Stench of hypocrisy

Saturday 24th October, 2020

The SLPP government had us believe that the biggest obstacle in its path, preventing the full implementation of its election manifesto, was the 19th Amendment (19A), which it has now abolished. The 20th Amendment (20A), which was passed in Parliament with 156 votes, on Thursday, has restored the executive powers of the President fully, and, now, the SLPP will have to fulfil its election pledges without trotting out excuses.

The House was reeking of hypocrisy during the two-day debate on 20A. Members of the SJB, an offshoot of the UNP, which created the executive presidency and benefited from it for 17 years, were opposing that institution. The government members, who had opposed the executive presidency, tooth and nail, calling it a curse, under the JRJ and Premadasa governments, went all out to restore its powers that 19A had removed. The curse has now become a blessing for them! Former President Maithripala Sirisena found it too embarrassing to vote for 20A and, therefore, kept away. If there is anything predictable about Sirisena, it is his unpredictability. The northern politicians who unflinchingly offered their services as bootlickers to Prabhakaran and declared him as the sole representatives of the Tamil people although he did not have representation even in a local government body waxed eloquent on the virtues of democracy. They made 20A out to be a bigger threat to democracy than terrorism!

The SLPP dissenters, as we argued in a previous column, adopted the same ruse as the accomplices of pickpockets. When pickpockets get into trouble their friends come posing as irate members of the public, beat them and take them away before the arrival of the police. The SLPP MPs, who voiced dissent over 20A, joined ayes, during the vote, as expected. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa provided them with an excuse for their U-turn; he promised to have a new Constitution framed, claiming that 20A was only a stop-gap measure.

The promulgation of a new Constitution does not seem to have a snowball’s chance in hell. The government is sure to baulk at the issue of devolution of power. The nationalistic forces that propelled it to power are opposed to the 13th Amendment (13A), which they want abolished. They point out that the country has done without the Provincial Councils (PCs) for the last couple of years and saved billions of rupees. The TNA and others of its ilk are demanding more devolution, and India keeps the government reminded of the promised 13 Plus (meaning devolution going beyond what has been granted by 13A).

If the government really wants to introduce a new Constitution, it will have to scrap 13A or retain it, endorsing it in the process, or fulfil its 13 Plus promise to India. Most of all, it will have to address issues concerning land and police powers, which the TNA, etc., want the provinces to exercise. Beset with a host of seemingly intractable problems such as a national health crisis, an ailing economy, diminishing foreign reserves, balance of payment woes, debt servicing and human rights issues in Geneva, the government will not need another mega issue to contend with on the political front.

The SJB suffered a major blow on Thursday. Eight of its MPs including Diana Gamage, former General Secretary of the Ape Jathika Peramuna, which was renamed and registered as the SJB, under controversial circumstances, voted with the government. Something similar happened to the Opposition after the UPFA’s victory in 2010. The Rajapaksa government with 144 seats in Parliament secured the passage of the 18th Amendment with a two-thirds majority thanks to some Opposition MPs of easy virtue. The UNP, which won 60 seats at the 2010 general election, was left with only 44 owing to crossovers. A cocky Rajapaksa government considered itself invincible, but its Titanic moment came in January 2015. This is something that the present-day rulers, who were in power during that period, should bear in mind. They do not seem to learn from their mistakes.