Executive Presidency:Single Issue or NonIssue?

by Rajan Philips-February 15, 2014, 5:49 pm

The law of presidential terms seems to work in funny ways in Sri Lanka. A limited term system usually turns an incumbent into a lame duck in his final term. President Rajapaksas unlimited term seems to ha e turned him into a permanent lame duck! but more in its e"ecuti e sense than in its political sense. #ahinda Rajapaksa is presidin$ o er a $o ernment that is abusin$ its power e en to the e"tent of tryin$ to chan$e the intent of le$islation throu$h e"traordinarily surreptitious $a%ette e"traordinaire. That is what the Secretary to the #inistry of &i$her 'ducation is alle$ed to ha e done in re$ard to the (ni ersity Act of )*+,. -y substitutin$ the word .may. for .shall. the Secretary tried to remo e the mandatory re/uirement that hi$her education institutions $rantin$ professional de$rees must be accredited by the respecti e professional bodies. Administrati e purists would consider this to be a far more heinous white collar crime than what the P#s office pips/ueak did writin$ to the customs to clear for his buddy a shipment of heroin from Pakistan. The 0(TA and the 1#2A had to ask Prof. 3arlo 0onseka to intercede with the President! and the $ood Professor did and $ot the President to order .cancellation. of the $a%ette notification. As has happened on so many other instances! rather than the $o ernment and the President bein$ $i en

a ton$ue lashin$! the President is $i en credit for listenin$ and chan$in$. And the Secretary! who is supposed to ha e been behind the sneaky tweakin$ of the $a%ette! continues in his position without any /uestion or reprimand. 1o ernment officials ha e $ot used to makin$ mischief knowin$ there will be no conse/uences! no accountability! because the interminable presidency has become permanent lame duck 4 in the e"ecuti e sense. 5n the American system! bein$ a lame duck applies in the political sense to a President in his second and final term! who is unable to $et anythin$ done throu$h 3on$ress. 6orse still! he mi$ht be unable to $et his own party to support his initiati es. -ut the system of $o ernment and administration continues! re$ardless of political paralysis. 5f President 2bama is not able to help his Party win! or at least hold its current seats! in the mid-term elections to the &ouse and a third of the Senate! in 7o ember this year! his presidential effecti eness would be all but dead for the remainin$ two years of his second term. President Rajapaksa doesnt face any such political problem. There is no mandated mid-term election in Sri Lanka! but President Rajapaksa makes up elections 8local! pro incial! parliamentary! or presidential9 as he $oes! and wins them handily. 3ome #arch! he has two 86estern and Southern9 Pro incial 3ouncil election ictories to sa our! almost the day after tastin$ a likely third defeat in 1ene a. Like two weddin$s after a funeral. Like! as well! the two faces of the Rajapaksa re$ime: electorally in incible at home! isolated and e"posed abroad. The creation surpassin$ the creator To the e"tent a lame duck presidency pre-supposes imminent succession! Sri Lankas permanent lame duck presidency is inspirin$ permanently tentati e challen$ers. 5t is as if e eryone wants to be a candidate but nobody wants to contest. The ne"t presidential election has lon$ been touted as the election of the sin$le-issue candidate! the sole issue bein$ the abolishment of the e"ecuti e presidency! now formally abbre iated as 'P. 5n one sense! e ery serious candidate will be runnin$ on a sin$le-issue: ;ictory. That at least would be the sole issue for the Rajapaksa clan! if not the President himself! who bein$ human mi$ht be $ettin$ close to the point of bein$ tired of the presidency. -ut he will not be allowed to retire by those close to him! because they need him 4 as President. 2therwise! they are nobodies. Their days under the Sri Lankan sun as somebodies will be

permanently o er when there is no President Rajapaksa. 5t used to be said of President #u$abe that he was willin$ to step down many times but those close to him would hear none of it. The reality of authoritarianism is that the cabal becomes more powerful than the boss. 5n Sri Lanka! 3olombos Tuesday Tea-threesome are more conse/uential than the Presidents Thursday 3abinet. The han$ers-on are in char$e at e ery le el! the president is a permanent lame duck at the centre. The 3hief-Secretary in <affna is irremo able! but the elected 7orthern Pro incial 3ouncil is dispensable. 5n another sense 8of the sin$le issue9! e ery potential candidate in the ne"t presidential election is formally committed to abolishin$ the 'P. The list starts with #ahinda Rajapaksa! for he too ran in =>>?! if not in =>)>! on the promise to abolish the 'P. Apparently! accordin$ to those who bothered to read it! the #ahinda 3hinthanaya enshrines #ahindas commitment to abolish the presidency. &is predecessor was e en more dramatically committed to abolishin$ the 'P! but she ended up becomin$ the President of dramatically broken promises. Ranil 6ickremesin$he is the latest political leader to join the bandwa$on of abolishment. 5t is an indication of the state of his Party that it should decide after @A years to dump its most si$nal creation! the '"ecuti e Presidency. The funny thin$ is the (7P has no way of $ettin$ rid of the 'P. The 'P has become much stron$er and more durable than the (7P. The creation has surpassed the creator. Althou$h there is considerable truth in the assertion that the '"ecuti e Presidency is the main source of most of our current predicaments! there is no matchin$ $roundswell of opinion askin$ for its abolishment. The reason for the mismatch is the $ap between the abstraction of pundits and analysts! on the one hand! and the concrete e"periences of the people on the other. 5 ha e reminded before that neither the )*+= 3onstitution nor the )*+, 3onstitution resulted from popular demands for constitutional chan$e! but were created by $o ernments who used their massi e electoral ictories based on peoples economic dissatisfactions to create new constitutions. 2n the other hand! 3handrika Bumaratun$a e"pressly campai$ned for the abolishment of 'P! but chose to benefit under it rather than abolish it. #ahinda Rajapaksa has turned the (7Ps creation into his personal instrument. To their eternal discredit! 3handrika Bumaratun$a and Ranil

6ickremesin$he! fi$htin$ like o er$rown infantile delin/uents! botched the one opportunity they had in =>>> to constitutionally end the 'P in parliament. 5s it too late nowC As thin$s are! the only person who is capable of abolishin$ the 'P throu$h constitutional means is #ahinda Rajapaksa. -ut why would he do it when there is no ad anta$e to him! either politically or personally! in abolishin$ the presidencyC &e will perforce consider it if there is an unstoppable $roundswell of opinion demandin$ the abolishment of 'P. &e will definitely abolish 'P just to spite 3handrika Bumaratun$a! if there is e en half a chance that she could become President for the third time! contestin$ the ne"t election. 'nter Sobitha Thero: Sin$le 5ssue or 7on-5ssueC There has been a stubborn mainstream media silence o er the reported announcement of ;en. #aduluwa e Sobitha Thero - of his willin$ness to come forward as a presidential candidate for the sole and limited purpose of abolishin$ the '"ecuti e Presidency. The seemin$ly curious silence! to my mind! is partly indicati e of the medias inclination to treat the issue of the '"ecuti e Presidency! not as the Sin$le 5ssue! but a 7on-5ssue. To make thin$s Dcuriouser the ;en. Thero chose a Tamil newspaper to make the announcement. 6hile political pundits are waitin$ for the Dre erse translation 8from the formerly unofficial lan$ua$e to the always official lan$ua$e9! the $ood #onk himself has not approached the broader media to make his intentions clearer! and less Dcuriouser. &owe er! it is known that Sobitha Thero has since confirmed the accuracy of his inter iew and his intentions to his $roup of ad isers who see no sal ation for Sri Lanka without the $ood riddance of the bad presidential rubbish. Political news can bandy itself e en without media co era$e! and that is why formal or informal censorship ne er works. 6hile the mainstream media has chosen to i$nore Sobitha Thero! there is li ely debate o er his inter iew and its implications in the electronic alleyways. -ut the stubbornness of the media establishment to i$nore Sobitha Thero came across elo/uently in a national newspaper editorial that chose to refer to his announcement only in passin$ and that too without mentionin$ him by name. 5t does not matter whether the omission was out of reli$ious re erence or political dismissi eness. 2r! rather it does. 5t does in the sense that political success has become the primary consideration in takin$ a political stand. 5n a society whose official ethos is supposedly based on that most chastenin$ -uddhist principle of

impermanence! political permanence has taken a stran$lehold on peoples minds. 5f one is not assured of success a$ainst #ahinda Rajapaksa! there is no point payin$ attention. Eour candidate cannot muster a million otes! so you are wastin$ my time makin$ a case for her or him. -ecause one is not con inced by the worthiness of the alternati es! $oes the ar$ument! there is no alternati e but to cheer the President and damn e eryone around him. Alternati ely! the commonplace ad ice is to the leaders of the opposition parties to $et their act to$ether and $et a common candidate! and the considered prediction is that the ne"t presidential election would be more like the )*,= presidential election! that was also the first presidential election. 5n other words! a full slate of candidates will unsuccessfully run a$ainst the incumbent. The comparison to )*,= may not be a subliminal allusion to the horrors of )*,@! but rather a conscious acceptance that the '"ecuti e Presidency has come to stay. The more worrisome aspect is a new ar$ument tyin$ the '"ecuti e Presidency to the defence of Sri Lankas so erei$nty. 0or all its ad erse and unintended conse/uences! the 'P was often defended for the opportunity it is said to ha e $i en the minority nationalities to ha e a direct say in the election of the countrys &ead of State and &ead of 1o ernment. That ar$ument has now fallen by the e"periential wayside. The new ar$ument! emanatin$ from a source that should know better! unnecessarily implicates the Sinhalese people by enturin$ that they will not countenance the abolishment of the '"ecuti e Presidency because they will instincti ely understand that the 'P is the principal bulwark in the defence of Sri Lankas so erei$nty. 6hat we ha e in the makin$ is a dan$erous companion to the insistent Dunitary state ar$umentF 5t will not be lon$ before the new ar$ument is appropriated by the Rajapaksas and they will ha e no compunction at all in takin$ the countrys future back to the )*,>s! if not e en further back. -ut the country deser es better. Posted by Thavam