By Nagananda Kodituwakku –
Nagananda Kodituwakku
Both the Executive President Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa and Mr Mohan Pieris appointed to the workplace of the Chief Justice have taken oath as required by post 32 and 107 and Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, to carry out the duties and discharge the functions of their respective Offices and to uphold and defend the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the very best of their ability.
The complete nation is totally aware that Mr Mohan Pieris was appointed to the Workplace of the Chief Justice by the President Rajapaksa, when there was no vacancy existed in the office and by forcibly denying the incumbent Chief Justice, Dr Shirani Bandaranayake of her correct to carry out the duties of workplace of the Chief Justice. In quick Mr Mohan Pieris need to have been fully conscious that accepting the workplace of the Chief Justice when there was no vacancy was clearly a violation of the law and in the provided circumstances any oath or affirmation taken to uphold the office of the Chief Justice would turn into void from the starting and thereby any selection made by him or by any bench appointed by him would have no legal impact at all. They are bound to be declared invalid when the Rule of Law is restored in this nation and therefore the billions of taxpayer’s funds spent on the Supreme Court in the course of his period would go waste.
Contesting for twond term of the Executive President
The Individuals of this country are fully aware that President Rajapaksa did utter no word for the duration of his election campaign for a second term, in search of a mandate from the individuals to amend the Constitution, enabling him to contest for a third term. For that reason enacting an amendment to the Constitution (for a third term), which only gives for two terms in office beneath the prior law was not only unlawful and but morally a wrongful act on the element of the President and amounts to violation of the oath taken in terms of the 4th Schedule of the Constitution.
Declaration for Presidential Election nicely just before the end of term in office with intent to contest for a threerd time
The shelf life of the workplace of the President is nonetheless two a lot more years from completion but the President calls for an election with a fantastic craving for reelection. And there are several arguments against this move on the basis that President can’t contest for a third term as he has been elected beneath the preceding law which permits only two terms with no expressed provision in the amendment, accommodating the one particular in office also to turn out to be eligible. This argument is straightforward and simple and there is no ambiguity at all about the retrospective impact of the 18th amendment in the absence of expressed provision in the amended law supplying otherwise. And on the other hand there is no question of law arisen, which is of such public value to receive the opinion of the Supreme Court, whereas the problem raised is purely concerning the interests of an person.
Insulting the intelligence of the people
Yet, having doubts about his eligibility, President Rajapaksa has resorted to abuse the provisions of Section 129 of the Constitution that is meant to be used in matters concerning national value and not on any particular person. Relying on this provision of law the President has sought the opinion of the Supreme Court on 05th Nov 2014 and currently the President himself and several of Cabinet Ministers have expressed their self-confidence in ‘the would be ruling’ and challenged these who oppose the move of the President to go prior to the Supreme Court.
The Registrar of the Court has now notified the Bar Association about the President’s reference and known as for only written submissions, if any, on the matter prior to 07th Nov 2014, which would be decided by the Court in private.
One particular can clearly argue that this act by the Supreme Court clearly amounts to be a betrayal of the people’s judicial power as the Judiciary of this country workout routines people’s judicial energy on trust and not the judicial energy of the executive president in workplace.
This hasty choice generating, denying a fair opportunity to the people, becomes more severe as there is no urgency whatsoever and not even a date for such an election has been declared but by the government. The President of the Bar Association, Mr Upul Jayasuriya says that the ‘hearing’ on the matter has been concluded in a double swift time on the Presidents reference.
In this background the only hope for the individuals is that a future government would take corrective measures to restore the rule of law and great governance in this country and would take measures to deal appropriately with these who continue to abuse the Executive, Legislature or Judiciary Offices for improper considerations.
It is prudent to each and every Statesman to understand from the history. For instance, Adolf Hitler reestablished the pride of Germany as a nation following the World War I. And if he had ended his political career or died ahead of 1939, (ahead of the World War II), he would have been admired and respected as 1 of the greatest Statesmen in the German history, but endless craving for energy brought him down from a national hero to zero. The living instance is Burkina Faso exactly where the Executive President had tried for a third term and ultimately had to flee the nation to save his life.
What the President of Sri Lanka should contemplate is that he ought to leave all the good items he did for the nation given that his election to the Workplace to go into the history intact. Endless craving for energy only brings disaster for men and women as effectively as for their respective nations.
How can one forget the fate of our friendly nation Libya, purely because of the dismal failure on the part of Colonel Muammer Gadaffi to step down in the right time as a national hero!