Sri Lanka 22nd Constitutional Amendment

By Usman Khan

Elimination of the system of executive presidency was one of the main demands of the four-month-long anti-government demonstrations that shaken Sri Lanka this year amid a disastrous economic crisis that forced former President to step down. Sri Lanka 22nd constitutional amendment bill restrict the presidential powers.

On Friday, 21 October, the Sri Lankan parliament passed the 22nd amendment bill to the constitution restricting the powers of the president. The bill, gazetted as the 22nd amendment, will become the 21st modification to the constitution after enactment. With 179 legislators in the 225-member assembly voting in favor and one against, the bill was passed by a two-third majority after two days of discussion. The bill purposes to restrain the president’s powers by substituting the controversial 20th amendment (20A) presented in October 2020 under the former President.

The draft bill of the 22nd amendment was the second form of a previous announcement gazetted by the SLPP-UNP government led by the incumbent President. A key feature of the 22nd amendment bill is to bring back the Constitutional Council with a modification in its structure. Introduced by the 17th amendment with the aim to depoliticize public services, the Constitutional Council is a 10-member constitutional authority mandated with upholding independent commissions and observing their matters.

The 22nd amendment suggests a new composition of the Constitutional Council, whose members will now not be selected by the prime minister and the opposition leader alone. In a press briefing held on August 10, Justice Minister announced that under the new suggestion, “one member will be appointed by and of the ruling party, one by and of the main opposition, and one member from the majority selection from and of the other parties. Moreover, three civilian members of the Constitutional Council will be appointed by the Speaker with the approval of parliament without intervention by the Prime Minister or Opposition Leader.”

The Constitutional Council will also recommend the president on the appointment of the Central Bank governor. The then president said that the 22nd amendment, while being based on the 19th amendment, will “transcend the latter’s democratic features while also holding the more liberal facets of the 20th amendment. The 19th amendment, which had meaningfully thinned the powers of the executive presidency, was introduced in 2015 by the incumbent president when he was the prime minister.

Additional provisions of the new amendment aim to reinforce anti-corruption policies and confine the president’s ministerial portfolios. The enactment of the 22nd amendment into law as a “success” for democratic values, there are many who criticize it for falling short of any real progressive change in the political system.

However there are shortcomings in the new law as the Bill has drawn from the weakest aspects of the Nineteenth Amendment and Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution. If ratified it would set up a system of government which would not be able to address the concerns of citizens, for a more accountable and transparent government and in the long run could further demoralize democratic institutions and the citizens’ trust in these institutions.”

The latest amendment to the Constitution does not make any substantive changes to the President’s powers. The centralism of power around a single individual holding office of the presidency still endures. Since coming to power, the incumbent president led government has released a brutal crackdown on all forms of opposition in the name of seeking political and economic stability. On October 18, the Sri Lankan police arrested eight students from a protest march organized by the University of Kelaniya at the call of the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF).

The protests marked two months of arbitrary detention of IUSF convener and activist under the Prevention to Terrorism Act (PTA). Another student activist, was arrested during a protest in Colombo on August 18, alongside 17 others including the convener of the Inter-University (monk) Federation (IUBF). The two have been in administrative detention since then without any charges or judicial review. Defiant students chant slogans at the repressive Police, doing the bidding of their Fascist masters

In the meantime, petroleum workers in the country are also complaining against the government’s bid to privatize the fuel market by allowing more contestants to enter the market as importers, producers, and retailers. The passed Petroleum Products Special Provision Bill Amendment will allow global suppliers to enter as retail operators, eliminate CPC control on Jet Fuel & liberalize energy sector. On October 18, at least 4,000 workers under the umbrella of CPC Trade Union Collective (TUC), a combination of 11 trade unions, participated in a protest strike near the parliament, in spite of intimidations from the authorities to punish them under the draconian Essential Public Services Act (EPSA).

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