The people of Matugama have taken protests against politicians to the next level, and set an example to their counterparts in other parts of the country, where power politics has taken precedence over everything else, and politicians are defied. They have forcibly opened a newly-built underpass in their township without the participation of any politicians; they had a small child from the area cut the ribbon to mark the event. This shows how much the public has come to disdain politicians, whose luck seems to be running out.
The widespread mass protests, which show signs of rapid escalation, are not only against the government, which has failed to resolve the economic crisis and grant relief to the public, but also against all politicians, who have evolved into a separate class of sorts over the decades. Protesters want all 225 MPs, representing the main political parties, to go home. They are asking the ruling party politicians including the President to resign but they are not asking any other political party to take over the reins of government. Their demand may lack pragmatism, according to political analysts, but certainly reflects public resentment at all politicians.
The consternation of the people is understandable; they are undergoing untold hardships; the country continues to get mired in foreign debt, and at present, is beset with scarcities of all sorts. The cost of living is soaring. It is feared that the existing shortages of essentials will worsen in time to come; inflation will increase further, and, worse, a food crisis is on the horizon. Fuel riots are already taking place, and one person has recently died in a police shooting at Rambukkana. Another fuel price increase is said to be in the pipeline.
It is politicians who have all the luck in this country, and the people’s lot has not improved at all. None of them or their family members have been sighted in long queues at filling stations, gas sales outlets, etc. They have been enjoying a good life at the expense of the public, and the worm has finally turned. The public is so incensed that no politicians, from either the government or the Opposition, dare go anywhere near Galle Face, where people are engaged in a two-week-long protest campaign in a bid to oust the government.
What enabled the emergence of politicians as a privileged group that systematically placed itself above the law, to all intents and purposes, was the subservience of the ordinary people, in whom sovereignty is said to reside. They became so servile that they did not consider any event complete without the presence of politicians, who even opened newly-built public conveniences. If what the people of Matugama have done catches on, people will learn to get rid of their servile mindset, assert themselves.
Parliament rattled
Protests have shaken the government and the parliament to their foundations. The Cabinet, except Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned on April 03, following the Mirihana protest on March 31, and a new Cabinet was appointed consisting of mostly young SLPP MPs on April 18. (This measure however has not helped placate the protesting public.) Most of all, the government, which introduced the 20th Amendment, only about two years ago, fully restoring the executive powers of the President, has itself offered to bring back the 19th Amendment, which curtailed the presidential powers drastically, and strengthened the parliament! Last week, Prime Minister and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself informed the parliament of the government’s intention to do so.
Interestingly, the 19th Amendment was introduced by the yahapalana government in a hurry to prevent former President Rajapaksa from emerging stronger in politics after his defeat in the 2015 presidential race. The two-term presidential term limit was reintroduced to ensure that he would not be able to run for President again. But if the 19th Amendment is reintroduced at this juncture, his position will be strengthened, as the Prime Minister, and he will be more powerful than the President for all practical purposes, with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa being in the same predicament as his predecessor, Maithripala Sirisena, who had Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe undermining him from 2015 to Jan., 2019, thanks to the 19th Amendment. How a possible return of the country to the 19th Amendment will affect the group dynamics of the SLPP with the PM becoming the de facto Head of State remains to be seen.
Offers to amend Constitution
Soon after Prime Minister Rajapaksa undertook to restore the 19th Amendment in the form of the 21st Amendment, the SJB went a step further. Last week, it submitted to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena a draft constitutional amendment, seeking the abolition of the Executive Presidency. It sees the concentration of unbridled powers in the executive presidency as the root cause of all the problems the country is facing. Its proposed 21st Amendment also aims to reintroduce and strengthen the Constitutional Council (CC), which the 20th Amendment replaced with the Parliamentary Councils.
Since 1994, all presidential candidates have offered to scrap the executive presidency, but those who secured the coveted post did not go all out to fulfil their pledges. Only President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga made an attempt to do so. She submitted a draft Constitution to the parliament in 2000 to scrap the executive presidency, but it would have made the Prime Minister extremely powerful instead. Her effort failed mainly because the UNP withdrew its support for the draft Constitution, claiming that she had incorporated some transitional provisions into the draft without its consent. The UNP and the JVP shot down Kumaratunga’s draft constitution, which also ran into stiff resistance outside the parliament because it proposed to set up nine Regional Councils, which were to receive more powers than the Provincial Councils.
In late 2014, Maithripala Sirisena ran for President, promising to abolish the executive presidency, but, after his victory, the yahapalana government only had some powers of the President reduced through the 19th Amendment. The abolition of the executive presidency has thus become a mere political slogan.
SLPP dissidents’ attempt
The dissident SLPP MPs who have chosen to act independently in the parliament have also submitted a draft constitutional amendment Bill to Speaker Abeywardena. The draft 21st Amendment Bill they have presented does not envisage the abolition of the executive presidency. Instead, basically it seeks to reintroduce the Constitutional Council with more powers. This move is aimed at curtailing the powers of the President.
The SLPP rebel group seems pragmatic in that the abolition of the executive presidency is bound to be an extremely complex process and could have a huge political fallout. Some of the SLPP dissidents have said if the executive presidency is to be scrapped, the Provincial Council system, too, will have to be done away with. Their contention is that the executive presidency is necessary to hold the country together, given the powers devolved to the Provincial Councils.
Draft Constitution ready
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is reported to have received the draft Constitution prepared by an expert committee he appointed with Romesh de Silva, PC as its head, in keeping with one of his main election promises. Whether it is the final draft is not clear from the media reports. Details of the document in question were not immediately available, but they are expected to be in the public domain soon. The President will have to present the draft Constitution to the parliament. The Opposition, the SLPP rebel group, the media, professional associations, civil society activists, Buddhist monks, Tamil and Muslim politicians and many others will demand that the document be made accessible fast.
It will be interesting to see what the draft Constitution offers by way of devolution and if it proposes to retain the executive presidency. Whether it will cause more problems in the form of protests while the country is struggling with a host of crises remains to be seen.
The ongoing protests seem to have yielded some salutary results despite engendering political instability; they have brought about a radical change in the electors’ attitude towards the elected, jolted the government into being mindful of people’s voice, and prompted politicians to consider constitutional reforms. What we are witnessing may be the beginning of a new political culture, and it is doubtful whether the government and the Opposition will be able to counteract the radicalism of the protesting public, especially the youth, with a dose of reformism.
