Cabinet weighs pros and cons of 20th A: Gammanpila

Consents to retain three vital but controversial provisions

By Sandun A Jayasekera

The Cabinet that met on Monday discussed the comments that have been made for and against certain provisions of the proposed 20th Amendment extensively and agreed to retain three vital but controversial provisions contained in the 20th A, Co-Cabinet Spokesman, Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila said yesterday.   
He told the first ever on-line Cabinet news briefing held last morning at the Information Department that the Cabinet consented to do away with the provision in the 20th A on passing Acts in haste without publishing them in the Gazette.   

 “Passing such Acts without publishing them in the Gazette would affect the rights of the citizens to express their opinions on them. Their right to seek the Supreme Court challenging such Acts would also be violated as well. The Cabinet agreed that an Act could be passed in a short notice only in an event of a threat to the national security or in an event of a national disaster,” Minister Gammanpila stressed.   The restriction of the Cabinet to 30 members with another 10 deputies or state ministers will also remain unchanged together with the powers vested in the Auditor General to audit public institutions, will not be taken away via the 20th Amendment.However, the other main demand which enables dual citizens to hold Presidential and Ministerial portfolios will remain in the 20th A, unchanged, he said.   

“The Maha Sangha, the Bishop Conference, the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya, Jathika Nidahas Peramuna, Democratic Left Front and many other organisations representing the civil society and intelligentsia have expressed dissenting views on the 20th A. The Cabinet discussed all these comments and finally decided to remove those three clauses from the draft of the 20th A,” Minister Gammanpila added.   

Co-Cabainet Spokesman, Mass Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said the 20th A had drawn the interest of a wide cross section of the society including the clergy, professionals, the civil society in addition to political parties.   
“That is why the government subjected it to a wide public debate being a democratically elected government. We are in the process of introducing the 20th A and a new Constitution based on the huge mandate we got  during the two national elections. We told the voters that the government cannot fulfill the aspirations of the people and achieve a sustainable development without abrogating the 19th A and that the voters agreed to that,” Minister Rambukwella emphasized.   

The Cabinet had closely reviewed the comments that had been made on the 20th A by many and had agreed to further amend it, Minister Rambukwella said. He added that the Attorney General in his submissions to the Supreme Court during the inquiry of the 20th A had clearly pointed out why the 20th A was an immediate necessity to run the country without hindrance.