Groundviews

Strange proposals and broken promises: Constitutional reform in Sri Lanka

We last featured Rohan Edrisinha in February, just after the Presidential election on 26th January. Rohan, who lectures at the Law Faculty, University of Colombo and also a Director at the Centre for Policy Alternatives, at the time flagged serious concerns over the implementation of the 13th and 17th Amendments, as well as the tragic irrelevance of the APRC in the process of constitutional reform.

These are also issues flagged in this video, where Rohan expresses his impatience with ideas such as the post of an Executive Prime Minister, which he notes is not just confusing, but dangerous to boot since it actually enhances the powers of the President. Lamenting the inability of the UNP to come up with any viable constitutional reform proposals, Rohan also flags the dilemma of Tamil political parties in parliament and the future of power-sharing in Sri Lanka. The ‘final report’ of the APRC, first published on Groundviews, is also discussed.

Rohan ends on a thought-provoking note, suggesting that many within government are privately frustrated with the concentration of so much power and control in the hands of the Rajapaksa triumvirate.

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