Panel co-chair calls for SLFP- UNP deal

The pending agreement between the two parties in the government is the main challenge to drafting Sri Lanka’s new Constitution, according to Jayampathy Wickramaratne, a government parliamentarian, who co-chairs a committee overseeing the exercise.

“You cannot bring out a Constitution at the tail end of Parliament,” he told Colombo-based foreign correspondents on Monday. Referring to a similar exercise in 2000, he said though it was “one of the best drafts [of the Constitution]”, it came too late, just a few weeks before Parliament was dissolved, and “then other factors come into play”. “Constitutions must be made and finished at least in the first half of Parliament. Ideally in the first year, but that has gone,” said Dr. Wickramaratne, widely regarded as an expert in constitutional law.

Constitutional reform was a key election promise of the Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe combine that formed the national unity government in 2015, bringing together the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the rival United National Party (UNP).

While a steering committee working on the draft is awaiting consensus among all the parties, sections have criticised the government for its slow pace on the initiative. The SLFP is expected to submit its views on a draft interim report this week.

“Good progress” has been made on electoral reforms, but executive presidency — which the leaders promised to abolish in their election campaign — remains a contentious issue for political parties. “There are indications that the SLFP wants to retain the Executive Presidency,” Dr. Wickramaratne said.

On the Bill of rights and the push from the Left to include economic, social and cultural rights in it, he said: “Some people on the Right think including these rights in the Constitution will bring socialism…it won’t…it didn’t happen in South Africa.” When such rights are made enforceable, it is not about the “right to food” but “the right of access to food”, he explained. Emphasising the need to expedite the drafting process, Dr. Wickramaratne said the current opportunity cannot be missed. “The Tamil leadership has been very flexible while holding on to their key concerns. It is up to the parties in the [Sinhala majority] south to respond.”