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‘Abolishing provincial councils is like playing with fire’ : Maithripala Sirisena

Published

4 years ago

2021/01/2

Former President Maithripala Sirisena gave an interview to India’s The Hindu newspaper recently. Given below are some excerpts of the interview that appeared on 30 December 2020.

Q: You say you are open to two options ahead of the provincial council elections when they are held. Some within the government want the provincial councils abolished, while the Prime Minister asked officials to expedite arrangements. Some others want the elections held after the proposed new Constitution is out. How do you view these contradictory positions within the government?

We have had the provincial council system for over 30 years now. We haven’t seriously evaluated if they have been successful in serving the purpose they were supposed to. The government should analyse if the councils have actually served our people. I believe there are some amendments needed in the provincial council system. One of the main problems is that of the total allocations to the provincial councils annually, only 25 % or so goes into the actual development of the provinces. Nearly 75 % goes towards salaries, vehicles, telephone and electricity bills. There is an excessive number of employees in the provincial councils.

When the central government pumps in money into the provincial councils, it is done as an investment for the development of the country. However, the return on such investment has been less. So we need to reduce wasteful expenditure, perhaps by reducing the number of councillors and employees, in order to increase the return on investment. There are differences within the government, and it is upto the government to decide on the right course of action.

From a development perspective, I think a set up at the district-level, like a District Development Board, would work better than the provincial councils, given the fact that we are a small country. You can set up a development board at the district level, comprising members of Parliament representing the district, chairpersons and mayors of local government authorities. For a big country like India, a provincial system is good, but we are a country of 21 million.

Q: So how would you respond to those within government, calling for the abolition of provincial councils established pursuant to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution?

The 13th Amendment is a product of the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987. The Provincial Councils Act is a product of the 13th Amendment. So, I know it is not that easy to abolish provincial councils. India could get a little upset with us if we completely do away with the 13th Amendment. In our region, the friendship with India is very important to Sri Lanka. The friendship between the two countries is of utmost importance and should be strengthened by all governments. Abolishing provincial councils is like playing with fire.

At the same time, the 30 year-experience of running provincial councils has not yielded desired results in terms of developing all parts of the country. That is why it is important that we arrive at a compromise with understanding. As I mentioned, creation of the provincial councils was an investment, we have been keeping them going for 30 years, and when they don’t yield the benefits that were expected in terms of development, people and the government should take a fair decision.

Q: You keep referring to democracy. In your recent speech too, you spoke of many governments sliding towards authoritarianism, where rights of minorities are under threat. How do you see the Sri Lankan context in that respect?

As a majority ethnic group, it is our responsibility to seriously think about the minorities who form part of this country all the time. It is a fact that in Sri Lanka the Sinhalese are the majority. Bearing that in mind, we must ensure Tamils, Muslims and Burghers have equal rights as minorities.

For example, take the issue of mandatory cremation of victims of Covid-19. Muslims must be given the right to bury their relatives who succumbed to it. The WHO [World Health Organization] says it is possible to bury. As a former Minister of Health, I stand by the opinion of the WHO.

You cannot develop the country when the sentiments of minority communities are hurt. We have to ensure that democracy and economic development are shared equally by all ethnic groups in this country.

Buddhist philosophy offers us ample guidance on the principle of equality. There were hundreds of religions and languages in India when the Buddha was born. Although there were hundreds of religions and languages, the Buddha, when he began preaching the religion, had no problem with any other religion or community. He continued preaching without any conflict with other religions.

You spoke about the importance of the friendship between India and Sri Lanka. When you came to power in 2015, you vowed to follow a neutral foreign policy, and reset relations with many partners. How do you evaluate the foreign policy choices of this government?

It appears to me that the government has a good relationship with India. I am happy about that. The principle of non-aligned foreign policy was introduced to then Ceylon by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, the leader of my party, in 1956. I believe all governments that come to power in Sri Lanka should stick to a non-aligned foreign policy.

Q: Do you have any regrets about your time in office?

I believe the people of Sri Lanka still enjoy the freedoms and the democracy that I won for them. The Right to Information Act passed during my term was a historic move. The powers given to the independent commissions and the people were significant. I pursued a 360 degree-friendship foreign policy. I pursued strong friendship with all countries — US, China, Russia, India, Japan, Pakistan.

It is not easy to be the President of a country [laughs]. I could balance everything only because of my over 50 years’ experience in politics. I am happy with what I did, they were done with good intentions. I have some regrets about the things I could not do. The internal strife within the government held me back from delivering on some things.

No leader ever goes home after his time in office after completing all that he intended to. When a parent passes away, a lot of children worry that they could have cared more about their parents. Similarly, when a really patriotic leader leaves office, he leaves with the feeling that he couldn’t do enough for the country. I am also like that.

Q: Anything you did that you regret?

No, I am happy with everything I did. I did everything with good intentions. My time in office is historic for the fact that no government-owned rifle ever shot at a citizen. During my time, there were protests every day on the streets, by students, by workers. I had ordered the police and army not to ever resort to shooting. I told them they could take legal action later, but should never fire a single shot, even though the protests gave me a lot of mental agony. That is one of my greatest achievements as a leader.

In my time, I launched five major projects like the anti-drugs campaign, the environment programme, children’s programme, a programme for those suffering from kidney ailments – there are 5,000 new patients every year — and then one to enhance local food production. I am happy about those.

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Indo-Lanka MoUs unlikely to be tabled in Parliament any time soon

Published

11 hours ago

2025/04/11

Thilina Walpola

Ali Sabry

…of seven SOCs only one constituted so far

Sri Lanka’s controversial MoU on Defence Cooperation with India was unlikely to be taken up any time soon in Parliament in spite of the House Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on Governance, Justice and Civil Protection that has been assigned defence, authoritative sources told The Island.

Of the seven SOCs only one was activated with the recent election of Dr. Najith Indika, MP, as the Chairman of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Governance, Justice, and Civil Protection of the Tenth Parliament.

The inaugural meeting of the current parliament was held on 21 Nov., 2024.

Sources said that the parliament had met for the last time yesterday (10) before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year holiday. It is scheduled to meet again on May 8.

The UNDP that has financially backed the establishment of the SOC system to help strengthen the role of the parliament recently reached a consensus with the government to reduce the number of SCOCs from 17 to seven. The Island, in writing, asked for the UNDP’s reaction to the operation of SOCs but had not received a response at the time this edition went to press.

The SOCs have the power to examine any Bill, except the Bills defined in Article 152 of the Constitution, Treaty, Reports including the Annual and Performance Reports relating to the institutions coming under its purview or any other matter referred to the Committee by Parliament or any Committee or a Minister relating to the subjects and functions within their jurisdiction.

Sources said that out of the seven SOCs only one had been activated during the past five months though the government and the Opposition agreed to share the leadership of them.

Accordingly, it was agreed that the government would appoint chairpersons to four SOCs –– Economic Development and International Relations, Health, Media and Women’s Empowerment, Science, Technology and Digital Transformation and Governance, Justice and Civil Protection .

It was also agreed that the Opposition would appoint chairpersons to the SOCs on Infrastructure and Strategic Development, Education, Manpower and Human Capital, and Environment, Agriculture and Resource Sustainability to the Opposition.

India and Sri Lanka on April 5 signed six MoUs on HVDC interconnection for import/export of power, cooperation in the field of sharing successful digital solutions implemented at population scale for digital transformation, defence cooperation, multi sectoral grant assistance for Eastern province, health and medicine and pharmacopoeia cooperation. In addition to them, India, Sri Lanka and UAE signed a tripartite MoU cooperation in development of Trincomalee as an energy hub.

The Island asked Ali Sabry, PC, who served as foreign minister during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s tenure as the President (July 2022 to Sept 2024) whether the seven MoUs had been discussed during that period. We also asked him whether those MoUs should have been discussed at SOCs before finalisation.

Sabry said: “Most of the MOU to my knowledge were discussed except the one on Defence Cooperation, which I am unaware of. General procedure is the relevant line ministry prepares the initial draft and gets the input from the Foreign Ministry and goes for stakeholder consultation of all ministries and agencies involved. Then the President’s Office grants its sanction and with the approval of the AG, it goes before the cabinet of ministers. With Cabinet approval, the government could sign the MOU.”

Sabry said that he was of the opinion that once the government signed a particular MoU, it should be placed before the parliament. “MOU’s are generally not legally binding and only signify the desire to work together. If the signed MoUs were to be implemented, then they have to be followed by agreements or laws.”

He emphasised the pivotal importance of transparency in the whole process. The ex-minister said: “I think transparency is crucial in these matters. Concealment leads to speculation and assumption of the worst. The MOUs should be tabled in Parliament for public information. Discussion at the relevant SOCs would have been helpful. There are growing fears fueled by lack of information in the public domain. This is a private comment, not to be attributed to me.

Asked whether MoUs, particularly the ones on defence and energy had to be approved by the Attorney General, the former minister said that the AG has to advise the MoUs compatibility with the Constitution. “But Article 157 of the Constitution does not apply; the 2/3 majority stipulated there envisages only investment treaties.” Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath assured Parliament on April 8 that the AG had cleared all seven MoUs and none of them were inimical to the country.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

News

LG polls: Appeal Court orders EC to accept 35 additional nomination papers

Published

11 hours ago

2025/04/11

Thilina Walpola

The Court of Appeal yesterday ordered the Election Commission (EC) to accept 35 additional nomination papers for the 2025 local government elections, which had been previously rejected by election officials.

The ruling was issued yesterday by a bench comprising Acting President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Mohamed Lafar Tahir, and Justice Priyantha Fernando. The court ordered the relevant Returning Officers to accept the nominations following hearings on several petitions filed by political parties and independent groups challenging the rejections.

Last week, the Court of Appeal ordered the EC to accept 37 previously rejected nomination papers.

by A.J.A. Abeynayake

News

Defence MoU with Quad member will drag Sri Lanka further into new cold war: CP

Published

11 hours ago

2025/04/11

Thilina Walpola

Dr. G. Weerasinghe

The Communist Party (CP) of Sri Lanka yesterday (10) expressed grave concern over the NPP government’s unilateral decision to enter into a defence MOU with Quad-member India.

The CPSL urged All democratic and progressive forces to pressure the government to reveal the contents of the defence agreement with India. It also asked the NPP government to revive the Indian Ocean Peace Zone proposal at the UN and mobilise global opposition to militarisation in the region. All democratic and progressive forces had to build a United Front against a New Cold War, the CP has said.

General Secretary of CP Dr. G. Weerasinghe has issued the following statement: “This decision has been taken without consultation or debate in Parliament and in the context of a New Cold War and heightened militarisation of the Indian Ocean.

During Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka from 4-6 April, a defence MOU was exchanged between Secretary of the Ministry of Defence of Sri Lanka retired Air Vice Marshal H.S. Sampath Thuyacontha and Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.

Indian media has framed this MOU as being part of Indian strategy to counter China’s presence in the region.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake assured Modi that Sri Lanka, “will not permit its territory to be used in any manner inimical to the security of India as well as towards regional stability”. While the CPSL has no fundamental objection to this, questions remain over India’s own commitment to regional stability.

The fact is that India is a member of the Quad and has partaken in US efforts to contain China in a New Cold War. In 2024, current US Secretary of State Marco Rubio tabled a bill in congress to grant India a status on par with NATO members. During a meeting between Modi and US President Donald Trump in February, India and the US entered into a 10-year defence partnership framework to transfer technology, expand co-production of arms, and strengthen military interoperability.

By entering into defence agreements with India, there is a very real danger of Sri Lanka being dragged into the Quad through the back door as a subordinate of India. Sri Lanka could become a de facto part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy and compromise its non-aligned status. This would be antithetical to Sri Lanka’s interests as China is a major investor and trade partner for the country and has supported our sovereignty in international fora.

Sri Lanka is currently not directly embroiled in any conflict with an external actor and therefore has no need to enter into defence agreements. The last defence agreement that Sri Lanka entered into was with the UK-Ceylon Defence Pact (1947-1957), which was a neocolonial arrangement detrimental to Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and international relations.

The defence MOU with India could also be interpreted as a step towards further militarisation of the Indian Ocean, which is a violation of the UN Declaration of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace which both countries supported.”