Champika Ranawaka Accuses Ranil Wickremesinghe and JVP of Conspiring Together to Abolish the Executive Presidency

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By Chamodi Gunawardana

Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) General Secretary and Minister Champika Ranawaka yesterday claimed that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had violated the Constitution of the country and accused him of trying to create a dictatorial premiership.

Addressing a media conference, he stated that Wickremesinghe and a group of conspirers who were backing him were trying to destroy the executive presidency by removing its powers and bestowing them on the prime minister to create a ‘dictatorial premiership’.

“Ranil and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) are conspiring to abolish the executive presidency. They just want to make a powerless president and give the executive powers of the president to the PM.

Because of this, we believe the 19th Amendment will become a photocopy of 1972’s Amendment. The Government has no right to completely abolish the executive presidency without consulting the public. Ranil just wants to make a mess of this Constitution the same way he messed up the United National Party’s Constitution in 1995,” Ranawaka said.

He added that Wickremesinghe had inserted new clauses into the Constitutional reforms that differed from the clauses included in the draft bill which was submitted to the Supreme Court. “Ranil can deceive the UNP, but he can’t deceive us and we won’t allow him to deceive the public either. Ranil should learn to respect the opinions of others and listen to others without just doing what he wants to do,” Ranawaka emphasised.

He also pointed out that the 19th Amendment had missed some very important points.

“The Election Commission has introduced 16 proposals on electoral reforms, but none of those suggestions have been taken into consideration in the 19th Amendment Draft Bill. Some parties such as the JVP are trying to stop those amendments because they are disadvantageous to the JVP at the election. However if this Amendment gets passed in Parliament, it should be implemented under a new Government, and not under the current one,” he said.

Commenting on opinions currently prevailing against the JHU, Ranawaka said that the party did not believe in astrology and took political decisions based on statistics and numbers.

Courtesy:Daily FT