President Maithripala Sirisena, yesterday, said in Parliament that the Constitutional Council was politicised and there had been a political hand behind the recent appointments and promotions made by it.
Participating in the debate on the Constitutional Council, the President said:
"The 19th amendment was like a child that we brought up together. The same amendment gave birth to the Constitutional Council. I am sad to say that the child has been abused by some in the government. I happened to hear several ministers and the Prime Minister criticise my recent statement on policies followed by the Council in appointing and promoting judges. Those criticisms are not true. I am not here to respond to them. I reject all of them. I observed that various ministers and the prime minister have attempted to portray me as a person who is against the recent appointments the CC made to the Supreme Court, but I am not against those appointments. Their efforts are aimed at pitting me against those judges.
"The issue I am raising is the rejection by the CC of the judges I nominated. The CC has not said why it rejected the names of those judges. I am not a member of this august assembly. I am addressing this House by making use of the constitutional provisions which enable me to do so.
"I hope the Speaker, those in the government and the opposition still remember the manifesto we put forward when I contested the presidential election. There were 49 signatories thereto, including political parties, civil society organisations and trade unions. It was signed at the Vihara Maha Devi Park in Colombo.
"That manifesto promised the people that we would amend the Constitution. The 19th Amendment was that promise. Immediately after I was sworn in, Ranil Wickremesinghe took oaths as the Prime Minister. That was done because of the agreement that we had reached to work together to realise what we had promised people, in our manifesto.
"At that time, this House had only 41 or 47 UNP MPs. The UPFA had 142 and of them 127 were from the SLFP. Others were our leftist allies. Three weeks after assuming duties, I accepted the leadership of the SLFP and this august assembly allowed us time to work together. When that power was given there was no division. The UNP, SLFP, JVP and TNA cooperated during those months. That helped us secure the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution with 215 MPs out of 225 voting for it. Some of those in the Opposition today voted for the 19th Amendment. On April 27 and 28 of 2015, the 19th Amendment was debated here. It had been originally decided by the party leaders to debate the amendment bill for one and a half days, starting from 27th morning, and take the vote at noon on April 28. However, the vote was postponed when the bill was introduced, there were further amendments at the committee stage in the evening. I remained here in this parliament complex for two days. I worked hard for the introduction of the 19th Amendment.
"Minister Mangala Samaraweera said several minutes ago that the amendment was my baby. Yes it is. I produced a legitimate child. We had a legitimate child. I am thankful to Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakshe, who single-handedly answered all questions on this floor. Today, journalists describe that child, the 19th Amendment, as baby with a defect. I agree 99 percent with them. The Constitutional Council has come to this pass because it has more politicians than statesmen, civil society members and intellectuals.
"In our country Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus and Muslims make various offerings. Unlike in many other countries, we make donations, sacrifices and offer alms. We have seen that during the times of war some soldiers sacrificed their lives. I, too, have given alms, and donated money, I have donated cloths; when I was young I donated blood. There are many who donate even organs. But in this world it is rare to find persons who donate their power. I did that, too. I have not heard of a leader in the modern world who has donated his or her power. I did so to bring up that legitimate child. But it grieves me to see that child abused. Everybody knows that our hopes were dashed. Under the 19th Amendment we set up the Constitutional Council and then independent commissions. The amendment contained everything pertaining to the role, the task, the conduct of the council and commissions. But we have not put them into practice.
"The 19th Amendment was the most influential amendment after the 13th amendment. We have failed to study or review the 13th Amendment which gave birth to the provincial councils. Today, 85% of funds allocated to the provincial councils go for recurrent expenditure and only 15 percent remain for development. There are provincial councils whose employees are without work because they were dissolved many months ago and no elections have been held thereto.
"What is the role of the Human Rights Commission? Is it for the protection of human rights of the law-abiding citizens of this country or for safeguarding the human rights of drug lords, underworld kingpins and murders in prison? There was a problem of maintaining all those serious criminals in Welikada and we decided to send them to the Angunakolapelessa Prison. Soon afterwards, the Human Rights Commission started to question that move.
" That commission sent me a letter demanding a response from the STF commandant with regard to the rights of drug dealers and other criminals sent to the Angunakolapelessa Prison. Whom are they protecting? Drug dealers and other criminals? I saw the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission addressing a press conference soon after my statement to Parliament. She said the President had said this and that and when the President did so she thought of resigning from her post. What I am asking is whether the Human Rights Commission is safeguarding the rights of 21 million people in this country or the rights of the criminals. There are many countries which boast of human rights, but we have seen what happens when they catch criminals. We have seen the situation in prisons in the US, which talks big of human rights. Now, they expect us to safeguard the rights of criminals.
"Some government and Opposition members told this House today that I was against the judges recently appointed by the Constitutional Council. They are wrong; my problem is about the judges who were rejected by the council. The council has rejected 14 judges so far. I sent names of some judges thrice to the Constitutional Council but they were turned down. Those judges cannot come before the council; they cannot meet the Prime Minister. They can come to me easily. They inform me of their grievances. They tell me the rejections by the council were unjust. They were of the view that it was I who had rejected them, but, now, they know what really happened. If the council turns down the name of a judge, then that judge has a right to know why she or he has been rejected. Even a labourer has that right. A judge is no ordinary person and this problem does not affect only one court. Today, the judges serving at primary courts, district courts, high courts are frustrated and have doubts of their future. They are asking me whether they would have to go after some politicians to get their promotions. There is a serious allegation by intellectuals and other civil society leaders that the Constitutional Council is politicised. There is a political hand behind the recent appointments and promotions made by the council.
"The council’s rejection has led to various issues. The judges, overlooked by the CC, ask what wrong they have done.
"There is no transparency in the Constitutional Council. I do not know why the names that I had sent were turned down. The judges, too, state that the work of the council is not transparent.
"Today the Executive, legislature and the judiciary are being controlled by the Constitutional Council.
"As far as I know the method adopted by the Constitutional Council in appointing the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police was not just and moral. At that time, some of the civil society members were not present. We do not know whether they had been asked not to come or whether they had not been informed of the meeting or whether the council had decided to make those appointments in their absence. Nobody knows. Those appointments have led to serious questions in the country, especially with regard to the appointment of the IGP. I have stated this on an earlier occasion, too.
"None of those judges whose names were rejected by the CC are my relations or associates. If was after being rejected by the Council only that they came to see me.
"There is a National Police Commission which is preoccupied with transfers, but the objective of setting up that commission was much wider.
"There is a Public Service Commission. There are more than 1.6 million public servants in the country today. But the heads of departments and secretaries to the ministries are not involved in the work of that commission.
"I am not angry with anyone. Even if this august assembly decides to abolish the executive presidency, I am not against it. I made that promise when I assumed the duties of this post. It is a task before Parliament. There is no change in my stance. So, Parliament could make a decision on that, too."
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