Java and I were mulling over the presidential possibilities – what with all the rumours going back and forth and the opposition thrashing around like headless chickens looking for an option to their likely prolonged stint in the political wilderness. The dialogue between Kushal Perera (here) and Mano Ganeshan (here) on Groundviews also added to the grist and we came up with the following, which if a candidate were to make part of his/her manifesto and pledge to uphold, we would unhesitatingly vote for.
For starters, pledge to make the moves to…
- Revise the constitution
- Abolish the presidency
- Get the Constitutional Council in place
- Get those amendments in there
- Sort out the ‘language issue’
- Make inciting violence against ethnic or religious groups a serious felony
- Slash the numbers in the cabinet to an acceptable/logical figure
- Cancel all security personnel for ministers and other government officials (if they can’t handle the heat they should get out of the kitchen, right?)
- Ban ministers and other government officials from hiring their relatives
- Free the roads of security barriers and checks
- Stop abusing power by shutting down roads for so-called VIP travel
- Free all political prisoners unless they are guilty of committing criminal offences
- Let all IDPs who are not charged with terrorist-related offences go home
- Prosecute all those who have been accused of felonies with evidence in support of the accusations
- Have a strict code of conduct for all ministers and government officials with penalties to be enforced for breaking it
and finally:
- Promise to sign a letter of resignation post-dated to one year from the date of taking office, in the event that he/she has not attempted to fulfill the pledges made.
Okay, so we are both aware that this is a rather simplistic list and there may be all sorts of legal implications and/or other factors that may get in the way, but IF a candidate were to sincerely pledge to uphold these promises, we would have no hesitancy of supporting and voting for him/her.
How about you? Feel free to add your suggestions. And maybe a more comprehensive list could be forwarded to the candidates for their reactions?