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Updated May 29th, 2022 at 23:23 IST

Sri Lanka PM announces huge Parliament rejig; amendments made to curb Presidential powers

Sri Lanka's PM Ranil Wickremesinghe proposed changing the Parliamentary structure to curb the powers of the President and hold the cabinet accountable.

Reported by: Harsh Vardhan
Sri Lanka
Image: AP | Image:self
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Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, on May 29, proposed changing the structure of the Parliament through reforms that would clutter the unlimited powers of the President and hold the cabinet accountable. In a thread of tweets, the PM flagged two major political issues including the need for the 21st Amendment to annul the 20the Amendment and the abolition of the Executive Presidency.

He even underscored that the 20th Amendment brought by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa paralysed the Parliament's functioning which resulted in the Parliament's failure to prevent the ongoing financial crisis.

"Taking some learnings from the past; I propose we change the structure of Parliament and create a new system by combining the existing system of Parliament (Westminster system) and the system of State Councils as we had before the independence of Sri Lanka from 1921 to 1947", Wickremesinghe said in his statement.

Sri Lanka to follow India's example; forms 12 new committees

In order to strengthen the powers of the Parliament, Wickremesinghe said that the new laws will follow the examples of countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand and India. The PM said that the new laws would strengthen Parliament to exercise monetary powers. Currently, Sri Lanka has three committees on Government Finance at present - The Public Finance Committee, The Accounts Committee and The Committee on Public Enterprises.

Wickremesinghe proposed to strengthen the powers of these committees and introduced two new ones - Legal and Methodological Committees. The PM also announced ten oversight committees, the Chairperson of which would be appointed by "backbencher MPs" and not by ministers.

Wickremesinghe invites Sri Lankan youth to the cabinet

To ensure sufficient and equal participation of youth into the administration and end the trend of dynasty politics, Wickremesinghe proposed that each of the 15 committees would have four youth representatives.

Out of these four, one will be appointed by the Youth Cabinet and the rest three from the groups of protestors and activists. The methodology for selection would be decided by youth organisations. He said that experts from specific fields will also be invited if needed and added that the youth will be able to provide solutions to the ongoing problem and contest elections too if they wish. 

In his statement, Wickremesinghe also underscored the importance of the national council which includes the Speaker, Prime Minister, Opposition Leader and the leaders of the major parties and has the power to summon the Cabinet and the Chairmen of the said Committees.

"According to the new system we have proposed The President, The Cabinet of Ministers, The National Council and the 15 Committees including the Oversight Committees are accountable to Parliament", the PM said in a statement. 

He further said that this system is being devised to "control the Government through the Cabinet, to examine the work of the President, to oversee the work of the political affairs through the National Council and to oversee the financial affairs and other matters of the other fifteen committees".

 

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Published May 29th, 2022 at 23:23 IST

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