Learn from the past

Saturday 31st October, 2020

The 20th Amendment (20A) has become law. Yesterday, we carried a picture of Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena signing it into law. The government is now like a juggernaut with a weak brake system, careening downhill. The Opposition, which had nine of its MPs voting with the government for 20A has decided to take disciplinary action against them. In fact, it wants to see the back of them, but expelling them from Parliament may not be an easy task, given a Supreme Court order which has stood crossovers in good stead.

What we are currently witnessing is a replay of the situation following the formation of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government in early 2010, as we argued in a previous comment; that regime mustered a two-thirds majority and bought off more than a dozen Opposition MPs. The UNP, which had 60 MPs in that Parliament was left with only 44 in the end owing to crossovers. But that government sank like the Titanic, in January 2015, despite its steamroller majority and the popularity of its President. Massive majorities do not necessarily translate into the stability of governments.

The SJB has called upon Speaker Abeywardene to make arrangements for its dissidents to sit separately in Parliament. Interestingly, some members of the government are sitting with their Opposition counterparts in the House. So, it will not make any difference whether the SJB dissidents sit separately or not.

Political party leaders, academics et al had better peruse the 20A Act and compare it with what was passed by Parliament on 22 October to see if there are any discrepancies. One may wonder why on earth such an effort should be made because what has been published is a legal document, but we have to learn from our past mistakes. One may recall that it took decades for a provision surreptitiously incorporated into a constitutional amendment to come to light.

In 1988, the J. R. Jayewardene government steamrollered the 14th Amendment (14A) to the Constitution through Parliament, creating the National List (NL), and what became law was different from the Bill ratified by Parliament, according to observations made by some Opposition heavyweights later on. According to veteran leftist, D. E. W. Gunasekara, 14A contains a provision which was not there in the Bill passed by Parliament; it enables outsiders to be become NL MPs and is violative of people’s franchise and sovereignty. When an NL seat falls vacant, the party or the Independent group which is entitled to fill it can appoint any of its members to Parliament. This provision has been used by several governments to catapult outsiders to Parliament. A similar situation is likely to arise under the incumbent dispensation as well.

There was also a controversy over a provision in the 19th Amendment, pertaining to the formation of National Governments. Former Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC, once pointed out a discrepancy between what was presented to Parliament for its approval and the Act in that regard. Unfortunately, his objections went unheeded. The problem with undemocratic practices is that they are as contagious as COVID-19.

The only antidote to the practice of making bad laws is to have a constitutional provision for the post enactment judicial review of legislation. People, whose legislative power Parliament exercises, must be able to subject laws to judicial scrutiny anytime and have them amended or abolished.

We hope that the Opposition will care to go through 20A afresh carefully and ensure that it is the same as what Parliament passed with a two-thirds majority recently. Anything is possible in this country.