A pig in a poke?

Tuesday 18th May, 2021

The government is all out to rush the Port City Economic Commission Bill (PCECB) through Parliament amidst a howl of protest from the Opposition, which insists that there should be ample time for it to be discussed extensively both in and outside Parliament. The Supreme Court decision thereon is scheduled to be announced in the House, today. One cannot but agree that there should be enough time for any bill to be debated before being put to the vote in Parliament. Haste is to be avoided when laws that affect future generations are made.

Sri Lankan leaders have the habit of making bad laws whenever they happen to obtain two-thirds majorities in Parliament. It is one thing to steamroller constitutional amendments or any other bills through the House, but making them workable is quite another, as is our experience. Judicial sanction and parliamentary majorities, special or otherwise, do not necessarily make a piece of legislation good and widely acceptable.

The 18th Amendment to the Constitution received the judicial nod and a two-thirds majority, but it was rotten to the core and antithetical to democracy. It became the undoing of the previous Rajapaksa regime. The same is true of the 20th Amendment, which is already having a corrosive effect on the incumbent government’s popularity. The 19th Amendment with several salutary features also led to confusion, if not chaos, with the President and the Prime Minister being at each other’s jugular, under the UNF government (2015-19), because it was made in a hurry, and calls for sensible changes thereto went unheeded. The 13th Amendment (13A) is another case in point.

In fact, a constitutional amendment seeking to devolve state power within a unitary state should have been approved by the people at a referendum besides being ratified by a two-thirds majority in Parliament. But the J. R. Jayewardene government, on whose watch the official residences of Supreme Court judges were stoned, managed to secure the passage of 13A with only a special majority, and plunged the country into a bloodbath and created a never-ending problem. The Provincial Council system not only failed to be a solution to the armed conflict but also became a white elephant, but Sri Lanka cannot do anything about it due to external pressure; this situation has come about because 13A was introduced in a hurry to humour India. The PCECB is aimed at pleasing China and could be equally problematic unless carefully studied and rid of certain provisions that are disadvantageous to this country.

Neither the government nor the Opposition has a leg to stand on anent some of their key arguments for and against the PCECB, respectively. The SLPP, true to form, is trying to make a molehill out of a mountain, so to speak, and the Opposition is doing it the other way around. Those who have put forth sensible arguments for and against the PCECB and sought to educate the public on the vital issue can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The public is confused. It is a case of a pig in a poke for them. Hence the need for more time for a public discussion on the PCECB! It will be a fatal mistake for the government to rush the controversial bill through Parliament in the hope that the issues it has given rise to will fizzle out in time to come.

It is popularly said that Sri Lankans have a woefully short memory span. True, in this country, all vital issues get forgotten fast. (Nobody is talking about the sugar tax fraud any longer!) But serious issues do not go away; they are like algae, which thrive unnoticed, in the Diyawanna Lake affected by eutrophication, and develop into a stinking bloom with the passage of time. Governments that take them for granted ask for trouble.

Most of all, Sri Lanka will make an irrevocable commitment through the PCECB, which will become a fait accompli when made law, and the government had better tread cautiously and work with the Opposition and independent experts to ensure that the interests of the country and generations to come will not be in jeopardy.