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Draft 21A presented to party leaders

24 May 2022

  • Revisions to be taken up this week, Cabinet to discuss again next week 
The draft 21st Amendment to the Constitution Bill was presented to the Cabinet of Ministers on Monday (23) by Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs, and Constitutional Reforms Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe PC, and has been sent to all party leaders representing Parliament, seeking their views on it.  “The draft 21st Amendment to the Constitution Bill was presented to the Cabinet on Monday. It will be given to all party leaders in Parliament, and ideas and revisions pertaining to it will be taken up this week. We hope to end those discussions this week and discuss in the Cabinet again next week,” Cabinet Spokesman and Minister of Transport and Highways and Mass Media Dr. Bandula Gunawardana said at the weekly press briefing held yesterday (24) to announce Cabinet decisions.  Meanwhile, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has raised concerns to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe about the draft 21st Amendment to the Constitution Bill.  “The BASL is concerned that while the 21st Amendment to the Constitution draft Bill will restore provisions of the previous 19th Amendment to the Constitution, there are several vital provisions which were found in the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that are not incorporated in the 21st Amendment to the Constitution draft Bill,” a BASL letter on Monday to Wickremesinghe said. Therefore, the BASL has proposed a number of additions to the draft Bill, key among them being to remove the power of the President to retain Ministries and assign themselves any subjects or functions, and to restore the provision in the 19th Amendment to the Constitution regarding the dissolution of Parliament, which the President can, per the latter Amendment, only do so after four-and-a-half years, after a Parliamentary Election.  Reportedly, the draft Bill has reinstated some of the provisions of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, whilst adding a number of other provisions related to an Audit Service Commission, the Procurement Commission, and Parliamentary oversight in the appointment of the Governor of the Central Bank.  The 20th Amendment to the Constitution was passed with a two-thirds majority in the Parliament in 2020, repealing the progress made by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in its attempts to curtail the powers of the Executive President. Controversially, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution also allowed dual citizens to enter Parliament and hold public office, which saw the entry of former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa to Parliament in 2021. The 21st Amendment to the Constitution is expected to repeal this clause.  The 21st Amendment to the Constitution Bill was drafted by a committee led by Wickremesinghe and Rajapakshe PC.


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