Lanka’s current predicament

“Provincial Councils, Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas are elected bodies and are reported to consist approximately 5,000 elected representatives at four different levels with their own administrative apparatus. Other institutions are centrally run establishments with a large bureaucracy. With a very tiny tax base, we do not see the need to maintain such a large bureaucracy in this country.”
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By Dr. Piyasena Dissanayake

(October 06, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The terrorist war, which marked one of the most turbulent phases of our recent history when sinister forces both internal and external, imperilled our sovereignty, territorial integrity, democratic governance and peace, is indeed over. But does that also mean all of our grief and despair are behind us? Even a cursory glance at national and international events loosely associated with our country clearly suggest that we are still compelled to put up with a whole host of formidable problems whose origin could be traced directly or indirectly to LTTE terrorism.

The current spate of international threats to Sri Lanka is quite unprecedented against a country of our size and influence. The only plausible explanation one could adduce for this sudden upsurge is the duplicity of the Western Alliance led by the United States, Britain and the European Union which are unduly perturbed about our right-minded decision to eliminate the LTTE in spite of the big-power efforts to save it. It may be recalled that the Foreign Ministers of Britain and France made personal visits to Sri Lanka, as a last resort, to plead with President Rajapaksa to abandon the Government’s military campaign against Prabhakaran! These countries with the support of their local henchmen, are now frantically busy fabricating evidence against the patriotic leaders of Sri Lanka’s defence establishment with a view to hauling them up before the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes. Simultaneously, an all out effort is underway to deprive this country of the benefits of the GSP PLUS scheme to hurt her economically.

We also witness nowadays an unending spell of visits by UN bigwigs in their dozens to pick holes in the way we run the IDP Centres in the Vanni, a massive humanitarian task, by any standard, this country has undertaken amidst formidable economic hardships. Yet, the day may not be far away when the Western press, quoting these UN personnel, will label our IDP Centres as concentration camps not second to those of Hitler. Although the Western media institutions do not consider the current atrocities taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hands of the British and American troops as violations of human rights, they never hesitate to blow out of proportion even an unintentional slip by less powerful countries.

In the context of these international developments, it must be stressed that unless, we as a nation, equip ourselves to justify our stand eloquently in respect of each of these issues, we run the risk of international isolation which we can ill afford as a developing country. This in turn calls for competent personnel equal to these tasks. However, we often come across reports suggesting that the functioning of our Foreign Ministry is not all that smooth and efficient. It was not long ago that the President himself pulled up the foreign Minister in the course of a regular Cabinet meeting over the shortcomings in the Foreign Ministry. We also see the acute shortage of suitable and committed personnel to represent our country abroad.

It has become a routine matter for high ranking Indian Government officials to show up in Sri Lanka to demand the Government authorities here to expedite the full implementation of the 13th Amendment Plus. These visits remind us of the proverbial Sword of Damocles and amount to interfering in the conduct of our domestic affairs. It is, indeed, ironic that Independent India, whose founding father, Jawaharlal Nehru, left no stone unturned in ruthlessly suppressing the separatist movement in Tamil Nadu by the speedy enactment of the 16th Amendment to the Indian Constitution, thinks it fit and proper to encourage the Sri Lankan Tamils to insist on a constitutional model which could easily be manipulated to the best advantage of the separatist elements in this country!

Although the leader of the LTTE terrorism is no more, it is utterly imprudent to assume that it will not raise its ugly head again because defence authorities are reported to have detected over 20,000 LTTE cadres mingling among the inmates of the IDP centres in the Vanni. The Tamil Diaspora together with their foreign backers are said to be determined to re-activate the Eelam movement as early as possible. According to some foreign sources these activists have already decided to declare an Eelam State in exile. Further, the leader of the Tamil national Alliance (LTTE’s proxy) R. Sambandan, absence will not deter them from pursuing their political objectives!

We must be honest enough to acknowledge the fact that what we have justifiably been celebrating as a great victory since the 18th of May (fall of Prabhkaran) is in reality the heroic subjugation by our security forces of the LTTE’s military might. This alone is not adequate to ensure peace and tranquillity in this country. And what still remains to be accomplished is equally important, and falls within the ambit of policy makers and constitutional authorities. By and large, the constitutional and legal framework of the country, which enabled the formation and development of the terrorist movement, remains unchanged. In fact, some recent developments, such as the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the consequential setting up of the Provincial Council System have the potential to destabilise this country. The clearest indication that the prevalent national security situation of this country falls short of the required level is the large scale post-war recruitment drive by the armed forces.

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution foisted on us by India, under duress, has already turned out to be a major destabilising factor in the country. It has given rise to a formidable political controversy warranting its immediate repeal. Constitutional experts have proved beyond reasonable doubt that the hidden objective of this Amendment was the creation of the necessary background to convert this country into a federal state. The late Mr. H. L. de Silva, one of Sri Lanka’s foremost constitutional experts, has opined that "the constitutional position now obtaining in Sri Lanka is not substantially different from the kind of federal system that prevails in India". Furthermore, Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, a much respected judge of our Supreme Court has pointed out that Provincial Councils are on par with the Parliament and they come within the category of subsidiary sovereign bodies. The result of these provisions are an abdication or an alienation of the country’s legislative power. This leads to the further argument that the provisions of the 13th Amendment contravene Article 2 of the 1978 Constitution, which precisely announces that Sri Lanka is a unitary state. This Amendment has made the country federal in nature.

Thus is clear that the 13th Amendment is a fraudulent means adopted to change the nature of our constitution against the express wish of our people.

If what is expected of devolution is efficiency of administration and well being of the people in the periphery, the existing system of Provincial Council does not serve that particular function. Sri Lanka being a small island of just 25,880 square miles does not pose any serious problem of administration, especially in this age of rapid communication, where the remotest parts of the country could access the Centre and vice-versa in a matter of a few seconds. Moreover, there are already 518 administrative institutions spread throughout the country as follows:

Provincial Councils 9

Municipal Councils 14

Urban Councils 38

Pradeshiya Sabhas 183

District Secretariats 25

divisional Secretariats 249

Provincial Councils, Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas are elected bodies and are reported to consist approximately 5,000 elected representatives at four different levels with their own administrative apparatus. Other institutions are centrally run establishments with a large bureaucracy. With a very tiny tax base, we do not see the need to maintain such a large bureaucracy in this country. The Provincial Councils, in particular, have produced a large number of post-holders such as Chief Ministers, Ministers, Opposition Leaders, Presidents and Government Whips. Although many of these post-holders do not have useful public functions assigned to them, they maintain large staff and fleets of official vehicles at state expense. What is visible, however, is that the most important function assigned to them is to look after the interest of Colombo based political parties in outstations.

The random issues enumerated above suggest that the terrorist war was not the only major ailment that adversely affected this country during the recent past. Since we now have a breathing space from the immediate problems of the war, it is time we made use of this opportunity to think clearly and constructively about our past mistakes with a view to correcting them before it is too late!

-Sri Lanka Guardian