By
Veeragathy Thanabalasingham
The election manifestos of the three main presidential candidates were released last week.
First, on 26 August, National People’s Power (NPP) Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake released his manifesto titled ‘A Thriving Nation – A Beautiful Life’. Then, on 29 August, President Ranil Wickremesinghe released his manifesto under the title ‘Five Triumphant Years for Sri Lanka with Ranil’, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Leader Sajith Premadasa released his under the title ‘A Win for All.’
The three of them have prioritised their plans to rescue Sri Lanka from the economic crisis in their manifestos and have presented proposals to solve most of the problems facing the country and its people. But it is doubtful that ordinary people would care to read these lengthy declarations with patience.
Wickremesinghe’s firm conviction is that there is no other way for economic recovery except to continue the economic restructuring measures carried out for the past two years in accordance with the agreement his Government made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Speaking as if the other two main candidates could not carry out those restructuring measures effectively, he is asking the people to give him a five-year mandate.
Premadasa and Dissanayake have also announced that they will continue with the agreement with the IMF with some amendments but will hold talks with the international lender to reduce taxes that burden the people. Therefore, whoever becomes the new president, it is clear that his action plan regarding the economic recovery will be carried out in accordance with the IMF agreement.
Amending the Constitution
The main purpose of this article is to briefly look at what the three leaders have said in their manifestos on the issues related to the new constitution and the national ethnic problem. Long before the announcement of the Presidential Election, all three candidates expressed their positions on the political solution to the ethnic problem and mentioned the same in their manifestos.
Although Dissanayake has long said that an NPP government will bring a new constitution, what he has said in the manifesto is unexpected.
He says that the constitutional drafting process carried out during the Government (2015-2019) led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe will be speedily completed, and political and administrative powers will be shared with each Local Government institution, district, and province so that all people can participate in governance through the new constitution. The manifesto makes no direct reference to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
Meanwhile, President Wickremesinghe said that based on his proposals regarding implementing the 13th Amendment, powers would be devolved to the Provincial Councils as per the Constitution. He mentioned that the powers which the Central Government had taken back from the provinces would be given back to them, and the responsibility of deciding on Police powers for the Provincial Councils would be handed over to the new Parliament.
The President, who has promised to give importance to national reconciliation, has said that a Truth and Reconciliation Act will be passed and the Nawaz Commission report on missing persons will be implemented.
The SJB Leader says his alliance is committed to changing the present Constitution and formulating a new constitution with proper consultation with religious dignitaries, political parties representing Parliament, and members of civil society. “In that process, our principle is to convert our current political system to a parliamentary system and with maximum devolution based on the 13th Amendment under one country,” his manifesto says.
Further, he said his government would be committed to fully implementing the current Constitution, including the 13th Amendment until the passage of the new constitution while reaffirming his commitment to Provincial Councils by not retracting the powers granted to them and instead strengthening the developments made at the provincial level.
Abolishing the executive presidency
When it comes to the abolition of the executive presidential system, while Dissanayake has said that his government will abolish the executive presidential system, establish a parliamentary system of government, and create a non-executive presidency, Wickremesinghe has said that the responsibility of drafting a new constitution will be entrusted to the new Parliament that will be elected in the General Elections to be held following the Presidential Election.
The President also said that the new Parliament should decide whether or not to abolish the executive presidency. This is nothing new for him to say. Premadasa and Dissanayake have been saying for several months that the responsibility of deciding on the abolition of the presidential system should be handed over to the next Parliament, which will be elected with a new mandate of the people.
Although there have been talks about the abolition of the executive presidency for decades, no tangible attempt has been made in this regard so far. Whatever the three main candidates have promised in their manifestos, people certainly have strong doubts about their political integrity.
Also, an important question is whether it will be possible to find consensus among political parties in the next Parliament to carry out the responsible task of drafting a new constitution, given the current political landscape and the level of support for the political parties among the people.
An important point to note is that the three leaders have largely expressed similar positions on issues related to the national ethnic problem. With the Presidential Election still three weeks away, a largely non-racial trend can be observed in the campaigns of major political parties or coalitions this time around. This is completely different from the situation seen during the 2019 Presidential Election.
The national and ethnic situation
There is an opportunity in the current situation that Tamil political parties can exploit effectively. Unfortunately, many of the north and east Tamil political parties do not care about exploiting this opportunity.
Most of the Tamil parties demanding a permanent solution to the national and ethnic problem are not only urging the Sri Lankan Government to fully implement the 13th Amendment but also have been pleading with New Delhi to pressure Colombo to do so for years. The parties’ leaders cannot think that their responsibility is over just by asking for it. They must work together to use the available opportunities to persuade or pressure the Government to fully implement the 13th Amendment.
A political strategy must be employed to ensure a conducive environment. Now that the three main candidates have taken a favourable position on the 13th Amendment, the leaders of the Tamil parties should hold talks with them and strive to obtain assurances that whoever becomes the president, none of them should oppose any future efforts to implement the amendment. In today’s context, that can be a prudent approach.
This columnist is no fan of the 13th Amendment. But what is wrong with the Tamil parties adopting such a strategy as, after all, they consider the 13th Amendment as a first step in their journey towards a permanent political settlement?
There is also a significant section within the Tamil polity that says that the 13th Amendment, the sole devolution of power arrangement in the Sri Lankan Constitution, should not be accepted in any way.
Do the Tamil people today have the political clout to force any future government to bring back one with similar or lesser provisions if the amendment is abolished? This question is not yet answered. Dreamworld politics is easy. But it is important for the Tamil people today to think about a practical approach.
13A and beyond
Dissanayake mentioned in his election manifesto that their government would bring a new constitution by completing the new constitution drafting process carried out during the ‘Yahapalana’ Government.
The then Opposition Leader, the late R. Sampanthan and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran claimed during that process that more comprehensive devolution proposals were explored beyond the provisions of the 13th Amendment, indicating their perception that there was no need to talk about the 13th Amendment anymore.
Unfortunately, due to the regime change, the constitution drafting process could not continue. However, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe submitted an interim report to Parliament.
There are also Tamil politicians who are of the view that the lack of specific reference to the 13th Amendment in Dissanayake’s manifesto is not a defect; as said by the NPP, it would complete the stalled constitutional drafting process.
However, in a situation where even the 13th Amendment has not been properly implemented for more than three decades, Tamil political parties have been nursing hope of going beyond the amendment. This was a result of ploy used by former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, who fiercely opposed India’s intervention in the Sri Lankan imbroglio and did not implement 13th Amendment to insult India.
A Parliamentary Select Committee headed by then Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Member of Parliament Mangala Moonesinghe was appointed to explore ways to resolve the ethnic conflict in the context of the resumption of the civil war after the withdrawal of Indian forces during Premadasa’s regime.
Since then, the Tamil parties began believing they could go beyond the 13th Amendment. That was a strategy used by Premadasa to avoid actually implementing the amendment.
Thereafter, Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa took other initiatives while ensuring that the 13th Amendment was not properly implemented. Rajapaksa never released the report of the All-Party Representative Committee headed by Prof. Tissa Vitharana. Taking all these experiences as a lesson, it would be prudent for the leaders of the Tamil parties to adopt a strategy that would ensure full implementation of the 13th Amendment for the time being.
Courtesy:Sunday Morning