Squaring the circle

Tuesday 11th August, 2020

The Cabinet of the newly elected SLPP government is scheduled to be appointed tomorrow. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa must be having a hard time, selecting their ministers. There are many aspirants to the Cabinet although most of them do not measure up. Various factors come into play in the selection process, which is sure to leave many ambitious elements disappointed. With the President and the PM trying to square the circle, one need not be surprised if the swearing-in of the Cabinet happens to be postponed.

Time was when governments could appoint any number of ministers, and we had jumbo Cabinets as a result. Mahinda Rajapaksa was very generous with ministerial appointments when he was the President. He made even Mervyn Silva a minister! Thankfully, the appointment of jumbo Cabinets is no longer possible owing to the 19th Amendment.

We believe that even a 30-member Cabinet is too big for a small country like Sri Lanka. Ideally, the number of Cabinet ministers should be limited to 15 with an equal number of deputies. The Provincial Councils have 45 ministers. There are so many ministers maintained with public funds, but the President, who is without a single ministerial portfolio, has to meet people and solve their problems! In the run-up to the recently concluded general election, the President had to intervene to have even school playgrounds and roads rehabilitated.

The fact that the proportional representation system has given rise to political alliances consisting of numerous parties which demand ministerial posts is no excuse for burdening the public with large Cabinets. Most parties that secure ministerial posts by contesting as constituents of coalitions cannot win a single seat each, if they go it alone at elections.

The architects of the 19th Amendment betrayed their partiality to the yahapalana government when they introduced a constitutional provision for expanding the Cabinet in case of the formation of a national government. In so doing, they facilitated the coming together of the UNP and the UPFA. A national government is not possible under the present circumstances; the SLPP and the SJB will never opt for cohabitation, but speculation is rife in political circles that the government may seek to remove constitutional hurdles in its path by scrapping the 19th Amendment. This is a worrisome proposition.

The 19 Amendment has some flaws, which need to be rectified. The Constitutional Council became an appendage of the yahapalana government. It needs to be rendered independent. The President should be able to hold the Defence portfolio so that the country can effectively face threats to its national security. No one is better suited for the post than the head of state elected directly by the people. However, the 19th Amendment must not be deep-sixed.

Meanwhile, the political parties that have secured National List (NL) slots, save the SLPP, are in a dilemma. Unsuccessful candidates are trying to enter Parliament via the NL so much so that the gazetting of the NL MPs has been delayed. The SLPP acted wisely by making the NL appointments while the process of counting preferential votes was still underway. That way it prevented unsuccessful candidates from asking for NL seats. The credit for this clever move should go to SLPP strategist Basil Rajapaksa, who finalised all NL appointments immediately after the allocation of seats by the Election Commission. Other parties should have done likewise.

The practice of appointing defeated candidates to Parliament through the NL runs counter to democracy and, therefore, must be brought to an end. If unsuccessful candidates are allowed to enter Parliament, students who fail the GCE A/L should not be denied university admission. Under the yahapalana government, so many defeated candidates were appointed NL MPs that failures became the pillars of the legislature. A constitutional amendment is called for to prevent defeated candidates from securing NL seats.