Egg on Wijeyadasa’s face

The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was published in the Gazette on Friday by order of the President. The publication came a day after Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told the media that he had directed the Secretary of the Justice Ministry to postpone publication of the gazette until after the Presidential Election.

According to sources from the President’s Media Division, the amendment, jointly submitted by the President and the Justice Minister, received approval from the Cabinet of Ministers on July 9. Consequently, the President’s office had the authority to proceed with publishing the gazette.

The Cabinet of Ministers had granted policy approval on July 9 to amend paragraph (b) of Article 83 of the Constitution, replacing the phrase “exceeding six years” with “exceeding five years.”

Sources from the PMD noted that the Secretary to the Ministry of Justice, Nimal Ranasinghe, was abroad attending an official event in Korea. Asked for comment by the media, Ranasinghe said that he had not received an official decision from the Minister to halt the gazette’s publication.

He confirmed that the President, as one of the two parties submitting the amendment to the Cabinet, had the authority to proceed with its publication.