Much criticism on proroguing Parliament

APR 22 2018

Much has been said about President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to prorogue
Parliament through a Gazette Extraordinary before undertaking his London tour
to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). The next
Parliament session would commence on 8 May as per the Gazette Notification.
However, now it is said that Parliament cannot be summoned on the day unless a
new Gazette Notification was issued, mentioning the time. During a prorogation,
no motions or questions can be tabled in Parliament and it brings nearly all
parliamentary business to an end. Parliament was prorogued for the last time on
17 May 2009.

While many things have been speculated as the rationale of proroguing

Parliament, the Leader of the House Minister Lakshman Kiriella in Kandy said
prorogation is a common procedure which is followed to allow MPs and
Parliamentary staff to have a break.

The popular criticism against President Sirisena by many political parties about his
decision to prorogue Parliament is that he did so in a bid to take time to solve his
own Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s crisis.

The decision to prorogue Parliament using executive powers at a time where

there was no such need is a completely undemocratic act. The President did so to
temporarily cover up the internal conflicts of the party and to prevent his
ministers from crossing over. Those are their own issues. Why make those issues
relevant to the whole country? National Audit Bill was to be presented to the
House on 19 April. We were looking forward to the submission of the 20th
Amendment. It's all over now. What the President should do is to make
arrangements for taking those proceedings forward but did something totally
different, instead. All we have to say is that these doings are ugly and the
President should be ashamed of it, Leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, Anura
Kumara Dissanayaka said.

Political commentators, meanwhile, say that it is evident that the President is

planning to deliver policy declaration (throne speech) with a new Cabinet of
Ministers, outlining Government’s future plans.

“It is clear that the prorogation and nullifying the session were done so to make
preparations for it. A 16-member group of Cabinet Ministers and Deputy
Ministers has already removed themselves from the SLFP faction of the
Government, the reason behind it being them voting in favour of the No-
Confidence Motion. As a result, a conflict has occurred among the SLFP faction of
the Government. The group is unable to cross over and sit in the Opposition on
the verge of a new session as Parliament was prorogued. Meanwhile the Central
Committee of the SLFP is scheduled to convene and to take a final decision on
supporting or quitting the Unity Government. It appears the objective of the
prorogation of Parliament by the President was to bring clear stabilization to the
party as well. SLFP too are to resolve their internal conflicts of the party.
Whatever the decision the party takes holds grave importance as it concerns the
continuation of the Unity Government,” they opined.

Both UNP activists and the Joint Opposition criticized President's decision to
prorogue Parliament. Some UNP MPs accused the President of using prorogation
as a way of preventing no confidence motions being submitted against the 16
SLFP members. They also claimed that the prorogation prevented some important
Bills from getting passed. Meanwhile, Joint Opposition (JO) Leader Dinesh
Gunawardena said that the crossing over of 16 SLFP members to the Opposition
on 19 April was hindered by the prorogation. Some 162 private members’
motions in the Order Book too have become ineffective along with several
committees including the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE). The reasons to
prorogue Parliament are unclear, but all will be made clear with the President’s
policy statement on 8 May.

History of proroguing Parliament

Proroguing Parliament when there are conflicts in the Government is not

something new. History suggests incidents where Presidents have benefited
immensely from prorogation. The best example is the prorogation of Parliament
in 1991 by then President Ranasinghe Premadasa when an impeachment motion
was about to be submitted against him. President Premadasa used his executive
powers to prorogue Parliament in order to sabotage the impeachment attempt
against him.
Lots of political changes are tipped to take place with the beginning of the new
parliamentary session. The President proroguing Parliament has set an ideal stage
and has provided much-needed time for bringing those changes.

Meanwhile, it is said that a group of JO Parliamentarians have decided to defeat

the policy declaration of the current regime, which is expected to be presented to
Parliament by the President, when it convenes for its new sessions on 8 May.
A group of JO MPs contend that if the President delivers a policy declaration, as
anticipated on that date and if it could be defeated in the House, the President
will be forced to dissolve Parliament and call for a snap poll.
As per Article 48 of the Constitution, if a policy statement of the Government is
defeated in Parliament, it will prompt the President to invariably dissolve
Parliament and call for an early General Election.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s (SLFP) ‘Group of 16’, who resigned from their
respective portfolios in the Government after voting in favour of the No-
Confidence Motion (NCM) against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, is to
rejuvenate its campaign demanding that the Party quits the Government from 23
April.

Meanwhile, sources revealed that Parliamentarians Dilan Perera and Chandima

Weerakkody have flown to London, England in a bid to meet President
Maithripala Sirisena to discuss some salient points, ahead of the SLFP Central
Committee (CC) meeting. It was earlier decided to have an SLFP CC meeting soon
after President Sirisena returns from the Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting 2018, held in London, to take a final decision on the continuation of the
Unity Government.
The SLFP Group of 16, who met at former Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala’s
residence late 18 April evening, have decided to pay a visit to the Mahanayakes
(Chief Prelates) in Kandy next week to present their case. Then they will
commence negotiations with other political party leaders and various groups to
discuss their future political actions, former Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara said.

According to him, it has been affirmed that there cannot be a “marriage” with the
United National Party and that the group agreed on sitting in the Opposition.
“We are not breaking away from the SLFP and will remain as SLFP Members. As
an Opposition group we will also work with the Joint Opposition (JO) in the future
when the need arises,” he said when asked whether they were willing to work
with the JO.
On the other hand, the SLFP Ministerial Committee appointed by President
Sirisena to look into the future of the Unity Government has made strong
recommendations to drastically bring down the Cost of Living and provide
facilities to achieve accelerated development in agriculture, industrial and
education sectors and create employment opportunities, Committee Chairman
and Minister Sarath Amunugama said.
He said a fresh Agreement based on the recommendations of the Five-member
Cabinet Committee will be signed between the UNP and the SLFP after President
Sirisena returned on 24 April.

According to him, President Sirisena would discuss the recommendation of the

SLFP committee with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe before signing the
agreement by the General Secretaries of the UNP and SLFP.
“I expect to hand over the committee report to President Sirisena soon after he
returns from London on 24 April" he added.

It’s a new agreement

The new Agreement is not an extension of the Agreement signed between the
two main parties after the August 2015 General Election to form the ‘Yahapalana
Government’, Minister Amunugama said.
“This is basically a strategic arrangement on how the Unity Government should
run in the tenure running for about 18 months up to 2020. We have focused our
attention to fulfil the pledges given to the people at the Presidential and General
Elections in 2015 and made amends to the weaknesses and failures of the
‘Yahapalana Government’ in the last three years,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, former SLFP Minister Susil Premajayantha, who resigned from his
Ministerial portfolio along with 15 other SLFP Ministers, after voting in favour of
the No-Faith Motion against the Premier, criticized the General Secretaries of
both the UPFA and the SLFP saying that they did not possess knowledge about the
Constitution of the country.
Premajayantha, speaking to Ceylon Today, pointed out that the SLFP did not
contest at the General Election of 2015. “It was the UPFA that contested the polls.
We, the SLFP Members joined the consensual Government on President Sirisena’s
request. It is the UPFA which has the representation in the Parliament as a faction
of this Government, not the SLFP. Therefore, if they want to sign a MoU between
the SLFP and the UNP, the Agreement would be null and void according to Articles
46 and 48 of the Sri Lankan Constitution. I am very sorry about the lack of
knowledge of the General Secretaries of both the UPFA and the SLFP in this
regard,” he noted.

Premajayantha also stressed that although the Government gave many promises
to the people, it could not fulfil them. “We could not implement any SLFP policy
within the consensual Government. It was only the UNP policies which were
applied when controversial matters like leasing the Hambantota Port and the
Trincomalee oil tanks, implementing the Value Added Tax and the Medical Faculty
of the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine came up. Even the
President on several occasions said that he could not work with the UNP in this
fashion. That was why he requested the Premier to step down. And that is also
why a group of the UPFA voted in favour of the No-Confidence Motion.”

He further said that the 16 former Ministers, who voted in favour of the No-Faith
Motion, cannot remain in the Government any further. The group would meet
soon and decide on further steps to be taken, he added. “We will also meet the
President and take a final decision after that,” Premajayantha said.
Meanwhile, the JVP is to submit the proposed 20th Amendment to the
Constitution, to abolish the Executive Presidency, at the commencement of the
Second Session of the Eighth Parliament.

The JVP had previously planned to submit the Amendment on 19 April. However,
the submission of the proposal had to be postponed due to the President
proroguing the First Session of the Eighth Parliament on 12 April.
Speaking to Ceylon Today, JVP Propaganda Secretary Vijitha Herath said that the
Party hopes to submit the proposal at the start of the Second Parliamentary
Session.
The JVP announced that it would meet all sides, including President Sirisena and
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to hold discussions on the matter.
Former Justice Minister MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe meanwhile said only an
insane person could suggest abolishing Executive Presidency at a juncture like this
when the country is hit by anarchy.
“All former Presidents were accused only because they misused the power to
build dictatorship. The incumbent President is accused of not that but of being
puppet-like without using his powers to ensure the safety and rights of people.
The country is sure to perish if the Executive Presidency is abolished, especially at
a time where there is a lot of political uncertainty. Social, religious forces and
political parties should join hands and force the President to use his powers to
secure national safety and rights of people,” Rajapakshe said.
Posted by Thavam