Issues in Devolution of Power in Sri Lanka

11 Oct, 2001    ·   606

K Sarveswaran analyses the new Bill introduced by the government on devolution and points out its shortcomings
Within Sri Lanka there has been a debate on devolution, both inside and outside the parliament. The Government has introduced a new Bill which, because of inherent problems, would gain less support from the Tamil community. 

 

 

The main issue stems from the fact that the new Bill fails to mention whether Sri Lanka would be a unitary or a federal state. It is stated in the Bill that “The Republic of Sri Lanka is one, free, sovereign and independent state consisting of the Centre and of the regions which shall exercise power as laid down in the Constitution.” This ambiguity in the nature of the state is deliberate and would not resolve the ethnic crisis between the two communities. Devolution of powers – constitutionally and practically – is not possible unless the federal nature of the Sri Lankan state is explicitly stated.

 

 

Besides, the new Bill also does not approve the merger of the North and Eastern provinces. The Tamil demand, for a federal system initially and later for a separate state, envisaged the Northern and Eastern provinces as a single unified political, administrative and territorial unit. Since 1987, the Northern and Eastern Provinces were administrated as one unit. But the present Bill fails to accommodate this long-standing demand of the Tamils for Constitutional unification.  Even though the Bill extended temporary unification for another nine years, permanent unification requires a referendum. Hence this matter would continue to be a potential threat for any durable peace in the future. 

 

 

The present Bill talks about a system of regional government, namely the Executive Committee System. According to this system, once vote counting is over the Election Commissioner will announce the number of ministers each political party or independent groups are entitled to have. This will be based on the proportion of votes gained by each party out of the total valid votes polled. The Governor would then appoint the Chief Minister from the party securing absolute majority; the rest would form committees under a Board of Ministers. The Executive Committee System offers a compulsory coalition government where ideologically opposed parties may be forced to work together. This would obviously affect the smooth functioning of the Board of Ministers. Moreover, such a system would obviously reduce the power of the Chief Minister. Considering the political culture and nature of the party system one can foresee the failure of the Regional Council. 

 

 

Next issue is that of the police power. The domination of the Centre is evident in the powers granted to the regional police force. The Bill speaks of a Constitutional Council quite obviously dominated by the Centre with mostly Sinhala representatives belonging to the majoritarian parties like the UNP and SLFP. The Bill further speaks of a five-member Regional Police Commission of whom two members shall be appointed by the Chief Minister and three shall represent the three communities appointed by the Governor nominated by the Council. The Commission would be in charge of all police matters. Though police power is one of the devolved subjects, its functioning is de facto dominated by the Centre. Apart from limiting the powers of the devolved unit this could, in future, lead to a rift in Centre-state relations.

 

 

Finally, power would be divided between a ‘Reserved’ list for the Centre and a ‘Regional’ list for the devolved unit. Eighty-six subjects would be retained by the Centre and sixty-five subjects devolved to the region. Out of the sixty-five subjects in the ‘Regional’ list, substantial portions of important subjects such as education and health would be retained by the Centre in the name of “National Policy.”  This indicates that the nature of devolution does not fulfil the aim that it sets out to achieve. 

 

 

To conclude, for a genuine devolution of power a federal set up is the need of the hour. Considering the volatility of the Sri Lankan conflict, any solution to the issue should address the core issue in no uncertain terms. The mistrust that has developed over the years cannot be wished away by a wavering approach. 

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