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by Sarathchandra Rajakaruna, Member of Parliament for Gampaha District.

Speech delivered on the occasion of India's Independence Day celebrations.

I must begin by thanking you for the honour of inviting Hon. Speaker of Sri Lanka, Mr. Joseph Michael Perera and myself to attend this most important conference. I consider it a great privilege to be present here on the historic occasion of the independence celebrations of India particularly because of the close relationship between both our countries.

Sri Lanka too gained Independence at the same time and we have since then functioned under a culture of Parliamentary democracy, each unique in its own way. India has had a constitution which has been amended so many times while Sri Lanka has had these different constitutions since independence.

We all know that effectiveness of the Parliamentary system lies in the extent to which it exercises supervision over the Executive. Parliament should be able to exercise adequate supervision over the government without stifling Executive initiative. There are marked differences between India and Sri Lanka in this respect. Sri Lanka has an executive President who also heads the Cabinet. The position of the President in relation to Parliament in Sri Lanka I must say is a bit confusing.

Article 42 states that the President is answerable to Parliament. However, Article 32 (2) states that upon assumption of office as President he shall, if he is a Member of Parliament vacate his seat in Parliament. Yet another provision (viz. Article 32 (3)) states that the President shall by virtue of his office have the right at any time to attend, address and send messages to Parliament.

In the past the President has delivered the statement of Government policy, the annual Appropriation Bill and also the Draft Constitution. But he has never been called upon to personally answer any queries the performance of his functions. This is one matter on which the Hon. Prime Minister is seeking to strengthen Parliament by amending the Standing Orders and making provision for the President to answer in Parliament.

Another feature that needs attention is the fact that in most Parliaments the ability to recall Parliament during an adjournment or prorogation rests either with the Prime Minister or the President. Therefore, the only person who can recall Parliament may be the very person the Parliament hopes to scrutinise.

This is a major shortcoming and it is necessary for Parliament to formulate a method whereby it could be summoned without requiring the concurrence of the Prime Minister or the President.

Speaking through my long years of experience as a Member of Parliament I feel that technological and scientific advances have so altered the pace of things that Parliament is often denied its right to scrutinise the disbursement of public funds. Scrutiny of public finance is a sacred duty of Parliament. Today we live in an era of privatisation and increased participation of the private sector in the national economy.

Countries like ours are also increasingly looking forward to capital investment from foreign sources. It is in this background that we must make every effort to ensure that Parliament does not lose its grip on the national economy.

There should be complete freedom for the Parliament to scrutinise government contracts and probe any secret clauses they might caution. Corruption is also a major problem facing many of our countries.

It is something that transcends national borders and most big time criminals deposit their ill-gotten gains beyond their national boundaries thus effectively putting such monies beyond the reach of national parliaments.

Every country should be persuaded to refrain from providing facilities to deposit black money coming from other countries and we must unite to ensure that countries which provide a safe heaven for proceeds of corruption should have no claim to be legitimate members of the international community on nations.

International law has made many advances on subjects like genocide, hijacking and piracy and it is time that corruption is placed on the same footing, and treated with due seriousness. It is up to us to draw anti-corruption treaties and to enact legislation in our Parliaments in order to ratify the same.

In conclusion, I must emphasise that all steps should be taken to introduce and implement reforms where necessary, in order to secure greater executive accountability by Parliaments.

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