Uyangoda, others promote Parliament of 200 members and Senate of 50

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Sri Lanka should have a parliament of 200 MPs and a 50-member Senate to ensure that the elected MPs cannot pass laws that are antithetical to democracy, Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, a senior political scientist, has said, speaking about a document titled ‘Fundamental principles and proposals for democracy through political and constitutional changes’ that he and several others have unveiled recently.

Prof. Uyangoda said that since 1972, the judiciary had not been vested with power to review the laws passed by Parliament, and successive Parliaments had passed laws depriving the people of their rights.

The Senate that has been proposed is not similar to the one established by the Soulbury Constitution. The Senate they propose would act as a check against the misuse of sovereignty by the elected MPs, he said.

In 1972, the Senate was abolished because the prevailing view at the time was that the Senate was an obstacle to elected representatives to carry out the mandate given by the people.

“The demand for the abolition of the Senate in 1972 came from the left and the centre-left parties. They felt that the Senate at that time was akin to the House of Lords in England. They thought this practice was undemocratic in the Sri Lankan context. I agreed with that in 1972,” he said.

However, the context has changed drastically, he added.

Prof. Uyangoda said the Parliament was misused by ruling political parties to implement draconian laws.

“Look at the laws that are rushed through Parliament. It’s obvious that the MPs do not even read the content of the laws, and none of these laws adhere to Republican principles. These MPs only care about staying in power. People believe that the Parliament is a rubber stamp and that there is no point in maintaining the legislature with taxpayer money. The Senate we propose is a way of curtailing these practices.”

Prof. Uyangoda said that the people’s faith in the legislature was at an all-time low, and most MPs could not even visit their own villages. Drastic changes would have to be made to restore faith in Parliament, he said.

Prof. Uyangoda went on to say that mere changes to the Constitution would not help solve the crisis in Sri Lankan polity. The political system, too, had to be changed, he said. The people needed to be given an opportunity to play a bigger role in decision-making, especially at the grassroots level.

“Most MPs take public anger very lightly. However, anyone who can read the pulse of the people knows how volatile the ground reality is. We need to expand and deepen democracy in Sri Lanka. We propose to limit the Cabinet to 20 and, out of that, five should be women.”

Prof. Uyangoda said that there was a female quota for local councils and that political parties have abused and manipulated this quota. Most of the women in local councils were relatives or allies of political leaders, and they are proxies.

“This is a problem many countries face. We must come up with some principles to minimise this. I don’t have the perfect answer to this. This is why we would like to present our proposals to the people and see what suggestions come from them.”

Prof. Uyangoda also said that a future Constitution must guarantee the economic and developmental rights of the people. In recent years, these rights had been taken from the people. However, there is growing public awareness that they deserve economic justice.

“We always talk about civil and political rights. But people want economic, social and cultural rights. There is no mention of these rights in our Constitution. We need to update the chapter on fundamental rights,” he said.