JHU says their proposals included in the 19th Amendment draft bill
Tuesday, 17 March 2015 01:20
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The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) yesterday announced that their party’s proposals were accepted to the draft the bill of the 19th Amendment.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, JHU General Secretary Champika Ranawaka said that the JHU opposed the earlier draft bill submitted to the Cabinet last week because they said the Prime Minister is the Head of Government and that the President should lead the executive according to the Prime Minister’s instructions.
“We rejected these proposals because it would make an impact on the stability of the country.
Therefore, we suggested that the President should continue to be the Head of the State, the Government, Executive and Armed forces. However, a number of powers of the post will be curtailed to create equilibrium among the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary. According to the final draft, both the Head of State and the Head of Government will be the President. “Furthermore, the provisions giving Prime Minister the control over the President were removed. The Presidency has been removed of its arbitrary powers. Total abolition of the executive presidency has not taken place. Therefore, the argument that national security is threatened by the removal of the executive presidency is baseless,” Ranawaka said.
