Parliament: More probes needed

Thursday 1st July, 2021

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena is expected to receive the report of a committee that probed the shameful conduct of some MPs in the House in April. They plunged Parliament into turmoil by resorting to fisticuffs and trading raw filth. It is hoped that the probe committee has conducted a thorough investigation and recommended tough action, which is long overdue, to preserve what remains of the dignity of the legislature. A cantankerous legislator who caused an affront to the dignity of the judiciary got a jail term, and stern action is also called for against the MPs who bring Parliament into disrepute. It is the prevailing culture of impunity that encourages the MPs to misbehave and even unleash violence in the House.

There is a pressing need for at least three more probes where Parliament is concerned. During the 2018 constitutional crisis, triggered by an illegal power grab, the then UPFA MPs (who banded together as the Joint Opposition, and are in the current government) resorted to violence in Parliament to overcome resistance from their rivals. They went berserk, unable to muster a simple majority in the House and even threatened the then Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, who had to be removed to safety. The rioters damaged parliamentary property including the Speaker’s chair. They also attacked the police personnel providing protection to the Speaker. Those incidents which put the country to shame were not properly probed. Complaints were lodged with the police, and action was promised. But nothing was done and the issue fizzled out with the passage of time. The Neanderthals in kapati suit responsible for those violent incidents should have been arrested and charged under the Offences against Public Property Act, but they went scot-free although the act of destroying or damaging public property is a non-bailable offence.

The yahapalana government caused a severe erosion of people’s faith in the legislature by abusing the legislative process to compass its sinister political ends. The despicable manner in which the Provincial Council Elections Act was amended in 2017 to postpone the provincial council polls indefinitely is a case in point. The amendment Bill, moved on the pretext of increasing female representation in the Provincial Councils, was stuffed with sections sans judicial sanction at the committee stage and steamrollered through Parliament. That Bill affected the people’s franchise enshrined in the Constitution. Among the political parties that unflinchingly supported that legislative fraud were the UNP, the SLFP, the TNA and the JVP. They did so while claiming to uphold good governance. Ironically, the TNA, which helped the UNP deprive the people of their right to elect representatives to the Provincial Councils, which are currently under gubernatorial rule, is now seeking India’s help to have the 13th Amendment fully implemented!

It was in 1988 that people’s franchise suffered the worst ever legislative blow. We have reported during the past couple of days how the J. R. Jayewardene government introduced unauthorised changes to a Bill pertaining to the National List after its ratification by Parliament so as to enable political party leaders to appoint virtually anyone to Parliament through the backdoor. We have revealed, quoting senior political leaders, that the then Speaker E. L. Senanayake colluded with President Jayewardene to change the ratified Bill. That unauthorised provision, which functions as a smuggling tunnel, is the proverbial elephant in the room. National List appointments continue to be made according to the whims and fancies of the political party leaders, who have chosen to ignore the blatant violation of the people’s franchise. We have pointed out in this space recently that it is possible for someone who has not contested even a general election to become the President thanks to this constitutional provision; a National List MP, elevated to Prime Minister would automatically become the President in case of the elected President ceasing to hold office prematurely.

This fraud must be probed and remedial action taken to ensure that only those who are presented to the public as National List nominees prior to general elections are appointed to Parliament in addition to those who are elected by the people.