Power devolved only within a unitary state- Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris

“Devolution of power is an essential pre-requisite for safeguarding human freedom but that has to be carried out in a balanced, calculated and innovative manner.”

“Such as a scheme of devolution would never pose a threat to the territorial integrity of a country as some people tried to asset,” said Prof. G. L. Peiris, Minister of Export Development and International Trade, delivering the keynote address at a special meeting held to enlighten the Maha Sangha on the Devolution of Power and the 13th Amendment.

“Of course when planning and deciding on the parameters of such a scheme, one should device a suitable mechanism that would take into account the local economic, social and cultural factors,” Minister Peiris said.

The meeting that was held at the BMICH had been organised by the Government of Switzerland along with the Sri Lanka Dialogue Forum.

Prof. Peiris said that when one scanned societies with different communities living together, with different linguistic traditions and social and cultural backgrounds, one inescapable observation would be that their consistent attempts to devolve power through their respective constitutions.

“Though the formats differed widely, each country had striven to mould a system that related to the realities that were present in those societies. A model that functioned quite satisfactorily in one country would not necessarily work well in some other place. Thus the challenge would be to adapt the positive features prevalent on a variety of such models to suit the local conditions relating to economic, social and cultural factors.”

“Referring to the 13th Amendment contained in the Sri Lankan Constitution, Prof. Peiris said that there were three lists referring to subjects that come under the Central Government, the Provincial Government and those administered jointly by both institutions.”

“Large-scale projects and the administration of justice could fall into that latter category though these lists were not cast in stone. The responsibility for these subjects could be allocated to any list depending on the social needs of that society.”

Prof. Peiris said that according to French Philosopher Baron de Montesquieu, who introduced the theory of the devolution of power he said it was necessary to safeguard human freedom. Freedom would never blossom at a place where executive, legislative and judiciary powers were concentrated.

“The United States Constitution was based on this theory and a fine balance have to be established among these three sectors to achieve the basic objective of a Constitution which was the perpetuation of human freedom. It’s clear to everybody that power had been devolved under the 13th Amendment only within a unitary state.”

“The litmus test would be that any judicial decision given anywhere else in the country could be challenged at the Supreme Court in Colombo. If such a process was non-existent then no one would be able to cling to the concept of one united country,” the Minister said.

Prof. Peiris said that in certain quarters a view had been expressed that extended devolution would pave the way for Eelam. But power had been devolved under the 13th Amendment for the past 20 years but it had certainly not led to the creation of a separate state.

Earlier Britain was regarded as the prime example of a unitary state. But in recent times asymmetrical devolution had taken place in relation to certain parts of the country such as Scotland due to historical reasons. Another such example was Quebec Province in Canada.

The size of a country too was not a factor in the consideration for devolution. Small countries such as Switzerland and Belgium had done so and it had in turn contributed immensely to their progress.

Prof. Peiris said that in the context of the devolution of power to the provinces, the office of the Executive Presidency gained much importance as it was the symbol of unity of the country and it was the President’s responsibility to keep all the provinces together as one country.

It’s the institution that safeguarded the unitary status of the country. Similar executive presidencies functioned in countries such as the United States, Philippines, France and Korea.

Quoting the late President J. R. Jayewardene at the time he introduced the concept of the Executive Presidency to Parliament, Prof. Peiris said that it was necessary if a country was to achieve progress within a stipulated period.”

“Such a President would be able to boldly implement any decision without subjecting himself to the political vagaries. At that instance President Jayewardene presented the example of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yu and the development that had taken place in Singapore,” he said.

Prof. Peiris said that the judicial immunity granted to an Executive President was also the result of such thinking though there had been some criticism on the subject.

“The implementation of the 13th Amendment too was also criticised mainly due to the fact that it was never properly implemented in the very area it was intended to be and the colossal amounts of expenditure associated with its implementation.”

“Now the situation had changed somewhat with the establishment of the Eastern Provincial Council and the Government too had decided to implement the 13th Amendment in full.”

He also referred to the on-going discourse on a frame and structure for devolution within the Sri Lankan polity. He said that the devolution of power at the primary level could be justified with the theme of ‘bringing Government closer to the people’.