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Health professionals’ group seeks referendum on Constitutional changes 

01 Jul 2022

 
  • Launches public petition to gather signatures 
  • To commence food banks in villages 
  BY Dinitha Rathnayake    The National Movement of Health Professionals (NMHP) has launched a public petition requesting a referendum to introduce nine fundamental changes to the Constitution. Speaking to The Morning, NMHP Convener Ravi Kumudesh said that the fundamental changes to the Constitution that are sought, include enshrining United Nations (UN)-based human rights (HR); accepting diversity (racial, gender, religious, disability); having an independent Judiciary, Police, civil administration, and Election Commission (EC); limiting the maximum tenure of all elected positions to four years; social responsibility for pregnant females and mothers, the elderly, children, and the disabled; zero tolerance for bribery and corruption; for the country to be a non-aligned, secular, liberal, democracy; abolishing the Executive Presidency; establishing a common “Sri Lankan” identity; and ensuring equal rights for all citizens. “All Sri Lankans must come together at this point, irrespective of caste, creed, ethnicity, gender, or colour, to rescue us. Currently, there is more than a 95% approval rating for all items in this petition. Our target is one million signatures. We have an ideology to promote learning, to educate, and to assess and decide on whatever we do, and then Sri Lanka can thrive in its former peaceful glory in a very short time. If you follow the above principles, you are one of us. We have a major economic crisis, mainly due to long-term mismanagement, but we can recover at least if we can do the right thing at the right time, now. We need to discuss and learn, but we also need action in parallel.” He also said that the country is in a disaster situation and needs initial methods for survival, which is why they consider it as their social responsibility to promote food banks in villages to feed very young children and pregnant females and feeding mothers for a start. The NMHP also wants to encourage small entrepreneur projects to teach young people how to do a productive business to help the country and themselves. The NMHP has already started young people on driving a project to produce charcoal for local stoves in order to come out of the dependence on gas.


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