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Friday Forum questions Government’s motive behind demonising the old parliament
View(s):The Friday Forum (TFF) has questioned whether the Government is demonising the old Parliament with the expectation that the new Parliament it desired will adopt and enact a Constitution that will do away with Parliament and the courts.
In a statement signed by Prof. Savitri Goonesekere and Prof. Arjuna Aluwihare, the organisation noted both the President and the Prime Minister had indicated they should await the 2020 general election, and the summoning of the new Parliament.
“Yet most candidates contesting the forthcoming general elections 2020 are those who have represented the people, for the past ten or more years. So why is there demonisation of the old and the faith in the new? Is it possible, there is an expectation that the much desired new Parliament will adopt and enact a Constitution which will do away with familiar institutions known as Parliament and the courts (the two other pillars of governance in a parliamentary democracy)?” TFF said.
TFF pointed out the Parliament had been one of the key pillars of governance in the country for 70 years.
“For at least half that period, (and until as recently as 2019) all political parties at some point or other, promised the nation to abolish the executive presidency, and strengthen the institution known as the Parliament. Yet today, political leaders in the government and their assorted supporters, jurists, scholars, professionals, business leaders and opinion makers express views indicating they want to bury the Parliament – some for six months, some for five years, and others for all time.”
TFF statement said it is important to remember that in 2018, a full bench of our Supreme Court held that this country has not had a monarch since 1972, and the President under our Constitution had not “inherited that mantle.”
“Constitutions restrain the exercise of powers, and those who take oaths of office to respect the Constitution, in doing so, agree not to take on the mantle of kingship,” the organisation said.