Your silence cannot do anything at the moment; fight against dictatorial politics in Sri Lanka
by Dr Indi Akurugoda
( November 11, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In a context where opportunists spread several rumours about the current political situation in Sri Lanka, I believe that remaining in silence is not suitable for an academic who still value democratic and good governance principles as the most important needs of a respectable citizen. Against a disgraceful background of his two weeks of arbitrariness against public opinion, Parliament and the legally appointed Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, the President has shown his real uncultured and immature nature again by dissolving the Parliament disregarding and violating the Constitution. This indicates the increasing danger and uncertainty towards democracy and good governance in Sri Lanka. The political turmoil created by the President-led coup has driven the whole country to a total chaos resulting in international disrespect, a financial crisis and stagnation of policy making processes and administrative mechanisms.
After the unconstitutional appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister, the Parliament was suddenly prorogued by the President. This step was taken when the country’s legal Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe stated his confidence in assuring the majority support in the Parliament. The President prorogued the Parliament to provide a ‘grace period’ for Mahinda Rajapaksa to ‘purchase’ MPs to secure a Parliamentary majority against the real public opinion in the legislature. While terribly discouraging the objectives of electoral politics, this action has resulted in badly damaging the democratic public opinion in Sri Lanka.
Now there is an unwanted election in front of us. A huge public expense is supposed to be spent on a general election that people have not expected or requested at the moment. The whole unstable situation is a created atmosphere to achieve opportunistic political goals of a few.
Without listening to continuous local and international appeals to summon the Parliament, the President has violated every democratic principle by putting the country into an anarchic front where people’s lives have been threatened with danger, instability and uncertainty. Knowing the fact that Mahinda Rajapaksa cannot secure a Parliamentary majority, the President dissolved the Parliament by repeatedly violating the Constitution. The Article 17 of the 19th Amendment amends the Article 70 of the Constitution substituting the following paragraph:
(1) The President may by Proclamation, summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament:
Provided that the President shall not dissolve Parliament until the expiration of a period of not less than four years and six months from the date appointed for its first meeting, unless Parliament requests the President to do so by a resolution passed by not less than two-thirds of the whole number of Members (including those not present), voting in its favour.
This clearly states that unless Parliament requests the President to do so by a resolution passed by not less than two-thirds of the whole number of MPs (including those not present), the President does not have power to dissolve Parliament until the expiration of a period of not less than four years and six months from the date appointed for its first meeting. It is, therefore, evident that the sudden dissolution of Parliament is totally unconstitutional. The President has repeatedly violated the Constitution to fulfill his selfish political desires. When a democratically elected President who promised to establish good governance in Sri Lanka, suddenly acts as a cruel dictator bluntly ignoring constitutional law and ethical considerations, what shall be the role of the general public?
Now there is an unwanted election in front of us. A huge public expense is supposed to be spent on a general election that people have not expected or requested at the moment. The whole unstable situation is a created atmosphere to achieve opportunistic political goals of a few. The only way forward to get rid of this political chaos is to gather all democratic forces and fight continuously against the misuse of public opinion and the dictatorial suppression towards establishing democracy and good governance. Although this is not an easy task, keep your democratic spirits alive and fight against current Sri Lankan dictatorial politics using your maximum capacity because your silence cannot do anything at the moment.
Dr Indi Ruwangi Akurugoda did a PhD in Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Waikato, New Zealand and later obtained a post-doctoral writing scholarship awarded by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Waikato. She is a lecturer in Political Science attached to the Department of Public Policy, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, working in the areas of decentralisation, local government, community development, conservation ecology and NGO politics.
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