UNP: In the National interest adopt a wholesale, big-bang approach

"This is the time to listening to the voters. Leadership is about the strength and ability to make right decisions; it’s about being clear about your values and standing up for what you believe in. But is also about listening and hearing before you act, reaching beyond the party to the general public."
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By Lankaputhra

(May 28, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The UNP has been in the dark era for so long and it appears that the party leadership is utterly out of touch and hanging around in a different planet. It is unfortunate that the party has failed to identify the fundamental reasons for the repeated rejection by the people. However, if the UNP is seriously concerned of it’s plight, there is a lot to learn from the other leading democracies, that had faced a similar fate, but returned to power with resounding victories thanks to a broad-based reforms introduced in the national interest through policies that redesigned party’s future altogether.

In Britain, at the just concluded general election the outgoing Prime Minister Gordon Brown said ‘blame for defeat rest with me only.’ He took the full responsibility for Labour loosing the election and quit the party leadership with immediate effect. Brown said that that he was standing down to give the party ‘best possible chance to reshape its future’ and he would stand by Labour new leader, whoever that may be, loyally without equivocation. In his departing speech Brown said ‘It was privilege to serve [the nation] and yes, I love the job. Not for the privilege and title ceremony, which I do not love at all. I love the job for its potential to make the Britain I love fairer.’

The manner Gordon Brown conducted himself after the election defeat speaks volumes of British politics that clearly demonstrates the enormous disparity of the two system of governance in the two nations. In Britain the national interest is at the forefront whereas in Sri Lanka the individual interest comes first.

Ranil still refuses to admit the fact that he is a spineless uninspiring leader. This self-seeking individual’s behaviour vividly demonstrates that he is a man more concerned of his private interest than the national interest of the nation. He refuses to step down and has declared that even if the party rules are reformed and a leadership contest is called he too would run for the party leadership. It is regrettable that this man has failed to concede that the people of Sri Lanka lost trust in him more any more. In short, this man has made the UNP, once a formidable force an utterly irrelevant political party.

Had there been a competent leader in the party, someone who would ardently fight to protect the national interest and democratic rights of the people, things would have been different and it is unlikely that Rajapakse regime would dare to bring autocratic constitutional amendments that serve only self-interests of Rajapakse, the man who is so drunk with power and dare to use alarming subterfuge to mislead and cajole the innocent citizens of Sri Lanka, who trusted Rajapakse and gave him a overwhelming fresh mandate.

Having usurped the authority over the Attorney General Department and the Legal Draftsman Department, now the constitution is being tampered with, by Rajapakse. He believes that the most significant constitutional reform the country requires right now is the extension of the number of terms that the head of the state is allowed to hold office.

The existing provisions in the constitution provides that the President is elected to hold the office for a term of six years and no person elected to the office twice shall be qualified thereafter to be elected to the office of the President [Article 30 and 31]. Rajapakse, with the same mentality of utterly egocentric Sanath Jayasuriya, believes that the term in office limited only to two is a bar imposed on him, a constitutional norm that is widely recognised all over the world, including the US.

The alarming level of abuse of power and deception of this magnitude, probably happens nowhere else except Sri Lanka, demonstrates that the so-called democracy adopted in Sri Lanka is nothing more than a rotten system that only serves the self-interests of self-seeking politicos. They decline to adopt progressive reforms designed by time-tested democracies to serve national interests. It is a pity that the leaders of all political parties in Sri Lanka [including the JVP] are utterly self-centred and refuses to adopt progressive reforms that are absolutely necessary, if Sri Lanka is to achieve any advancement as a democracy.

At a time the nation faces a serious threat of egocentric Machiavellian style administration under Rajapakse, Ranil should have accepted the verdict of the people and stepped down from the party leadership allowing the party to elect a new leader. In the national interest, he should have listened to the fair-minded people who campaign for progressive reforms. Having introduced radical reforms to the party constitution Ranil should have supported the party to call for a transparent leadership contest, in line with the process followed in other leading democracies, including the UK, where two brothers are now contesting for the party leadership, after Brown stepped down.

For the information of the people who are more concerned with reforms that would install democracy within the party, some of the salient features of a good system that is followed in the UK, which only allow a good dynamic leader to take over the party leadership, are set out below. [The party constitutions of Labour, Liberal Democratic and Conservative that adopt clear democratic leadership election process is freely available in the public domain for more details].

Candidacy for nominations shall be accepted with nominations by a fair number of MPs [in the Labour party in the UK, where the total number of MPs is 650, this number is 33 and UNP can decrease this number appropriately to 15 or 20 MPs]. Until the number of contestants is narrowed downed to two, the campaign and ballot shall be open only to the parliamentary group of the party. Thereafter the campaign shall be wide open to the general membership of the party. The campaign shall run for a period of one month. After the all island campaign all registered members of the party [only those registered with the party for a minimum period of 6 months] shall cast their ballot to the candidate they believe is the most deserving to lead the party and the nation. Name of the person so elected shall be finally unveiled at a conference convened by the party.

In the national interest the UNP should promote the honest and dynamic learned people with proven leadership qualities and hunger to serve the nation to declare their candidacy for the leadership election and to run for the leader’s post. The party should ensure that the whole campaign for the party leader to be an open, warm generous and comradely contested one. Surely there are young dynamic people in the UNP who deserve to be nominated to be the party leader. The days of the old horses are gone as their use by date is now expired. People like Harsha de Silva, Wijedasa Rajapakse or any other dynamic MP may be encouraged to contest for the party leader’s post. UNP should remember that only a competent leader with a young promising backup team could effectively challenge and topple the twofaced Rajapakse regime. The party should elect a new leader who could then come before the people with a vibrant manifesto to resolve the burning issues faced by poverty stricken people belongs to all ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. Enough is enough; the people of this country have been ruled by deception under oppressive laws by too many twofaced Machiavellian politicos, who promised in public for a clean administration free of bribery and corruption and then practiced the complete opposite in private.

Transformation of sidelined Conservatives into a winning combination

Just learn the process followed by the Conservative party [UK] when it was reduced to nothing for well over 13 years by the Labour government. When things never worked for them the party members refused to rely on so-called ‘seniors’ any more and they relied on a young dynamic man, David Cameron, 39, who were elected to the leader of the party. In the final round of the leadership contest the other ‘senior’ contestant for the leadership, David Davis, was comprehensively beaten by this young man who successfully transformed the party to a new level and made it a dominant force that finally defeated the strong Labour government.

The first and foremost essential characteristic of any reform programme is that it should be based on honest and transparent objective designed to serve the national interests and not petty minded self-centred interests, which Ranil and Chandrika and Co gleefully embraced. Now these fatally failed politicos, who followed the political theorist Machiavelli, have become an utterly irrelevant lot. Look back and see CBK’s sorry plight today. Nobody bother to pay a shit of respect towards her. She got everything wrong and got what she rightly deserved.

Fear psychosis within the party

When people talked about reforms to the UNP constitution there appears to be some form of fear psychosis in the minds of those, enjoy high places in the UNP hierarchy under Ranil, as fear of their places in the party. They refuse to back any reform program that would design to install democracy within the party. In a press interview held few days ago, Ravi Karunanayake, MP, said that such a move would lead to further confusion in the party and probably end up in courts and therefore he oppose any proposed changes to the party constitution.

Phobia in the government circles

It seems that the ruling party too is concerned about reforms proposed to the UNP constitution that would pose a challenge to the ruling party. They know that the UNP, a helpless party under Ranil, is a blessing in disguise for the Rajapakse and Co. As at present, the political game with Ranil, as the leader in the UNP, is a cakewalk for them. They can hit the ball direct into Ranil’s hand and score easy runs. They know that UNP under Ranil is suffering from Huntington’s decease and lost all co-ordinations, as it cannot claim even a simplest political run out chance.

In a press conference held few days ago, Weerawansa, MP, said that UNP should not change its leadership. "There is a major ‘international conspiracy’ [like the one which brought heavy stormy rain] to change the UNP leadership. ‘These are done by foreign extremist groups’. This is a dangerous situation and we are against this move”. Meanwhile, Maitreepala Sirisena, MP, said that SLFP wish to see Ranil as the leader of UNP for the rest of his life. "We want him to be the UNP leader for life. We will support him to survive the UNP conspiracies with our best efforts," he said.

Pursue a Big-bang approach to political reforms in the national interest

This is the time to listening to the voters. Leadership is about the strength and ability to make right decisions; it’s about being clear about your values and standing up for what you believe in. But is also about listening and hearing before you act, reaching beyond the party to the general public. The UNP should adopt a wholesale, big-bang approach to political reforms that serve national interest. Having installed a good charismatic leader the UNP should put forward its agenda before the people that would address the real issues faced by the people, the makers and breakers of governments, the masters who deserve a better treatment.

1. Declare the shadow cabinet to country with the respective portfolios assigned to the shadow cabinet

Pledge to stop following Rajapakse style of offering cabinet portfolios to cronies allowing them to suck nations’ blood. Those who offer any cabinet portfolio should be truly disserving people to hold such a high public office and they should be competent in their subject areas. The entire cabinet should not exceed the bare necessity and should not exceed 15 in number. Take the UK for example, a country with 60 million people, yet a cabinet of only 15 members. Sri Lanka, a poor nation with less than 20 million people, cannot afford to feed jumbo cabinet. It is a pity that Rajapakse preached his fellow citizens that he would bring down the number to the size that of 1970 era, where those who entered politics gave away their wealth for the national cause and not robbed a penny of nation’s wealth.

2. Pledge to stop other privileges that only encourage abuse

People of this country urge equal treatment applied to all citizens. They want to see to an end to special privileges offered to politicos who are offered duty free car at public expense in every five-year. The government incur colossal loss of revenue due to abuse of this privilege by politicos who pay no respect to ethics in politics and unlawfully sell their permits to organised fraudsters. No individual should be allowed to profit from the privilege afforded to a public office. If any vehicle imported under any duty free permit scheme is to be disposed of then the permit holder should be made to sell it direct to the government store at the depreciated value, the base value for which should be the cost of the vehicle at the time of importation. Any unlawful disposal of either a permit itself or a vehicle imported under a permit should lead to automatic removal of the MP concerned who abused the privilege plus automatic confiscation of the vehicle.

People also want to see the removal of 100,000.00 the rent allowance given to cabinet ministers to rent a house in Colombo. This is an absurd arrangement open for abuse. Those politicos live in Colombo suburbs conveniently made use of this privilege to cheat taxpayers’ money. For instance, people like Susil Premajayath who lived in Nugegoda - surely there are many more like him - vacated their houses and moved to inner Colombo to abuse this privilege.

Removal of the unnecessary back up security provided to politicos, a nuisance in the eyes of the fellow citizens is another must. Surely, every citizen would agree that the way the so-called politicos behave on the highways is a disgrace. They seem to think that the Highway Code is applicable for other citizens only and violate the traffic rules at will, whilst the police turn a blind eye. This is really an insult to the people who yearn for law and order in the country. People see no valid reason for police inaction, if not for a directive from above. Absolutely there is no apparent reason (except exaggerated security concerns created by their own security people who would loose the perks they enjoy in the event the unnecessary security is withdrawn) for the continuance of back up security to politicos involving a large number of security personal and vehicles.

Remove pension rights to politicos and demonstrate the commitment to the principle of equality before law in real sense [like any other public servant no politico should be allowed pension right unless served in the legislature for a minimum period of 20 years of continuous service].

The annual budget allocation to MPs to be used for “development work” under their own supervision should also come to an end. This is just another scandalous affair open to abuse.

There should be no special or unequal treatment for those holding any public office. Any MP or a Member in the Cabinet found guilty for committing any wrongdoing should be dealt with severely with automatic dismissal from the office held by them.

3. Pledge to observe the freedom of speech other human rights of the people and remove all limits on the right to peaceful protests.

Law abiding citizens of this country are sick of the some bad policies introduced by JRJ. On his orders compensation ordered against those found guilty [mostly policeman] for violation of fundamental rights of the citizens was paid out of taxpayers money and this practice still being followed. There is no logic in this policy and it amounts to tacit approval of fundamental right violations. Those who found guilty should be made to pay our of their own funds and any right violation should lead to automatic removal of the person concerned from the office forthwith.

4. Pledge to sign international treaties that are in place to protect the rights of the citizens from the corrupt and oppressive regimes. International criminal court of justice introduced by treaty law is very important document that came into force to protect citizens of the member nations from their right violations. Even Bangladesh ratified this treaty in March 2010. Sri Lanka, a country where the Judiciary is spineless to deal with high profile politicos who are effectively immune from prosecution must ratify this treaty and other similar treaties that came into force in national interest to protect the citizens from oppressive regimes.

5. Pledge to rule the nation under normal law

Fair-minded people of this country do not want anybody to govern this country under oppressive emergency laws. They want a clear assurance from all the parties seeking peoples’ mandate to rule the nation under normal laws and undertaking to repeal all intrusive and suppressive laws.

6. Pledge for an Independent police complaints commission [IPCC]

This is a must to inquire into the various complaints against police and to make sure that complaints against the police are dealt with effectively. It is observed that in Sri Lanka police are immune from prosecution and a significant number of citizens are being killed in the police custody every year. Primary purpose of the IPCC should be to increase public confidence in the police and to deal with those unfit to serve in the police department appropriately.

7. Pledge to introduce an effective tax system and measures to reduce the overall tax burden placed on the poor with appropriate action taken to plug loopholes for tax avoidance.
8. Pledge to bring in a National Action Plan with the participation of all political parties [including the ethnic minority parties] that should stand and followed by whatever party elected to office.

Set a minimum hourly rate by law proportionate to the cost of living to all workers that should guarantee every citizen a decent living. This is obligatory on the part of the government under article 27 of the constitution.

Pledge to set out spending proposals, with significant increase in spending on the health, education and transport.

Pledge to deliver all other objectives promised to the people of Sri Lanka under article 27 of the Constitution, through a strictly disciplined programme of work.

Pledge to ease the pressure faced by the citizens without adequate healthcare. People deserve better-equipped hospitals, similar to the one at Jayawardenapura, in all provinces. This project should be initiated from the Northern province and next in the Eastern Province, where the people have undergone enormous hardship due to bloody war.


9. Pledge to abolish the provincial council system that is clearly bane on the economy. Originally this system was proposed by India as a power sharing arrangement with people in the North but ended up all over the island. These serves no value for money spent on them. In the eyes of public these councils have been established to provide a living to tier 2 politico cronies at the taxpayers’ expense. Let those parasites that live a luxury life on taxpayers’ money to find an alternate way of living without being a curse to the already bleeding economy.
10. Pledge to stop meddling with judiciary and appointing cronies from private bar to the office of the AG and then fast track to office of the Chief Justice.

This gives wrong massage to the judges in the Superior Court to be partial if they wish to reach the highest echelon, the office of Chief Justice. President CBK did it with Sarath Silva who was then a judge in the Court of Appeal. President Rajapakse follows the same footsteps and his man, Mohan Peiris, is already appointed to the office of the Attorney General from the private bar. After CJ Asoka Silva it is most certain that Mohan Peiris would be the next CJ. This unethical practice clearly undermines the independence of the judiciary and implicitly warns the impartial judges to be partial towards the government.

11. Pledge to strengthen the powers of the auditor general with sweeping powers to inquire into affairs of any public office with full authority. The office of the auditor General should be vested with unfettered powers to combat corruption in every public institution. This is mandatory if proper system of democratic government to be assured. The Auditor General is the peoples’ watchdog created to ensure proper accounting for all forms of expenses of public funds. Therefore, to ensure effective functioning of all executive and legislative bodies that exercise peoples’ sovereign power the office of the Auditor General should be absolutely independent from any form of political interference.

12. Pledge to enact freedom of information act giving rights to the members of public and media institutions to have access to information that maintain at any pubic institution within a specified time frame. Any government comes to power should respect the peoples’ right to information to uncover how state institutions are run.

13. Pledge to remove the immunity afforded to any person exercise the executive power of the people. In Sri Lanka the person who holds the office of the President is not a ceremonial figurehead but a person elected to exercise peoples’ executive power. Hence, like other nations including the US, the person who holds office of the President should be held accountable for due performance of executive power. The past presidents abused the constitutional immunity with no fear to serve their cronies and this awful practice should come to an end.

14. Pledge to protect the rights of the public officers who are willing to expose abuse of power, lawlessness/corruption in any public institution. Guarantee the people to enact Public Interest Disclosure Act to provide legal protection to workers who are victimized by employers for “blowing the whistle” about wrongdoing at work place. Such a piece of legislation is a must to encourage public officers to raise their concerns about of abuse of power by any office whether in the executive of in the legislature.

15. Pledge to stop undue political interference with the affairs of pubic bodies by any politicians. Set up MPs liaison unit at every department/ministry that should effectively deal with complaints by MPs. Particularly in the Departments of Inland Revenue, Customs and Excise, where the officials comes under tremendous pressure from corrupt politicos who want to see their cronies freed for tax avoidance. There should be an action plan in place that warrants stern action against any politico who interferes with the affairs of any public body.

16. Pledge to reintroduce morality in politics. The party leaders should set an example by shunning all forms of wrongdoing and giving a clear message to everybody that the party would strictly observe zero tolerance policy against any form of wrongdoing. Leave no room for thugs and criminals to enter into mainstream politics. Every candidate is required to be vetted for their suitability and commitment to serve the pubic at their own expense and not to make money through indulge in corrupt politics. Deny party nominations to anybody who has have blood in his hands.

17. Pledge to overhaul the government tender awarding process. Make it absolutely transparent with freedom guaranteed to the people and media [both electronic and print] to obtain information of such dealings/transactions. Promise people in clear terms to stop opportunities available to politicos to make illegal commissions through awarding of government tenders. This improper practice is rampant in all over the government business causing colossal losses of taxpayers’ money. All dealings of government projects and tender process should be made absolutely transparent and published in the “gazette” before awarding any tender or project to any prospective bidder with an adequate window guaranteed to public or media institutions to intervene if any evidence of wrongdoing is surfaced.

18. Pledge to bring a legislation to regulate conduct of all elections with provisions to monitor all forms of funding to the political parties mandatory with unfettered powers to the Auditor General to audit funding.

19. Pledge to establish professional and cost effective public service with an assurance that recruitments and promotions to be made purely on performance and merits only.

20. Pledge to make all media, both electronic and print to function independently with no government interference.

Turning the tide of public opinion towards UNP is hands of a new dynamic leader

If you want a politics that is more open, more plural, more local, more democratic and more concerned in serving only the national interest the then you will need to make these formidable changes because the only way to ensure politics serves the people's values is to make all those who wield political power genuinely accountable to the people.

In a fresh bid to restore the reputation in the politics in the wake of unbecomming conduct of most MPs, UNP should concede that politics needs morals. The new Rajapakse administration with a overwhelming majority was elected to office serve the public interest not self interest. Unfortunately, most of the politicians entered into mainstream politics, particularly after 1977 had let our country down.

Therefore, whoever may be the new leader of the UNP, he should promise a new mechanism for the public to remove MPs who are found corrupt that would help to restore public confidence in the politics. Never again should any Member of Parliament be more interested in the value of their perks and prililages than the values of serving the natinal interest. Never again should it be said of any Member of Parliament that they are in it for what they can get; all of them should be in Parliament for what they can give to the Nation.

And so where there is proven financial corruption by any MP and in cases where wrong-doing has been demonstrated but Parliament fails to act the people shold be given the right to recall their Member of Parliament and elect a new member to represent them in the Parliament, the dimension in modern politics that is being proposed in the leading democracies.

This is the time to listening to the voters. Leadership is about the strength and ability to make right decisions; it’s about being clear about your values and standing up for what you believe in. But is also about listening and hearing before you act, reaching beyond the party to the general public. Still it is not too late the UNP to realise that a strong opposition would mean a government that was on its toes and the people could get the best out of the Government while having a viable democratic alternative.