People’s views on Constitution to be collected by committee

• New body to begin collection of opinions during three months
• To present report including recommendations to parliament
• Insists unprecedented opportunity for public to be stakeholders of rights inclusion  

By Uditha Jayasinghe

Public views on the proposed Constitution will be collected by a newly formed independent group, to be presented to parliament within the next three months.

The Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reforms (PRCCR) composed of academics, lawyers, civil society representatives and politicians of minority parties, has been formed to seek out public opinions on the new Constitution and formulate these ideas into a report to be presented in parliament by the end of April.

“This is an unprecedented move. Earlier Constitutions in this country were formed by politicians and political parties and the people were informed of it later. They had to accept anything that was dished out by politicians. But that is not the case this time around,” said PRCCR Chairman Lal Wijenayake.

The National Government has given a mandate to the PRCCR to formulate the ideas and opinions they encounter from the public and make their recommendations in a special report. The Committee has already decided to divide their 20 members into four groups and tour each district in the next two months to collect views from the public.

The PRCCR will kick off their public sittings in Colombo where several organisations and people have already written to the PRCCR requesting a chance to make presentations. Once Colombo is wrapped up, PRCCR members will spend a minimum of two days in each district to collect public opinions.

“Other people interested in having their views heard, including Sri Lankans living abroad can write to the PRCCR headquartered at “Visumpaya” at Staple Street or email via the website to be established,” Wijenayake told reporters.

The members were insistent they will condense all opinions presented by the people into the report.

“This is a very valuable chance for people to decide what kind of freedoms and rights should be included in the Constitution to make it one of the best in the world in terms of ensuring the empowerment of minorities and other vulnerable groups,” he added.