Colombo, Constitutional Reform, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War

Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second term: Opportunities and challenges for constitutional reform

I interviewed recently Rohan Edrisinha, who lectures at the Law Faculty, University of Colombo. Along with a number of other issues related to prospects of meaningful constitutional reform in Sri Lanka during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second term in office, Rohan addressed the farrago of approaches by the Rajapakse administration towards the implementation of the 17th and 13th Amendments in particular and the fate of the APRC, now largely forgotten in the mêlée of presidential and parliamentary elections.

We also spoke in general about the nature of constitution making in Sri Lanka, as an exercise that does not involve the input of citizens and is often seen as used as an instrument of partisan politics.