste, sex, political opinion or place of birth.
2. National integration shall be given top priority and peace and harmony among all communities should re-established leaving no room for any derangement of the civil society.
3. Resettlement of internally displaced people shall be given the utmost priority.
Foreign Policy
1. While maintaining a non-aligned foreign policy, we shall strengthen the bi-lateral relationship with all countries especially, with those who are helping us and engaging in trade and business with us.
2. Friendly relations with the countries in the Asia including SAARC would be fortified.
3. Appointment of diplomats for overseas service shall be made from well trained officers of the Foreign Service. Appointments to High Commissions and Embassies shall not be made use as a means of providing employment to retired or failed politicians or other officers of the State whether retired or otherwise.
Education
1. The Education Sector has deteriorated in an unprecedented manner.
2. The entire education system shall be re-structured by removing all unduly appointed politically favoured appointees. Qualified employees in the service shall be given their due places purely on merits and merits alone.
3. There shall be a duly structured salary scale wiping out salary anomalies.
4. Establishment of discipline shall be given top priority in the service commencing from top to bottom.
5. Budgetary allocation for education shall be substantially increased to commensurate with the ratios followed by developed countries.
6. All syllabuses shall be reviewed and restructured to meet future challenges in the country as well as in the world.
7. Teacher training shall be brought up to the expected levels enabling students to reach their goals.
8. School admissions shall be regularized by an Act of Parliament giving no room for politicians and officials to take bribes and engage in corruption.
9. All schools shall be brought under one stream and there shall be no categories for National Schools and Provincial Council Schools. This always leads to discrimination and corruption. All schools shall be administered either by the central government or respective provincial councils.
10. State shall ensure that all the students who pass the G.C.E Advanced Level get opportunities to have University Education. There shall be duly monitored universities open to accommodate all.
Public Health
1. Health sector always give priority only to cure but there are no sufficient action plans for preventive measures. That is proved during the recent past.
2. A large percentage of vegetables and fruits are cultivated by over-using chemicals, and chemicals are used even after the crops are harvested. There is no mechanism to regulate and supervise them. As a result the majority of people have become patients in some form.
3. Constant struggles by the employees including Medical Doctors have reached an alarming proportion. There shall be due attention towards these serious problems and resolve them including salary anomalies.
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