Democratic goals

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s first address at an Independence Day celebration has been hailed by many. In a succinct speech he highlighted the three areas of democracy, upholding the law and protecting the rights of all Sri Lankans. These are three extremely important duties of a President and having them acknowledged as part of the 72nd Independence Day celebrations gave them added poignancy. 

As pointed out by the President, a vibrant democracy exists when there is a balance between the Executive, the Legislature and Judiciary. It is therefore important that overarching powers such as being able to takeover whatever Ministries, dissolve parliament at any point, have unlimited terms in power, appoint members to the law enforcement community with no oversight and a plethora of other powers that the Executive could once command be tempered. 

The now largely orphaned 19th Amendment did take steps in that direction, especially through the establishment of the Constitutional Council and other commissions, and the Government has made it clear that if they receive the two-thirds majority it is seeking at the upcoming general elections they will do away with it. Such a step will potentially increase powers of the Executive at the cost of the two other branches of power. 

Taking this a step further President Rajapaksa’s manifesto states a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) will be appointed by the Government to engage with the people, political leaders, and civil society groups and prepare a new Constitution. It is therefore important to consider how the balance of power will be maintained under an entirely new Constitution and how the concerns of minorities and other marginalised groups in society will be addressed and their rights safeguarded in such a future scenario. This directly links to another point emphasised by the President during his Independence Day speech – rights of citizens. 

Later this month the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will be releasing a report on its assessment of the Government’s progress on reconciliation. The Government has already made it clear they will work to remove Sri Lanka from the obligations of the resolution that was passed in 2015, possibly by proposing an alternative resolution. There are no details of what this would entail in the public domain as of yet but there is little doubt that the Government will have to propose a home grown reconciliation framework that has to have at least some level of credibility. Historically thorny issues of disappearances, extra-judicial killings, and a political resolution to the Tamil issue is unlikely to disappear. The families of the disappeared will not stop their fight and upholding their rights has been a challenge most Governments preferred to sidestep. 

Whether it is a mother searching for her vanished child, or someone fighting discrimination or a person demanding large scale corruption at a public institution be investigated, they all need the law enforcement system to function independently. There has to be public faith in the system and that will require large scale reforms in the judiciary. However, the idea that one person can ensure this exclusively through their decisions is a fallacy as without deeper structural changes the door is left ajar for other vested interests to creep in over time. 

The protection of a citizen’s rights are dependent on strong institutions and transparency, which are at the core of a vibrant democracy. Sri Lanka has a long journey ahead to achieve these goals.