Constitution the only worthwhile alternative

This is the continuation of the article headlined ‘Constitution the only worthwhile alternative’ which appeared on Saturday (October 30)

On January 8, 2015 we had so much hope for good governance, decency, law and order. There is no point in going over the Bond Scam and other scams, again and again. It is like scratching an itching wound and renewing it. All of them have betrayed us and the nation

When the Lal Wijenayake committee began gathering suggestions for a new draft constitution, we had hope. Some of us interested in Free Education formed a group consisting of Buddhist Monks, Catholic Priests, Principals of Schools, Directors of Education, teachers, and concerned citizens called “Ruhunu Ekamuthuwa”. We held meetings, printed handbills for distribution about the beginning of Free Education and CWW Kannangara, and finally organized a signature campaign from Kataragama to Ambalangoda, demanding that Free Education be made a fundamental human right. Absolutely nobody refused to sign it. It was a success and two big box files of signatures were ceremonially handed over to the Human Rights Commission. Our suggestion had been included in the draft, but when it went to the Parliamentary sub-committee for Human Rights, it got so diluted and adulterated that what little hope we had in a new constitution evaporated. After all we need the votes of two thirds majority of the legislature for the new constitution and they are all crooks who will never allow their ability to stay permanently in power and to steal, curtailed. 

The cabinet will be only 20. MPs will not have salaries or pensions only an allowance. Pensions of MPs will be abolished retroactively. The doubled membership in the ‘pradeshiya sabhas’ will again be halved. MPs will not get car permits, petrol shed permits, wine shop permits etc. to sell for millions. MPs will have to be either graduates or have studied up to that level. Nobody with a criminal past or such allegation will be allowed to tender nominations. No person will be qualified to be elected as a MP more than twice

 What is the final result of 73 years of governance by our political parties? Just look around; we are irredeemably in debt because most of our borrowed money is safely hidden away in off-shore companies around the world. The poor of the country are forced to pay higher and higher prices for essentials. Poverty is increasing and the country is in ruins. There is no hope of a renewal or reform with the present set of Ali Baba and the 225 thieves, pimps and murderers.

The (only) remedy, the AC
We were stranded in a political desert without an oasis in sight and desperate when, providentially, the idea of the AC was put forward. It is a constitution drafted by the honest, concerned, committed and ordinary citizens of the country preempting the crooked politicians from taking part in its making or by committees appointed by wily politicians or their cats’ paws in the judiciary. An AC is begotten and drafted by the people, the citizens, and adopted by them as their Primary Rule of the nation.

The gist of the AC in the making
The country will be a unitary state. The executive presidency will be abolished. The provincial councils will be abolished. The legislature will be reduced to 60 MPs. The cabinet will be only 20. MPs will not have salaries or pensions only an allowance. Pensions of MPs will be abolished retroactively. The doubled membership in the ‘pradeshiya sabhas’ will again be halved. MPs will not get car permits, petrol shed permits, wine shop permits etc. to sell for millions. MPs will have to be either graduates or have studied up to that level. Nobody with a criminal past or such allegation will be allowed to tender nominations. No person will be qualified to be elected as a MP more than twice. The parliament will be back at Galle Face.

Has Divine Providence or kindly fate given us the AC as the only way out of the evil labyrinth and the fearful mess Sri Lanka has got into in 73 years of independence? If the people, at this juncture, fail to understand, appreciate and accept the AC I dread and tremble to think of what will happen to the children and the youth of this country

As soon as the new constitution comes into force the judiciary will be dissolved and new people will be appointed by a constitutional council. Constitutional council will consist of 9 eminent, learned people and chaired by the speaker, the only politician. There will be only one law for the whole country. Muslim law, Udarata law and Thesawelami law will be abolished. The national list will be abolished. All court cases will have to be concluded in six months or at most in 12 months and not one day more. The punishment for corruption, swindling people’s money etc. will be gallows. Proportional representation system will be changed to the old, first past the post system. Citizens will be empowered to recall their MPs. There will not be urgent bills. Foreign Service will be strictly restricted to career diplomats. Those who have robbed the people’s wealth will be given one month’s amnesty to return the loot, failing which they will be charged, tried, convicted and jailed. Their properties and the properties of their immediate family, movable and immovable, will be confiscated. Domestication of wild animals will be prohibited. Sovereignty of the people will be inalienable and fully protected.

The empowering of the AC
The AC will be presented to the people at a presidential election with a candidate. The AC will be more visibly in front than the candidate. Citizens will be voting for the AC, not so much for the candidate. But, of course, the candidate certainly will be a man of integrity with a strong character and a clean past. He is not a politician and he doesn’t want to be one. He will be what the ancient Greeks called a philosopher-ruler, or in modern terms, a statesman. When the AC is voted for by the people and receive the 51% majority we shall truly have a democracy as defined by Abraham Lincoln “A government of the people, by the people, for the people.” As far as the AC is concerned the next presidential election will be a referendum. It bypasses the need for two thirds majority of the legislature which, in this case, is not necessary as the majority of the people has adopted it. The Voice of the People is supreme and above the executive, legislature and the judiciary. All the members in the executive, legislature and the judiciary are mere servants of the people with their salaries paid by the people. It is the sovereignty of the people that decides, there is nothing above it.

 As soon as the new constitution comes into force the judiciary will be dissolved and new people will be appointed by a constitutional council. Constitutional council will consist of 9 eminent, learned people and chaired by the speaker, the only politician. There will be only one law for the whole country. Muslim law, Udarata law and Thesawelami law will be abolished  

In conclusion
 This proposed plan to save the country is bound to receive scathing criticism from Ali Baba and the 225 thieves. Naturally, they have everything to lose. They lose a comfortable lifestyle and the chance to earn millions without shedding a drop of sweat. For, they only look after themselves and their families and friends; the plight of the country and its people are nowhere in their calculations. They remember the people only when elections come around. Most of the legal community will be against it for like camels they live on dates! Business rogues will be against it for the law will be applied without fear or favour. Rotten media channels bedded with the corrupt politicians will go all out to denigrate and destroy the very concept of the AC. Paid, journalists, political commentators and scribes will ridicule it. All who shamelessly benefit from this evil dispensation will be against the AC. 

 The response to their criticisms is simple; you were given more than one chance to make Sri Lanka truly the Pearl of the Indian Ocean and you failed. You are dishonest, liars, thieves and scoundrels. Your parties, whether national, Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or leftist, because of your stupid and evil governance, shed the blood of hundreds of thousands of the youth of this country. What kind of politics or governance is that? You have lost all credibility. I say again, you have thoroughly failed. You have no more any say in this country. In place of the AC and a new beginning what have you got to offer? You will trot out your stale old fairy tales. Who believes in them any longer? Let an alternative presented by people of integrity have a chance. After all nobody can do worse than you. 

The alternative to the AC
Has Divine Providence or kindly fate given us the AC as the only way out of the evil labyrinth and the fearful mess Sri Lanka has got into in 73 years of independence? If the people, at this juncture, fail to understand, appreciate and accept the AC I dread and tremble to think of what will happen to the children and the youth of this country. We had had enough bloodshed in the seventies, eighties and in the long drawn out 30 year fratricidal war. Do we want to prepare the country for another national bloodletting? If the Ali Baba and the 225 thieves come to power yet again what else can we expect? The country will be robbed clean, sold to foreigners and irredeemably in debt. Sri Lanka will be a failed state with no money, no jobs, no law, no order and no future. Chaos will reign with dog eat dog jungle law taking over. Do you want this beautiful land of ours to become, in the lingo of Donald Trump, a ‘shithole’ country?