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UPFA insists on dilution of 19A
The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has proposed changes to the latest draft of the 19th Amendment and is demanding that they be included during the committee stage of the bill as a precondition for support.
“I would like to kindly inform you that the central working committee of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party agreed to support the 19th Amendment to the Constitution on the basis that the above-mentioned changes are accepted by the Government,” Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva informed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in a letter on Friday.
The changes, that dilute key provisions in the bill, run into 13 pages. The Government has itself proposed revisions to the 19th Amendment for introduction during the committee stage. The bill is scheduled to be taken up in Parliament tomorrow.
It is learnt, however, that the Government objects to some of the revisions of the UPFA. These include a proposal that the Constitutional Council (CC) comprises primarily parliamentarians and not “persons” as earlier denoted. In the final equation, this would lead to nine out of 10 Council members being MPs, thereby defeating the purpose of setting it up as an independent, apolitical body.
The clause relating to the setting up of a Constitutional Council should, according to the UPFA, read as: “Five Members of Parliament appointed by the President, on the nomination of both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition; and one Member of Parliament nominated by agreement of the majority of the Members of Parliament belonging to political parties or independent groups, other than the respective political parties or independent groups to which the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition belong, and appointed by the President.”
The other members of the Council are the Prime Minister, the Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition and one member appointed by the President. The CC will be responsible for nominating members to all independent commissions.
The UPFA’s proposed changes dilute the bill even further by tampering with clauses that the Supreme Court had approved in its ruling communicated to Parliament on April 9. This includes Clause 43(2) of the Amendment which originally stated: “The President shall, on the advice of the Prime Minister, appoint from among Members of Parliament, Ministers to be in charge of the Ministries so determined”.
The UPFA wants this changed to, “The President shall, in consultation with the Prime Minister, where he considers such consultation to be necessary, appoint from among Members of Parliament, Ministers to be in charge of the Ministries so determined.”
The same revision has been proposed to other clauses which had initially required the President to act on the advice of the Prime Minister in relation to various appointments. The UPFA also wants to reintroduce the constitutional provision that allows the Prime Minister to be removed “under the hand of the President”.
Meanwhile, the confusion regarding various drafts and proposed changes to the 19th Amendment continues. Several meetings were scheduled to be held this weekend to discuss this and other constitutional changes.
The Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) has floated several revisions that it would like inserted. It calls for the creation of an independent Commission for Ethnic and Religious Harmony, in addition to those already listed in the bill. The party says the 19th Amendment “does not provide any redress to the ethnic problem of the country”. It also calls for changes to the 13th Amendment “to make it meaningful in terms of devolution of power”.
Many of the changes the EPDP proposes relate to ethnic representation. For instance, it proposes a clause that reads: “and the President in appointing the Judges of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal shall ensure that at least two Tamils and two Muslims are amongst the sitting Judges of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal”.