News
Sumanthiran while conceding snags in 19A says that is no reason to throw away its positives
By Saman Indrajith
Some of the powers that had been vested with Parliament and judiciary by the 19th Amendment are being transferred to the hold of the executive presidency by the 20th Amendment paving the way for an autocracy, Jaffna District MP M.A. Sumanthiran told Parliament yesterday.
Participating in the second reading stage debate on the 20th amendment, MP Sumanthiran said: A sense of deja vu comes to my mind as I stand up. Ten years back on Sept 8, 2010, when the 18th Amendment to the Constitution moved in this House, I spoke at length and I expressed my dismay. In April, 2015 when the 19th Amendment was brought up I stated that I did not expect to dismantle the 18th Amendment by the very same Parliament which had passed it. Now, today before us is the 20th Amendment and the process has completed its full circle. We are trying to remove the 19th Amendment and going back to the 18th amendment effectively.
“I register my opposition to the bill before us because this is in the wrong direction. Out of the 20 amendments that came to this House and affected the Constitution, there are two amendments that had more than 200 members voting for them. That was the 17th amendment which was passed here with one member abstaining and the 19th amendment that had been passed with only one member voting against it. Sarath Weerasekera voted against it. Although I do not agree with his standpoint then and today, I should respect Sarath Weerasekera for his consistency he had shown in opposing the 19th Amendment then and now. The others cut very sorry figures here today, having raised their hands for propositions that are diametrically opposite, in opposite directions. That is the vicissitudes of politics, they might say, but it is not an honourable conduct. When the 17th and 19th Amendments were passed, why did almost the whole House vote for them. It did not happen with any other amendments. Because those amendments had the total approval of people of this country and their opinion that this country must remain democratic. Messy as it is, democracy was chosen. But that was the right path. Democracy is messy, costly and time consuming in its deliberations but that is the path that we should take. I vividly remember that discussions we had in and outside the Chamber and how the committee stage dragged till midnight with the then Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe led us through explaining the content of that bill. So many amendments were moved from the opposition side by Dinesh Gunawardena, Prof Tissa Vitarana and Vasudeva Nanayakkara. All but one got together and agreed to those amendments. I agree that the incumbent Justice Minister quoted me as saying that I conceded that there were problems with the 19th amendment. Yes, I agree that the 19th Amendment has some snags. It was the first step in the process towards abolishing the executive presidency. There has been a consensus in this country since the mid-1990s to abolish the executive presidency. For a quarter of a century the country had repeatedly granted mandates to remove the executive presidency. The 19th Amendment created two centres of power as it reduced some powers of the executive presidency. But that was only a temporary measure because it was meant to move forward towards democracy.
This country did not give a mandate to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to strengthen the executive presidency. The mandate was given to do away with the 19th Amendment which had problems. Those problems have to be identified, and those ought to have been corrected. You do not have to go in reverse gear; you do not have to travel in the opposite direction of democracy towards autocracy. That is wrong and that wrong is done by this amendment. That is why we oppose it.”
“Power failures on election day could occur due to natural causes or sabotage”
Funds allocated for hiring power generators for the counting centres were inadequate, and the Grama Niladaris (GNs) would not be able to ensure a back-up power supply to those places, President of the Sri Lanka United Grama Niladhari Association, Nandana Ranasinghe warned yesterday.
Addressing a press conference, Ranasinghe said: “Under these circumstances, it will not be possible to provide the counting centres with generators. Funds must also be allocated for hiring electric bulbs, cables and transporting generators as well.
“Unless funds are made available immediately, the GNs must not be held responsible if something goes wrong in the event of a power failure, either due to natural causes or sabotage. The GNs must not be asked to bear the cost of supplying back-up power to counting centres.
“In some areas, the District Returning Officers are pressuring the GNs to bear the cost of hiring power generators. The GNs must not be forced to spend their personal funds to provide facilities to counting centres.
“If a power outage occurs, it will definitely cause issues at counting centres. In the event of disruptions to the vote counting process, the results in the polling divisions under the centres may have to be annulled.”
More than 65,000 police officers would be deployed for the 06 May local government (LG) elections from today (05), Police Media Spokesman SSP Buddhika Manatunga told The Island, yesterday. The police personnel will include members of the Police Special Task Force, intelligence units, security divisions, and mobile patrol teams.
Army Media Spokesman Brigadier Varuna Gamage told The Island that 8,500 military personnel would be deployed on the roads across the country in view of the LG elections.
He said the Army would coordinate with the police, and that troops in all military camps had been placed on standby to face any situation.
By Norman Palihawadane and Chaminda Silva
The Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) has alleged that the NPP government, too, like its predecessor, was creating a situation where medicines can be purchased at higher prices outside tender procedures.
The Education Secretary of the FSP Pubudu Jayagoda yesterday (04) alleged that the NPP Cabinet was planning to endorse the Health Ministry move. Addressing the media at the party office in Nugegoda, Jayagoda alleged that the NPP had adopted a strategy similar to that of Keheliya Rambukwella to procure medicines.
The FSP said: “The status quo ante has been restored in respect of health sector procurements. Time was when tenders were deliberately delayed. Orders weren’t placed on time, creating artificial shortages. Then, emergency purchases were made at higher prices; often substandard drugs were purchased. This government came to power promising reforms, but now the question is whether it is doing what it blamed its predecessor for.
“We have received information about a cabinet paper that Health Minister Nalin Jayathissa is going to present to the Cabinet tomorrow. According to an audit report dated March 29, 2025, Sri Lanka faces a shortage of 313 essential medicines over the next three months and 202 of these drugs can be procured through regular means.
“For the remaining 101 medicines, the Health Minister proposes in Sections 2.3 and 2.4 of the Cabinet paper standard procurement procedures should be bypassed and procurement should be done as government-to-government (G2G) deals in violation of the fundamental procurement regulations of transparent competitive bidding processes and the selection of the lowest bidder. Further, the Minister proposes to appoint a seven-member committee to formulate the new procurement methodology and to delegate the selection of supplier countries for medicine procurement to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“According to Section 8.1 of the Procurement Guidelines, direct procurement without calling for tenders is permitted only under four specific circumstances. That is when the medicine is produced by only one manufacturer, during emergency situations such as pandemics; when there is a severe shortage of the medicine and when the medicine is produced by the State Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Corporation. The justification being used now is the ‘medicine shortage’ clause.
“But how did this shortage occur in the first place? Under the Ranil Wickremesinghe government in August 2024, then-Health Minister Ramesh Pathirana attempted to replace existing medicine suppliers with a group of cronies. When that move drew heavy criticism, the Ministry got cold feet.
“Under pressure from the Indian High Commission, the government tried to procure medicines directly from India without calling for tenders. The current NPP government is now following in the footsteps of the previous Ranil-Ramesh administration. While working on procurement methodologies for 2026, they did not take action to place orders for essential medicines for 2025 even by November-December 2024.”
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