The SAMAGI agreement against Executive Presidency

Friday, 23 August 2013 Category: General

The conventional public agreement regarding the abolition of the 18h amendment, re-instating the 17th amendment and thereby strengthening the independence of the state institutions, establishing a new constitution protecting the rights of all the people in the country, was signed by its parties today (22) in the evening. The agreement which Opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe along with other opposition

political leaders and civil organizations is as follows.. SAMAGI - An agreement for consensus. Although four years have elapsed since the end of the war, the entire island is sinking more and more into a grave political, economic and social crisis. While the democratic rights of all the people are being totally destroyed, the entire Sri Lankan society is rapidly decaying, falling prey to the awful plague of corruption, waste, bribery and nepotism. The deep aspirations of the people have been frustrated consequent to the breakdown and disappearance of the Rule of Law. Today, what rules our country is the dangerous law of the jungle of autocracy.. Most serious are the consequences of opportunistic and irresponsible governance resulting in our country being engulfed in the raging tornado of abject communalism and religious extremism. These dangerous developments impel us to urgently move towards a joint course of action. Such an endeavour has the well-being of the people as its principal goal which would initiate a fresh dialogue and avenue of struggle for building a new Sri Lanka. The necessity of looking afresh at all areas such as politics, culture, religion, community, economics has arisen today, more than at any other period. Today, it is our bounded duty, that in order to create a better human society to act in unison and cohesively, to launch a mass struggle, instead of being divided and struggling separately. The' Samagi Balavegaya is the giant banner which has been established for all political parties, people's organizations and individuals to fight against the spectre of dictatorship prevailing now in the country. The present government commenced their dictatorial journey by introducing the 18th amendment in 2010 and abolishing the independent commissions , established through the 17th

Amendment, to enable social justice and good governance. Through such systematic diabolical anti-democratic action, the sword of dictatorial repression was handed over to the Executive President. Today, while implementing his agenda for dictatorship, the rousing of communal passions which opposes even the granting of a modicum of division of power, is a consequence of the concentration of such unlimited power. In which ever country, when unlimited power is granted to the rulers, danger to the people and democracy is tremendous. Today, Sri Lanka has become a country that provides a good example of such a phenomena. In such a situation, the Executive President has now the strength, power and ability to unduly influence the Legislature and Judiciary, according to his whims and fancies. In such a context where democracy is being eroded, we fervently believe that the most urgent need of the day is to empower the 17th Amendment in order to secure and revive democracy. We believe that the Executive Presidency, which has placed the entire populace in a grave and dangerous situation, should be immediately abolished. Further, we will unanimously focus on the need to formulate a new constitution favorable to all communities and one which preserves and nurtures democracy, in place of the existing one which concentrates too much powers on one individual. We also hope to secure agreements with sections of the government who are concerned about the excessive powers of the executive Presidency. The system of government and constitution should be fashioned to create that necessary environment for all citizens to live with freedom and dignity, in a just society. This is the objective of 'Samagi' and in order to do so, we will work towards a new era of consensus. The prime and sole task of all of us living in such times is to strive towards this attainable goal aspired to by the great majority of the people. Our sole endeavour is to create a common platform, not only for political party members, but also for members of civil society, academics, trade unions, youth and student groups, women and housewives etc. Even apolitical individuals who are concerned about the direction the country is moving towards, and are in agreement with our 10 point plan can can unite under the broad and diverse banner of 'Samagi'. Our aim is build a broad 'Force for unity' not confined to a community, religion, caste or class, where all can unite under an agreement of consensus. We dedicate ourselves towards this goal. In the face of a systematic and a well planned attack against our democratic way of life by a small clique of power hungry and corrupt politicians , the silent majority cannot remain silent anymore. If we truly care about the future of our beautiful country, it is time we say loudly 'enough is enough' and fight for our principles and beliefs.. The journey towards a humane and just society has now begun!

10 Main Principles 01. Abolishing the Executive Presidency and establishing a Prime Minister and Cabinet responsible to Parliament. 02. Abolishing the 18th Amendment , re- adopting the 17th Amendment and strengthening the full independence of govt. institutions. 03. Protecting the rights of all national communities who consider Sri Lanka the Homeland and preserving their identity. 04. Abolishing the Preferential Voting System and thereby strengthening parliamentary democracy. 05. Strengthening the right to information and protection and the Freedom of Speech and Expression. 06. Re -establishing the Rule of Law and the independence of the Judiciary. 07. Strengthening Laws to control the manage the cost of living, and against corruption 08. Protecting welfare measures including free education and free health services. 09. Introducing a Peoples' Oriented Development Programme, as opposed to one which is beneficial to the rulers, minimizing the gap between the have and have nots. 10. As a basic step towards the restoration of good governance, through the implementation of the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LL R C), ensuring the sovereignty of all communities, thereby consolidating the independence of the country. Hereby pledge to engage with maximum effort and dedication to implement the aforementioned aims based on the 10 Main Principles. We all hereby pledge and declare that we will honestly dedicate ourselves to this noble task, and protect these Principles with our lives, and hereby enlist the unstinted support of all Sri Lankans in their implementation. Pix - Ajith senaviratne