Constitutional amendments:

No reason for UNP to oppose

Rasika SOMARATHNA

The Government yesterday said that they saw no valid reason for the UNP to oppose the envisaged constitutional amendments as they were done with the intention of accelerating development, strengthening political stability and ensuring people’s sovereignty.

Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena told the media that the UNP had created the present constitution in 1978 and the intention of the Government through the present amendments was to make it more pro-democratic.

The envisaged changes have been done, taking into consideration 32 years of experience under the present constitution. One of the primary objectives is to clear obstacles which are in the way of development, he added.

Minister Susil Premajayantha joining said the changes to the 17th amendment which would replace the Constitutional Council with a five-member Parliamentary Council would help to make the State sector more efficient.

He was of the view that the hastily brought in CC had caused many delays and snags when making key appointments to the State sector as well as conducting investigations into mis-conduct by officials.

Referring to a statement made by the JVP which claimed that they would resort to protests over the proposed changes Minister Sirisena said that the JVP should act in an intelligent manner instead of resorting to unreasonable acts.

The Minister noted that as the changes were pro-growth oriented the UNP had a responsibility to support the endeavour.