First things first

In the last paragraph of his usually trenchant and insightful presentation on this page today, our regular columnist Rajan Philips socks home a message about what the people of this country want from their leaders at this point in history. He forcefully makes the point that non-delivery of 20A, or even a new constitution, with which the government is now overly obsessed, will not be held against either the president or his government saying: “What the people will not forget, or electorally forgive, would be a failure to protect their health from the corona virus and protect their households from economic destitution. Anything less will not pass muster with the public.” That obviously is a given that needs no further emphasis.

There is not the slightest doubt that President Rajapaksa and, perhaps to a lesser extent, his government deserves full marks for what has been done up to now to contain the global Corona virus pandemic within this country as far as possible; and this despite our limited resources. Sri Lanka’s successes in this area in the early days has been internationally applauded. But, largely due to the negligence of the us all, the previous achievements are now being dissipated resulting in the breaking out of what we called a “second wave” in this space last week. It is not our intention to engage in an exercise of finger-pointing blaming anybody for what has happened, but there is no escaping the reality that far too many of our people had begun to behave as though normalcy had been restored. The whole country has now been jolted into the reality that this is not the case.

The easy way out, of course, is to revert to a total or near lock down to contain the spread of the disease. But this is not possible in the context of our battered economy and, more so, the hundreds of thousands of our people who keep body and soul together by earning a daily wage. A lock down would drive them to near starvation. The authorities are doing their best to strike a fine balance imposing necessary restrictions with minimum hardship to as many as possible. The grade five scholarship examination has been held and the ‘A’ level exam is ongoing. Covid twice compelled their postponement earlier and any interference now must be a very last resort under absolutely unavoidable conditions. Everything necessary to prevent such an eventuality is being done and it is to be hoped that the Gods will smile down on us and help avert such a calamity.

Given the situation the country is at present, the last thing we need is the ongoing political war over 20A. Given the notorious shortness of memory of this nation, most have forgotten that the much derided 19A which admittedly had many desirable provisions, as well as weaknesses targeting individuals not excluding the incumbent president, was passed near unanimously in the legislature with only a single dissenting vote. The landslide winners of both the presidential and parliamentary elections say they have the mandate to do what they are seeking to do with the constitution. There is no denying that both President Rajapaksa as well as the Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna won overwhelming majorities. Yet they sought to incorporate provisions into 20A that that they themselves now admit were unconstitutional, compelling the Attorney General to assure the Supreme Court that these would be duly amended at the Committee Stage of the legislative process. Let us no forget that those who eloquently accused their opponents of “smuggling” unwanted provisions (as in the case of the Provincial Councils Election (Amendment) Act) into legislation during Committee Stage proceedings are also making such amendments. Admittedly, these were furnished during the court proceedings so no smuggling allegation can stand.

It has been widely reported that the Supreme Court has held that some of the provisions of the draft 20A needs to be passed by a two thirds majority and also obtain the consent of the people at a Referendum. It is clear that the government does not wish to test its mandate at a Referendum and it is a certainty that those sections that would require such reference to the people for their consent (if there are such sections) will be duly amended so that they could be adopted by the two thirds majority the government is confident of obtaining in parliament. The Supreme Court ruling is not in the public domain, with the judges having communicated it only to the president and the speaker. There was one report that the speaker had not even opened the envelope in which the determination had been conveyed to him. However that be, a purportedly leaked judgment has been widely disseminated. Many sections of the polity have correctly refrained from commenting on the judgment until it is formally communicated to parliament next week.

There is no doubt that the government will go ahead with its announced intention of enacting 20A. But the time for doing so is not propitious. The most important item in the public agenda is protecting the health of the people and ensuring that the most vulnerable segment of our population is not driven to destitution. Getting the battered economy into the best possible shape is also most important. The people will applaud the president and the government if “first things first” is made the national priority.