News
|
||||
How
Daily Mirror reported the President’s solemn pledge "A general election could cost almost a billion rupees, which our country can ill-afford to spend. Election campaigns have become over the years acrimonious and bitter. "They divide and polarise our society. A pending general election causes confusion and uncertainty for business sector, and for foreign governments and enterprises which wish to deal with the government. "The decision to dissolve Parliament prematurely is one taken in the interests of the whole nation, with due care and caution and a due sense of responsibility. I am fully conscious of these constitutional duties and obligations," the President said in her letter to Speaker Joseph Michael Perera. The Speaker read out the letter which the President had said she had sent to him under powers vested in her by Article 32(3) of the constitution. However, the President's one time key minister and now fierce opponent S.B. Dissanayake who took the floor of the House to speak on the no confidence motion against Minister John Amaratunga soon after the letter was read out by the Speaker said the UNF government has no faith in promises made by President Kumaratunga and therefore, was going ahead with the proposed constitutional amendments to strip her of her powers to dissolve parliament. "We know that she had made solemn promises to various people before but had failed to honour them," minister Dissanayake said. Following is the full text of the President's letter read out by the Speaker. "Under Article 70(1) of the Constitution the President may from time to time summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament. The exercise of this power is subject to certain qualifications, one of which is that the President shall not dissolve Parliament until the expiration of one year from the date of a general election consequent upon a dissolution of Parliament by the President, unless Parliament by resolution requests the President to dissolve Parliament whereupon the President may dissolve Parliament in the exercise of the discretion vested in the President under Article 70(1). "In contrast, where the President has not dissolved Parliament consequent upon the rejection by Parliament of the Appropriation Bill, under Article 70(1)(d) the President is obliged by the Constitution to dissolve Parliament if it rejects the next Appropriation Bill as well. "When a person is elected a member of Parliament at a general election he or she is entitled, along with the general body of electors in the country, to expect that Parliament will run its full term of six years. "These are reasonable expectations shared by the whole country and its citizenry which we are all committed to serve. Members of Parliament are elected after a strenuous and usually expensive campaign. The machinery of government is under heavy strain during an election campaign. "We have witnessed in recent years, all too sadly, that our elections have been preceded and followed by a degree of violence unworthy of a people who have had the benefit of universal franchise for nearly three quarters of a century. A general election could cost almost a billion rupees which our country can ill afford to spend. Election campaigns have become over the years acrimonious and bitter. They divide and polarise our society. "A pending general election causes confusion and uncertainty for our business sector and for foreign governments and enterprises which wish to deal with the government. The decision to dissolve Parliament prematurely is one taken in the interests of the whole Nation, with due care and caution and a due sense of responsibility. I am fully conscious of these constitutional duties and obligations. "The Commissions established under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution have not yet been established, The National Police Commission and the Election Commission, in particular, should be given time to function effectively before any General Election could be contemplated. "In the present context, the dissolution of Parliament could have unexpected and unforeseeable effects on the peace process and jeopardise its beneficial results at a time when the thoughts of all political parties should be focussed on the question of prime national importance, that of bringing the ethnic conflict in our country to a close in a peaceful manner with a just and durable solution which satisfies the aspirations of all our people in our multi-ethnic, multi-religious society. "I believe that, above all, the people of our country need a respite from the hurly burly of national elections. We have had a Presidential Election and two General Elections in under three years. In a parliamentary system of government a dissolution of Parliament before the expiry of its stipulated period usually takes place when the government of the day loses its majority and faces defeat on the floor of the House on a no confidence motion or on an important financial bill such as the Budget, and it is found to be impossible to constitute a new government from among the members of the existing Parliament Today the Prime Minister and the Cabinet appointed after the General Election held on December 5, 2001 appear to enjoy a working majority in Parliament. "Taking into account all the facts and circumstances to which I have referred, by virtue of the powers vested in me by article 32(3) of the Constitution under which the President of the Republic has the right to send messages to Parliament, I wish to inform the Members of the 11th Parliament, and through them the people of Sri Lanka, that I shall not dissolve the present Parliament unless the party which presently commands the confidence of the House loses its majority and an alternative government cannot be formed from among the members of the present Parliament." August 21, 2002 |
||||
Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
