Non-issues, inanities and harsh reality

Wednesday 17th July, 2024

Hope is said to spring eternal. Hence desperate attempts to delay the next presidential election, which the government politicians are scared of. Two fundamental rights petitions seeking a Supreme Court (SC) intervention to prevent the Election Commission (EC) from declaring the presidential poll have failed. The SC has censured the petitioners for wasting judicial time and imposed costs.

One of the petitioners is a lawyer by profession. What possessed him to claim that the 19th Amendment was not valid, and a referendum had to be held? He created some confusion in the public mind. Is it that he cannot read and understand the Constitution or has not studied the judicial decisions pertaining to the 19th Amendment? Or, was he acting as a proxy for a politician with a hidden agenda? It is hoped that the judicial gavel blow that has sent him reeling will have a deterrent effect on others of his ilk, and, more importantly, the burden of the judiciary, which is already overstretched with mounting cases and limited resources, will not be aggravated.

Those who fear elections are likely to explore other avenues to postpone the presidential poll. No wonder a constitutional amendment the government is planning to present to Parliament purportedly to resolve some ambiguity anent the presidential and parliamentary terms has come to be viewed with suspicion; the Opposition and independent legal experts have warned that the government is trying to set in motion a process that will cause the presidential election to be postponed. It is also possible that by proposing the 22nd Amendment, the government has sought to convince the public that it is not opposed to the five-year presidential term and had nothing to do with the abortive FR petitions at issue.

Unfortunately, some non-issues have come to eclipse real problems troubling the country. Obviously, the framers of the 19th Amendment left some sections of the Constitution untouched because they apply only to the extension of the duration of the term of the President or Parliament and not a reduction thereof; they did not want a referendum held ahead of a general election for obvious reasons. The SC has dispelled doubts about the constitutional provisions at issue, and the last presidential election was held on the basis that the presidential term is five years; the matter should therefore have been considered closed.

Some laws are made in such a way, in this country, that public trust in the legislative process is very low. The passage of the controversial Online Safety Bill in January is an example of how not to make laws; it was deemed passed without a vote amidst a deafening din in the well of the House, which the Opposition members invaded, claiming that the government had overlooked some SC recommendations. Most of the constitutional amendments were also steamrollered through Parliament to meet politically-determined deadlines, and some of them contain ambiguities, which have warranted numerous SC interventions. Such tinkering can weaken the integrity of the supreme law of the land. The 18th and 20th Amendments, which were introduced to help consolidate the Rajapaksa family rule serve as examples.

It is high time the focus of the country was shifted from inconsequential issues and political inanities to the dire state of the economy, which has apparently been relegated to the back burner owing to election fever, which is running high. One can only hope that the political parties in the presidential fray and the public will not lose sight of the economic imperatives and the need to prioritise the successful conclusion of the ongoing economic recovery efforts over petty political issues ahead of the upcoming presidential contest. Constitutional amendments can wait.