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By Sandun Jayawardana  

A “National Council” (NC) with a key responsibility of guiding short, medium, and long-term national policies and representing all recognised political parties in Parliament was passed this week without a vote. Opposition parties though, were critical that the government had diluted the NC and that its original purpose has been lost.  

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena presented the motion to Parliament on Tuesday, noting that it was being presented after reaching agreement with all political parties represented in Parliament.

Chaired by the Speaker, the Council, not exceeding more than 35 members, will also have the responsibility to agree on short and medium-term common minimum programmes to stabilise the economy; and to arrange special meetings with the Ministers of the Cabinet of Ministers, the National Council, the Chairpersons of the Special Committees and Youth observers of Youth Organisations.

The NC further has powers to request reports from a range of committees, including Sectoral Oversight Committees, the Committee on Public Finance, Committee on Public Accounts (COPA), Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and any committee that controls public finances.

The NC was being constituted as a result of the people’s struggle amid complaints that the citizens were not being adequately represented in the legislature, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Tissa Attanayake said. He said the SJB agrees with the formation of the NC in principle. He however, pointed out that the Chief Opposition Whip did not automatically become a member of the NC, though the Chief Government Whip does.

“The NC can do important work, but if its sole purpose is to merely become a rubber stamp, then we will have to rethink our participation in it,” Mr Attanayake stressed. He said the SJB will reassess the progress of the NC in about six months and make a decision on their participation in it.

While it is correct that the NC was a proposal first discussed by opposition parties, what was discussed by them initially and what the government had proposed were completely different, National People’s Power (NPP) Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said. The proposal floated by opposition parties dealt with an NC constituted under an interim administration. Under the model proposed by the oppositon parties, all key government positions including the appointment of a Prime Minister and Cabinet as well as the scope of each minister’s subject will be determined by the NC. All these positions have already been appointed, along with 38 state ministers, he pointed out.

“The government is also refusing to give chairpersonships of COPE and COPA to opposition MPs, but are now calling on the opposition to work with the government and be part of this NC. This is all a sham,” the NPP leader charged.

The NC was first proposed under the concept of an interim all-party government, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP Dullas Alahapperuma said. But with everything, including the appointment of 38 state ministers now completed, the government was now trying to use the NC as a white cloth to hide itself.

It is the President and the Cabinet who take decisions and the only thing the NC can do is act as a sort of review body that can look into what went wrong, National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader Wimal Weerawansa told Parliament. “This model is not what we proposed. We don’t have an all-party government. We see that neither the president nor the government is interested in forming an all-party government now,” he charged.

The opposition is adopting a lethargic attitude towards the NC and if this sort of attitude persists, neither the NC nor any other body can resolve issues faced by the country, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara claimed. He said the NC was a good opportunity to make positive changes in the country and expressed confidence that the Council would become a body that will help bring about reforms to the country’s energy sector.

Aside from the Speaker who will be its Chairman, the Prime Minister, Leader of the House, Leader of the Opposition and Chief Government Whip will automatically be members of the NC. A total of 27 more members have also been nominated so far to serve on the NC.