Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa widened his attack on the proposed 22nd Amendment on Monday, arguing for the first time that it carries an economic cost as well as a constitutional one.
If foreign investors come to see the judiciary as subject to executive influence, prospective investment in the country could be severely affected, he said, according to Ada Derana. He made the remarks at an executive committee meeting of the Samagi Vanitha Balawegaya held at Naula in the Matale District.
The government is trying to turn the judiciary into a tool of the President and the Executive through the amendment, he said, causing serious damage to judicial independence. He alleged the amendment would undermine the democratic rights, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly of 22 million people, steering the country towards authoritarian rule.
Articles 3, 4 and 83
Speaking to party activists the same day, Premadasa urged them to raise their political literacy to understand what is at stake, the Daily Mirror reported. He told them to read articles 3, 4 and 83 of the Constitution.
“The hidden agenda behind the 22nd amendment is to vest all powers with a single person. One has to understand this fact.”
Those three articles are not an arbitrary selection. Article 3 vests sovereignty in the people, article 4 sets out how that sovereignty is exercised through the legislature, executive and judiciary, and article 83 is the entrenchment clause requiring that any bill inconsistent with article 3 be approved at a referendum as well as by a two-thirds majority.
Citing them is therefore the legal scaffolding for the demand Premadasa made a day earlier, when he asked President Anura Kumara Dissanayake why a referendum is not considered necessary for the 22nd Amendment when the parties now in government demanded one for the 20th Amendment from opposition. The President has said the government will table and pass the amendment as soon as the Supreme Court determination is received.
The Daily Mirror did not name the venue for the activists’ meeting, and neither outlet says whether it was the same Naula gathering Ada Derana describes.
Broken promises
Premadasa also returned to the government’s record, saying it has failed to deliver election-campaign promises including cuts to electricity tariffs and fuel at concessionary prices, while reducing welfare support such as Aswesuma.
A third consecutive day
This is the third day running that the Opposition Leader has made the 22nd Amendment his main theme, after Lunugamvehera on Saturday and the Raththota meeting and UN Resident Coordinator approach on Sunday. The amendment, which alters the retirement age of judges and related judicial appointments, drew more than 30 petitions to the Supreme Court and has been opposed by the Bar Association and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Two petitioners have separately gone to the Supreme Court over its alleged failure to hear a challenge to the bill.
Not reported
Neither outlet reports a government response to the foreign-investment claim, and neither cites any investor, chamber or ratings agency raising the judiciary as a concern. Neither says when the Supreme Court determination is expected.
