Lt Co. A.S.Amarasekera.(Rtd.) Co-President, National Joint Committee.

18^th November 2024.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake,
The Presidential Secretariat,
Colombo 1.

Dear Mr. President,

The National Joint Committee (NJC) wishes to congratulate you for winning the Presidential Election and leading the National People’s Power (NPP) to a landslide victory at the general election conducted on 14^th of November 2024. The governing party (NPP) with a 2/3 majority in the National State Assembly has the mandate to implement the manifesto you have presented to the public through the NPP.

In the NPP manifesto (page 109) it is said that a new Constitution will be drafted and passed through a referendum with the necessary changes if there are any after going through a public discourse. While thanking you for this democratic intention, the NJC sincerely recommends that the power should be decentralised and not devolved from the centre to the periphery.  

On or about 1995 the Chandrika Kumaratunga Government introduced the devolution proposals that was commonly known as the Package. It was to campaign against the package and to educate the masses regarding the danger of devolving political and administrative power from the centre to the periphery that the NJC was established by retired Supreme Court Judge Mr. R.S. Wanasundera. The NJC also established the Sinhala Commission to inquire into the grievances of the Sinhala majority. Two reports were published by the Sinhala Commission to educate the international community in this regard.

The NJC advocated the view that political and administrative power should be decentralised from the centre to the periphery but should never be devolved as suggested in the devolution proposals. Many organizations including political parties such as the UNP and the JVP joined with the NJC and when these devolution proposals were tabled in the National State Assembly on 8^th of August 2000 all approach roads to the parliament were blocked by protesting masses.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga had to use helicopters to fly her MP’S to parliament. It was Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa who walked from the parliament to the Batheramulla junction to inform the people that the devolution proposals had been postponed indefinitely and for the protesting people to disperse which they did peacefully.

The NPP manifesto (page 128) says that the proposed constitutional reform will guarantee equality and democracy and the devolution of political and administrative power to every local government, district and province so that all the people can be involved in governance within one country.

The English meaning of decentralization and devolution of power seem very similar when looked at superficially. However the important fact that needs to be realized when it comes to the political and administrative power of a country is that decentralization amounts to the transfer of that power from the central government to the periphery be it a local government, a province or a district while devolution is on the other hand the removal of central government power and handing that power over to a local government, a district or a province. Therefore decentralized power if misused by a local government, a district or a province could be recalled by the central government while devolved power cannot be recalled by the central government if misused by a local government, a district or a province.

The NPP manifesto (page 128) also says that this initiative will build on the constitutional reform process started in 2015 which remains incomplete. The proposed draft Constitution of 2015 had intentions to federate a unitary state by using the word united instead of unitary in the proposed draft. The NJC objected to this proposal in 2015 and published a book to educate the masses in this regard.

The NJC is of the view that the unity and the territorial integrity of the nation that was protected and preserved for posterity by the security forces through the shedding of blood, sweat, tears and toil and some personnel even sacrificing their very life and limb should not be compromised through the proposed new Constitution if it has any intention to federate a unitary nation because federation is the first stepping stone for the division of our nation. Therefore please refrain from encouraging the separatists to win through the ballet what they failed to win through the bullet.

Yours sincerely,

Lt Col Anil Amarasekera. (Rtd.)

Co-President National Joint Committee