5th Column

Your Lordships,

It is very rarely that we write to you. We do so because we feel we must, as you have been called upon to decide the future of the nation at a crucial time. We are also not certain why the events that have occurred have happened this way but, as they say, it is becoming ‘curiouser and curiouser’.

Tomorrow, Your Lordships will sit to decide whether there should be an election to elect who runs this country. That is because someone feels that it is still unclear whether the term of office of the big boss is five years or six years. We all thought this was reduced to five years during Aiyo Sirisena’s time.

Of course, it is a very important issue. Looking back, Your Lordships have been called upon to decide on many such important issues recently, ever since you took it upon yourselves to protect democracy in Paradise. That this has been happening with increasing frequency is not a very good sign, though.

Early last year, you determined that Aiyo Sirisena was responsible for failing to prevent the Easter Day terror attacks, ordering him to pay compensation. Later that year, Your Lordships determined, without fear or favour, who was responsible for the economic crisis that brought the country to a halt.

Early this year, you revoked a pardon granted by Gota maama to Duminda as he did not follow the proper process. Two months ago, you booted Lady Diana out of Parliament as she was not a citizen of this country. Last month, you again chastised Aiyo Sirisena, revoking a pardon granted by him.

So, we can see that you have been kept busy by these, the acts of commission and omission by people in high places. It is sad that all four of our living past Presidents – Satellite, Mahinda maama, Aiyo Sirisena and Gota maama – have all been found fault by Your Lordships’ court at one time or another.

Your finest hour was when you declared that Aiyo Sirisena’s ‘coup’ was illegal. It was Aiyo Sirisena who appointed the then chief among you with a contentious choice. Ironically, it was a court headed by that Lordship which held that Aiyo Sirisena violated the Constitution by dissolving Parliament.

The question before you now is once again the duration of the President’s term of office. This has a sense of déjà vu. All Presidents come to power promising to abolish that office. Yet, once they sit on that presidential chair and taste the power they have, they want to stay on for even a few days more.

Satellite promised to abolish the Presidency not once but twice. Towards the end of her term, she wanted to stay for a year more saying her second term of office began, not when she took oaths for a second time but when her first six years ended – and she posed the question to Your Lordships’ court.

It was a court headed by the inimitable Sarath who dashed her hopes, paving the way for Mahinda maama to reach the top. Unfortunately, the same Sarath was to later publicly apologise to the country saying he should have acted differently in the ‘Helping Hambantota’ case. By then, it was too late.

To be fair, Mahinda maama never asked for an extension. In fact, he called an election one year earlier because Sumaney told him to. Aiyo Sirisena who succeeded him rode to power solely on the promise of abolishing the Presidency but he too wanted to stay long and posed the question to Your Lordships.

That was another occasion when this same question has been posed to Your Lordships’ court. In that instance, Aiyo Sirisena argued that, since he was originally elected for a six-year term – even though he had since reduced it to five years himself – he should be allowed to stay for a year more.

This argument was put to court by the then AG who also said all succeeding Presidents will have only a five-year term. I suppose he was just doing his job, representing Aiyo Sirisena as he was bound to. In a strange irony, he is presiding over your Lordships today. We wait to see what he thinks now.

If memory serves us right, just before the election that Gota maama won, someone from Galle also submitted a petition to court asking the same question, five or six years. Your Lordships dismissed that, asking him not to ridicule the court. Two of those Lordships are on the bench tomorrow too.

What many find baffling is that Gota maama was elected only for five years. Uncle Ranil is only serving the ‘balance’ of that five-year term. So, that cannot be six years. Some think it fit to question this and in the interests of democracy and fair play, we will await Your Lordships’ verdict.

You must have heard even Uncle Ranil saying he thinks his term should be five years and no more. That will make your task easier. Despite what Range Bandara and Vajira have told us recently, Uncle Ranil must mean what he says for ‘he is an honourable man’. Surely, he wouldn’t lie to us, would he?

We know Your Lordships aren’t swayed by emotion but will decide on the facts of the case. Yet, many are worried because they dread the consequences of an indefinitely postponed election. They do not want another ‘aragalaya’ to choose their President for them. We hope Your Lordships realise this too.

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: If Your Lordships are wondering why there is such concern about what seems to be an ‘open and shut’ case, that is because last year’s local elections were postponed by Uncle Ranil. That is still pending before Your Lordships without a verdict or an election. We don’t want history repeating itself.