A monster in the making
Posted on December 19th, 2016
Editorial Courtesy The Island
December 19, 2016, 8:06 pm
Apologists for the incumbent government claim that some powers of the executive presidency have been curtailed. True, there has been some tinkering with the JRJ Constitution. But, the fact remains that the pledge to abolish the executive presidency has been reneged on and the promised radical break from the past has become will-o’-the-wisp. We are being made witness to gross abuse of power, political interference with vital state institutions including the judiciary, the suppression of media rights, corruption, nepotism, cronyism etc.
The 19th Amendment has manifestly failed to yield the desired results. The President can still have a finger in any pie of his choosing. Local government polls have been postponed indefinitely for political reasons and the National Election Commission is helpless. The less said about the police the better! The IGP has been caught with his pants down; he made a public display of his servility to his political masters by promising a minister over his mobile phone that a suspect would not be arrested. The big mouths of the government have made a bigger mess of the issue by trying to defend the IGP and the minister concerned.
The brave knights in shining armour who looked for journalists in distress to save under the previous regime, are now defending attacks on the media. Many thought the Navy Chief would come in for rebuke from the yahapalana leaders for roughing up a beleaguered journalist the other day in Hambantota. Instead, he has received bouquets from the government! The self-proclaimed champions of good governance have thus shown signs of graduating from verbal attacks to assault in their efforts to suppress the media.
The culture of impunity prevails. Pro-government racketeers have got away with their billion-rupee corrupt deals such as the fraudulent release of hundreds of super luxury vehicles taken into custody by the Customs for undervaluation etc, the Central Bank bond scams, paying Rs. 21 million as monthly rent on an unused building and the mega coal racket which even shocked the conscience of the apex court. They have made a mockery of the government’s much avowed commitment to good governance.
The CID, the FCID and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption have chosen to steer clear of some powerful ruling politicians, who have risen above the law. There have been instances where courts were kept open till midnight to remand Opposition politicians and their lackeys; they have also functioned during weekends to bail out government politicians who had to be arrested owing to media pressure. Strangely, civil society groups who helped bring the present regime to power are still unashamedly singing hosannas for the powers that be. If Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera were alive today he would take to the streets. His successors are mere puppets on strings.
Nothing has, however, damaged the image of the yahapalana dispensation more irreparably than its efforts to create a super ministry with a view to bulldozing its way through on the pretext of accelerating development. It is feared that the proposed ministry with a host of draconian powers to be vested therein will be more powerful than the executive presidency in some respects. Some of the Provincial Councils have already taken exception to the dictatorial provisions in the draft Development (Special Provisions) Bill, which envisages the super ministry. People have suffered at the hands of many a mad monkey with a straight razor since 1977. They must be spared any more suffering.
It is unbecoming of a coalition which secured a popular mandate by promising less government and better governance to create draconian institutions on some flimsy pretexts. President Maithripala Sirisena, who was instrumental in engineering last year’s regime change and undertook to usher in good governance, is duty bound to put paid to some of his subordinates’ attempts at self-aggrandisement. He cannot shift the onus for doing so to anyone else.
It is hoped that political parties will sink their differences and make a concerted effort to abort the super ministry monster in the yahapalana womb.
December 19th, 2016 at 2:23 pm
NPC wants a POWERLESS EUNUCH as Nominal Governor; not an Executive Governor!
Why have a “Governor”at all??
We might as well save the money and abolish the NPC!
REPEAL the13th Amendment!
DISSOLVE ALL Provincial Councils!
REPLACE with DISTRICTS administered by a District Governor APPOINTED by the CENTRAL NATIONAL Government!
NEVER DEVOLVE any part of the NATIONAL Government’s power to any SUB-NATIONAL unit of administration!
These BUGGERS want to CON US into gifting them a proto-EELAM!
And, the Yamapalanaya will be only TOO HAPPY to GIVE IT!
God DAMN the Yamapalanaya TRAITORS!! They shall REAP LATER what they SOW NOW!
…………………………..
NPC wants nominal governor with no executive powers
By Amali Mallawaarachchi
DailyNews.lk
Monday, December 19, 2016 – 06:30
The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) has requested the government for a nominal governor instead of one with executive powers.
NPC Chairman C.V.K. Sivagnanam speaking to the Daily News pointed out that their request is not to abolish the post of governor.“We have not requested for an abolition of the post of governor. What we have really suggested is that it to be a nominal head appointed by the President or the government. It is not a matter of reducing or enhancing the powers of the governor but that we need a nominal governor, instead of an executive governor,” Sivagnanam said.
TNA’s M.K.Sivajilingam said reducing the powers vested in the governor is not applicable only to the Northern Province but for all Provincial Councils.
“The powers vested in a governor in Sri Lanka is too much. Not even the governors in India are vested with such powers. The powers that a governor here has equals to executive power. Our suggestion is not limited to Northern province only, but to the whole country. We do not have a personal vendetta against the governors. We, as the NPC forward this proposal along with few other proposals,” Sivajilingam said.
“We also propose that there is no need of a title as ‘governor’. Our suggestion is that it should be a title meaning ‘an agent of the central government,” the MP said.
“We also forwarded proposals for the new constitution steering committees on a federal state and making North-East region a single administrative unit within which the Muslims shall have an autonomous region,” Sivajilingam added.
December 19th, 2016 at 5:28 pm
The super ministry (or monster) cannot go ahead without the OK of provincial councils as it trespasses on provincial powers. It will be this government’s equal of impeaching Shirani Bandaranayaka, if the supreme court functions that is.
Amassing all powers is completely unacceptable and this undemocratic move must be stopped.
December 19th, 2016 at 10:26 pm
Tamils Getting Ready for Referendum ? Will our population rise ?
උතුරේ සිට ඉන්දියාවට යන්න මගී නෞකාවකට දින 10කට ඉඩ
දිනසේන රතුගමගේ
උතුරේ සිට ඉන්දියාව දක්වා යැමට දින දහයක කාලයක් සඳහා මගී නෞකාවකට වසර තිස් දෙකකට පසු ශ්රී ලංකා රජය විසින් අවසර ලබාදී තිබේ.
එම අවසරය ලැබී ඇත්තේ 2017 ජනවාරි මස 02 දා සිsට 12 දක්වා දකුණු ඉන්දියාවේ කෝවිලක පැවැත්වෙන “තිරුවාතිරෙයි” හින්දු උත්සවයකට සහභාගි වන උතුරේ හින්දු බැතිමතුන් වෙනුවෙනි.
මෙම උළෙලට සහභාගි වන උතුරේ “ශිවසේනා” හින්දු සම්මේලනයේ ප්රධානී මරවන්පුලව් සචිත්තානන්දන් පැවසුවේ මෙවර එම උළෙලට උතුරේ හින්දු බැතිමතුන් දෙදහසක් පමණ සහභාගි වන බැවින් ඊට නැවකින් ගමන් කිරීමට තමන් උතුරු පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයාගෙන් අවසර ඉල්ලූ බවයි.
දකුණු ඉන්දියාවේ පිහිටි එම හින්දු කෝවිලෙන් බැතිමතුන්ට අවශ්ය සියලුම පහසුකම් ලැබෙන බැවින් තමන් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයාගෙන් නෞකාවක ගමන් කිරීම පිණිස පමණක් අවසර ඉල්ලූ බව කී ඔහු මේ වන විට ඊට අවසරය ලැබී ඇති බව තමන්ට දැන ගැනීමට ලැබුණු බවද කියා සිටියේය.
කන්කසන්තුරේ වරායේ සිට දකුණු ඉන්දියාව තෙක් ගමන් කිරීම සඳහා මෙසේ අවසර ඉල්ලා ඇති අතර බැතිමතුන් සංඛ්යාව වැඩි නම් ගමන් අවස්ථා කීපයක් යැමට සිදුවන බවද “ශිවසේනා” හින්දු සම්මේලනයේ සංවිධායකවරයා පැවසීය.
මේ පිළිබඳව උතුරු පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර රෙජිනෝල්ඩ් කුරේ මහතාගෙන් විමසූ විට ඔහු කියා සිටියේ තමන්ගෙන් කළ ඉල්ලීම ආරක්ෂක අමාත්යාංශය හා නාවුක හමුදාව වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කොට ඊට අවශ්ය අවසරය ලබාදුන් බවයි.
ගමන සඳහා අවශ්ය වන ගමන් බලපත්ර, වීසා හා නැව් ගාස්තු ගමනට සහභාගි වන බැතිමතුන් විසින් දැරිය යුතු බවද ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයා පැවසීය.
මේ අන්දමටම යාපනය හා ඉන්දියාව අතර මගී නෞකා සේවයක් ආරම්භ කිsරීමට අදහසක් නැතිදැයි ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයාගෙන් විමසූ විට ඔහු කියා සිටියේ එය ඉදිරි කාලයේදී සිදුවනු ඇති බවයි
December 20th, 2016 at 3:01 pm
“Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera were alive today he would take to the streets” Wishful thinking. If he was alive today he will be enjoying the luxuries of life that he earned with working for the Indian Empire and Indian colonial parasites.
Our politicians who are puppets or subjects of the Indian Empire will fly to the Hindu Temple. But they will be the untouchables and will be treated so.