The recent arrest of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second son, Navy Lt. Yoshitha Rajapaksa, was cast to the shadows last week by the latest move in the country’s political scene – the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between UNP Leader Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Democratic Party Leader, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka.
The signing of the MoU was perhaps confirmation of the recent rumor that Fonseka will be appointed to parliament to fill the vacancy created by the demise of Lands Minister M.K.A.D.S. Gunawardena last month.
News about the likelihood of Fonseka’s appointment to parliament and eventually a ministerial appointment started to make the rounds on Friday (January 29). Several groups affiliated Fonseka and his private secretary during the 2010 Presidential election campaign Senaka de Silva heard word that the UNP leadership has agreed to appoint Fonseka from the party’s national list to fill the vacancy in the House. Going a step further, it was also stated that Fonseka had initially sought a portfolio that would provide him access to the military, but had been assured the portfolio of Law and Order currently held by Sagala Ratnayake.
News of Fonseka’s possible entry to parliament caused ripples within the UNP and that are now gradually turning into waves of objection, especially following the manner in which the agreement was signed between the UNP and the Democratic Party last week.
The Sunday Leader reliably learns that several senior UNP members who were defeated after polling high number of votes at the last general election as well as several members whose names have been included in the UNP national list would make a bid next week for the national list slot that is being earmarked for Fonseka.
It was interesting to see Fonseka smiling and signing an agreement with the Prime Minister and praising his actions after criticising Wickremesinghe and calling him ‘saradiyel’ less than a year ago during a meeting in Mirijjawila. It was also no secret that Fonseka towards the latter part of the 2010 Presidential election campaign had made comments even to senior UNP members that once he assumes office as the President after the elections, he would not take notice of Wickremesinghe.
Seeing the images published in the media of the signing of the MoU between Wickremesinghe and Fonseka, it seemed the Premier has also subscribed to President Maithripala Sirisena’s famous saying – Nahi Verena Verani!
Premier Wickremesinghe was praised by all quarters of the country for his firm stance of not appointing defeated candidates to parliament through the national list. In fact Wickremesinghe’s decision even eliminated the opportunity for the likes of Rosy Senanayake from being appointed to parliament through the national list following her defeat at the last general election polling over 78,000 votes.
Even the general public looked at Wickremesinghe’s policy of leading by example when the SLFP decided to appoint most of its defeated members to parliament through the national list.
However, the latest move by the UNP to enter into an agreement with Fonseka’s party and to even consider the possibility of appointing him to parliament after being defeated at the general elections last year where he contested against the UNP, has irked many members of the UNP, individuals named by the UNP in its national list as well as the general public.
A majority of the UNP, despite being silent observers of the current process believe that the vacant national list slot should be filled by an UNPer.
Among the names that the UNP members are looking at to fill the vacancy are Rosy Senanayake, Joseph Michael Perera, Priyan Wijeratne, Suranimala Rajapaksa and Irwin Weerakkody. The name of Krishantha Cooray has not been taken up for discussion despite being included in the national list, following a request made by him from the UNP leadership and party secretary Kabir Hashim not to consider his name when appointing a member to parliament from the national list.
Working Committee
Interestingly, despite claims made by Hashim that a committee appointed by the party had discussed and decided on the UNP entering into an agreement with Fonseka’s party, no one is aware of the appointment of such a committee, its members or its recommendations.
The Working Committee had not been officially made aware of Fonseka’s attempts to make in-roads with the UNP.
In fact, the UNP Working Committee has been summoned tomorrow (8) to discuss the latest moves and to decide on the individual to be nominated to parliament from the national list. Also, the Committee is expected to sanction the UNP-DP MoU as well.
The Sunday Leader learns that the path to Fonseka’s entrance to the UNP was facilitated by UNP Chairman, Minister Malik Samarawickrema, Ministers Rajitha Senaratne and Champika Ranawaka together with Fonseka’s ally Senaka de Silva.
Looking at the background of what resulted in the final MoU signing last week, it was revealed that the plan to get Fonseka appointed to parliament through the UNP national list was first mooted during several casual discussions between Samarawickrema and de Silva. The latter it is learnt had sought prominence for Fonseka in the government to which Samarawickrema had responded by saying that he could be appointed to parliament when there is a vacancy.
It was during this period that Minister Gunawardena’s health condition started to deteriorate and the doctors informed some members of the government the seriousness of the ailing minister’s condition. As soon as it was known that Gunawardena’s condition was getting worse by the day, it was then a load of plotting and planning that culminated into serious action following Gunawardena’s demise.
Hence the marriage between the UNP and Fonseka was mooted by Samarawickrema, Senaratne, Ranawaka and de Silva.
After the initial discussion was completed on securing a parliamentary slot for Fonseka, the next matter on the agenda was the portfolio he would be offered.
Planning portfolio
Fonseka had initially stated that he would prefer a portfolio that brought him to close dealings with the armed forces.
However, Wickremesinghe did not see Fonseka to be an individual who could replace Ruwan Wijewardena who currently holds the portfolio of State Minister for Defence.
Fonseka’s loyalists then put the word out that the Field Marshal after being sworn into parliament on the 9th of this month will be appointed as the Minister for Law and Order.
Hearing these rumors, the UNP leadership was inundated with requests to reconsider such an offer to Fonseka.
Samarawickrema had then requested Wickremesinghe to look for another option, which led to the discussion of creating a new portfolio called Tri Forces Welfare to be given to Fonseka.
Yet, again objections started to flow in against such a move.
Wickremesinghe was requested by a majority of his loyalists not appoint Fonseka to any portfolio that had him dealing closely with either the police or the armed forces.
These sentiments were also conveyed to Wickremesinghe by a group of ministers who met him after the signing of the MoU between the UNP and Democratic Party at Temple Trees last Wednesday.
After signing the MoU, Wickremesinghe had inquired from a group of UNP ministers about their thoughts on the latest unison. A majority of the ministers who participated at the signing ceremony had done so following a request made by the Prime Minister’s office to be present at the event and were unaware of all the details.
To Wickremesinghe’s question, their response was for the Prime Minister to ensure that he would remain in control of the situation and not allow Fonseka to act as he pleased after being assigned even the minute of powers vested along with a ministerial portfolio.
Wickremesinghe after listening to the concerns of the ministers had not made any specific comments.
It was later stated that Fonseka will be assigned either the Lands Ministry or a new ministry that dealt with a new subject matter.
Violation
Be that as it may, the entire move to appoint Fonseka to parliament is a violation of the Constitution.
According to a provision in the Constitution a member of the armed forces cannot be appointed to parliament.
Article 91(1)(xi) of the Constitution states that no person shall be qualified to be elected as a Member of Parliament or to sit and vote in Parliament if he is a member of the Regular Force of the Army, Navy or Air Force.
Also, a judgment delivered in 2001 by Justice Mark Fernando in the Samaraweera Weerawanni case, states that unless an individual’s name is in the national list, he/she cannot be appointed.
Hence, in the event the UNP leadership manages to get the endorsement of the Working Committee despite objections to appoint Fonseka to parliament from the party’s national list there are several groups that have vouched action against the move.
While one group would lodge a complaint with Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya, another group would challenge the move before the Supreme Court citing the violation of the country’s Constitution through the appointment.
The UNP in such a scenario would be embroiled in litigation that could have easily been avoided. Interestingly, the appointment of Fonseka as Field Marshal itself is flawed.
The post of Field Marshal is defined as a very senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually it is the highest rank in an army, and when it is, few (if any) persons are appointed to it. Considered as a five-star rank (OF-10) in modern-day armed forces in many countries.
Given that Fonseka is in the active armed forces, legal experts say he cannot be appointed to parliament.
According to the globally accepted criteria, an individual appointed as Field Marshal should have commanded 200,000 soldiers at a war and should have recorded a victory in a war against another nation.
Fonseka has not fulfilled thiscriteria. There are only 15 Field Marshals in the world and there have been two Field Marshals in neighboring India.
Media disturbed
Some UNPers feel that the Prime Minister’s decision to accept Fonseka into the party fold and appointing him to parliament as well as offer ministerial portfolio is aimed at getting the former Army Commander’s popularity as a war hero to tame the extremist elements that are trying once again to raise its heads.
If this logic were true then firstly, Fonseka would have been elected to parliament by the people including the forces personnel at the last general election. Fonseka’s Democratic Party polled less than 30,000 Votes Island wide at the August 2015 general election.
It is also no secret that during his tenure as Army Commander, the ongoing confrontations with the commanders of the Navy and Air Force at the time over gaining glory for the battles won against the LTTE. Fonseka as Army Commander therefore was not liked much by personnel in the Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Air Force.
Even the support Fonseka enjoyed in the Sri Lanka Army seems to have diminished along with the change in the political stage.
However, there’s no doubt that Fonseka gained much popularity during the war. So much that at some points he was even beyond the control of tight fisted Defence Secretary at the time Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. The Sunday Leader learns that Fonseka even formed groups of his loyalists to carry out some of his most secret operations.
In fact, Fonseka has been accused of playing a role in several attacks on journalists – the founding Editor of The Sunday Leader, Lasantha Wickrematunge, former Associate Editor of the Nation, Keith Noyahr, former Editor of Rivira, Upali Tennakoon and journalist Poddala Jayantha.
Sources from the former defence establishment claim that details of Wickrematunge murder and who had committed it could be found if one were to peruse the reports of the investigations conducted by the CID and the directorate of military intelligence (DMI) at the time.
Wickremesinghe during a speech in parliament in February 2009 following Wickrematunge murder on January 8th that year claimed that the Army Commander at the time was responsible for the murder of the founding Editor of The Sunday Leader newspaper.
The yahapalanaya government would have to think twice when accepting and consider assigning a portfolio to an individual accused of attacks on the media during the former regime and of alleged war crimes by the international community. Although a person is innocent until proven guilty, an individual accused of any crime should face a proper investigation to clear his name.
Courtesy:The Sunday Leader