Curiouser and curiouser

The Diana Gamage defection from the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) becomes “curiouser and curiouser” by the day if we may borrow from Alice in Wonderland. Apart from murdering Shakespeare, the question of the good lady’s citizenship has also arisen in reports bruited around in the social media. These have alleged that she has been listed as a British citizen in the Company Registry in the UK and also that her British driving license recorded her as British citizen resident in the UK. Questioned on the subject, Gamage had offered an interviewer to show him her passport. This ended that particular line of questioning. A popular Youtube channel mentioned that her soldier grandfather was British adding some lunu ambul to an already spicy dish.

Gamage, whose husband Senaka de Silva, was a principal aide to General (now Field Marshal) Sarath Fonseka when he ran for President, was the general secretary of a little known political party called “Ape Jana Balavegaya” recognized in the books of the Election Commission. This was the party which Sajith Premadasa and his supporters acquired for the purposes of running at the parliamentary election last August after quittting the UNP. This was done by effecting a name change of the party by dropping the ‘Ape’in its title and substituting ‘Samagi’ in its place. Not only was the party name changed but also its general secretary, Diana Gamage, who was replaced by Premadasa loyalist Ranjith Madduma Bandara with Diana relegated to a slot of deputy general secretary of the rose that bore another name. That is why Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardene said in Parliament that this lady “owned” the Premadasa party. Her National List nomination to the legislature is widely believed to have been a consideration for transferring such “ownership.”

As far as we know, the Sri Lanka passports of persons holding dual citizenship do not specifically record that fact. They are issued a certificate of dual citizenship and invariably hold two passports, one from their other domicile (British, US, Canadian, Australian or whatever) and one from Sri Lanka. The question must obviously arise whether Gamage is a dual citizen or not. If she was, before 20A for which she voted was passed, she would not have been entitled to enter Parliament. It wasn’t that long ago that another “fair Member” as they are referred to in various legislatures in the British tradition, Geetha Kumarasinghe, lost her elected membership of the House after a protracted court battle over her Swiss citizenship. She had, like President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, subsequently renounced such citizenship and been re-elected to the incumbent Parliament having lost her seat in the previous one. Dual citizenship of Sri Lankans can be very easily ascertained and it is most unlikely that Diana Gamage entered Parliament under false pretenses. That is a matter that can be easily established but questions would remain on how and why she is described a British citizen in the official records of the government of the United Kingdom.

The SJB says it will expel the 20A defectors from their party. They have, as a first step, already asked the speaker to seat those eight lawmakers who defied the party whip, elsewhere in the parliamentary chamber. These arrangements will most likely be made in time for the next sitting. Although constitutional provisions were made to enable political parties to expel defectors, who risked losing their seats, when the proportional representation (PR) system of elections replaced the previous first-past-the-post Westminster model, no defector up to now has lost his/her parliamentary seat. The PR legislation, in the interest of checks and balances (of political parties acting unjustly) provided an appeal procedure enabling sacked MPs to either go to the Supreme Court or a Parliamentary Select Committee. A judgment of Chief Justice Sarath Silva made it very difficult for an MP to lose his seat although the door was not closed altogether. Obviously this lot of defectors, like those who changed sides earlier, would have done their homework on the risk of losing their seats before crossing the Rubicon. They well know that government’s can prolong Select Committee proceedings for ever and a day and their seats will not be endangered if they are on the right side of the fence.

Forgetting Diana Gamage’s ignorance of Shakespeare, which she amply demonstrated with her unforgettable howler on the floor of the House, declaring she loved her country more than she loved her party, there are obvious questions that arise. If she thought as highly of President Gotabaya Rajapaska then, as she says she now does, why did she give her party all wrapped up in ribbons – we won’t say gift because it was anything but that – to the Sajith-led group to run against the Rajapaksa-led SLPP at the August parliamentary election? Also, why did she accept an SJB National List seat which was surely not forced on her, to sit in opposition to the Rajapaksa government? Pardon us, fair lady, your slip is showing.

Now that 20A, certified last week by Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, is part of the country’s basic law, there is a vital question begging to be answered by those who today rule this island. If President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has solemnly assured the likes of Wimal Weerawansa, Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Udaya Gammanpila that the 19A bar on dual citizen running for election will be included in the promised new constitution by November 2021, why then is a year-long window being kept open between now and then? Did those who obtained this assurance seek a guarantee that the provision will not be used in the interim? If not why? Basil Rajapaksa has clearly indicated that he does not wish to renounce his U.S. citizenship as his brother did. Does that mean that he is content to stay where he is now and will not enter Parliament before the new constitution is enacted?