Milinda Moragoda calls for abolition of provincial council system

• Proposes transferring power directly to empowered local, urban, and municipal councils

Former Sri Lankan High Commissioner in India Milinda Moragoda who is the founder of the Pathfinder Foundation, called on political parties to seriously consider abolishing the provincial council system as a priority action in their campaign manifestos for the forthcoming national elections, according to a statement from his office.

Mr. Moragoda reiterated his earlier proposal that provincial councils should be abolished and power directly devolved to empowered and reconfigured local, urban, and municipal councils.

Since these bodies operate closest to the citizenry, they are in a better position to address and solve community-level problems. Furthermore, a small country of 22 million people does not require another unnecessary layer of administration.

This measure should be part of an overall strategy to restructure and modernize Sri Lanka’s governance and economy. Mr. Moragoda advocated for a small, efficient, and people-centric government, which would include the removal of the Provincial Council layer and achieving the necessary coordination through a district-level framework which would consist of relevant Members of Parliament, existing key local government office-bearers, and other stakeholders. The original intent of the 13th Amendment, enacted in 1987 was to create more provincial autonomy to help resolve Sri Lanka’s ethnic problem. Instead, this structure has proven to be superfluous, expensive, divisive and fraught with inefficiency.

Moragoda also proposed that rather than having an unnecessary layer of expensive administration, an empowered Senate/Upper House be set up to address issues concerning religious, ethnic, and regional diversity. A representative and properly composed forum of this nature would be best positioned to identify solutions for many of the complex issues facing our nation today.