General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and State Minister for Batik, Handloom Textiles and Local Apparel Dayasiri Jayasekara has expressed his party’s full support for the forthcoming constitutional amendment process and the process of drafting a new constitution.
The General Secretary said that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party has also appointed a Constitutional Amendment Committee and after the presentation of the draft constitutional amendment, its contents will be discussed in depth through the committee and the views of the party will be presented to the government.
The General Secretary of the SLFP stated this addressing a media briefing held at his official residence at Hector Kobbekaduwa Mawatha, Colombo yesterday (1).
Mr. Jayasekara also said that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party would extend its fullest support to the realization of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s ‘Vision of Prosperity’ policy statement.
Responding to a question raised by a journalist whether the 20th Amendment was aimed at targeting an individual person and whether the clauses relating to dual citizenship had been removed, Jayasekara said in the five years since the 19th Amendment was introduced, many shortcomings in the legislation have been noticed.
Mr. Jayasekara said that crises had arisen in the country, especially due to issues regarding the power of commissions such as the Election Commission and added that the country was destabilized by the creation of three authorities in the country, namely the President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker, and the internal power struggle between them.
The Minister said that such errors should be removed from the new amendment and that it has not been decided yet whether all the provisions of the 19th amendment will be changed or the shortcomings will be rectified while the positive aspects remain the same.
He added that once the draft is received, it will be discussed and a collective decision will be taken by the government. Also, when asked by a journalist whether the former President would get a new post, the Secretary General said that the Prime Minister had said that he should be given another post without being included in the Cabinet and that the former President had not asked for a post.
Courtesy: Colombo Page
