Sajith says 22nd Amendment creating ‘black present’

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday called for the immediate withdrawal of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. He told Parliament that, although the Prime Minister speaks of a dark past, the amendment was creating ‘a black present’.

Speaking during the debate on the amendment, which raises the retirement age of Supreme Court and Court of Appeal judges, Premadasa said that while the Government claims it is good for the country and safeguards democracy, it is in reality anti-democratic. He said it degrades the self-respect of the people, violates fundamental rights and treats citizens as slaves in order to bring them under executive supremacy.

He likened the situation to Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes, in which an emperor deceived by two fraudsters parades before the public in a garment that does not exist, while his entourage is too afraid to speak up.

Premadasa said the amendment destroys the independence of the Judiciary, dismantles the separation of powers and eliminates the system of checks and balances. It would destroy the respect that 22 million citizens hold for the Judiciary and judges, turning the Judiciary into ‘a tool and puppet of the executive’, he said. He said the amendment deals a fatal blow to judicial independence, destroys the mechanism of justice delivery and buries the rule of law ‘in the graveyard’.

Recalling past constitutional changes, he said executive powers were reduced by the 17th Amendment and reclaimed through the 18th, reduced again by the 19th and expanded by the 20th, which he said contributed to the country’s bankruptcy, before the 21st restricted them once more. He said the tragedy of democracy is that some individuals raised their hands in support of all five amendments, and the public continues to vote for them.

Premadasa said no proper study had been conducted on the proposal. A 2023 Asian Development Bank study had not cited extending the retirement age of judges as a solution to the problems facing the Judiciary, he said. While he does not criticise court rulings, he said decisions on the future of judges must involve a full Bench, with its composition decided by seniority, and there were serious allegations that many key stakeholders had been ignored.

Citing the case of Jagath Dias v. Upali Abeyratne, he said a three-judge Supreme Court Bench had held that any increase in the retirement age of judges must go to a referendum. He questioned why President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who had insisted a referendum was mandatory for the 20th Amendment, now considered one unnecessary for the 22nd. The Supreme Court has determined that the 22nd Amendment does not require a referendum.

Premadasa said the Government had promised to abolish the executive presidency on page 194 of its manifesto, ‘A Thriving Nation, A Beautiful Life’, and had received a mandate for it. Instead, he said, it was exerting pressure on judges, and was assassinating the Constitution and democracy through a ‘constitutional conspiracy’. Quoting John Locke, he said that where law ends, tyranny begins. He said the Justice Minister had denied any such plan on 11 June, 2026, but that the truth was exposed on 23 June.

He said those who now claim to protect the Judiciary should reflect on the treatment of former Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake. Those who stood by her at the time had later called for judges to be summoned before a Parliamentary Select Committee after a court order to hold local government elections, he said. He added that the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) had defended judicial independence on both occasions. Responding to the Prime Minister’s past remarks about former MP Prof. G.L. Peiris, he said the SJB was never part of that government.

Premadasa rejected a Government MP’s claim that the Bar Association President had been selected as the SJB’s Chief Ministerial candidate for the Western Province as false. He said the legal bodies opposing the amendment, including the Colombo High Court Lawyers’ Association and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, did not belong to the SJB.

He accused the Government of trying to lead the country towards authoritarian one-party rule, subjugating everything from youth club elections to the Judiciary to Pelawatte, the headquarters of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). Governance, he said, must be ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people’, and not serve an agenda driven from Pelawatte.