The need for change in the Parliamentary best practices in Sri Lanka was endorsed at the national forum organised by TISL and South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) held on Thursday, 16 February at the Galle Face Hotel. A representative gathering including Ministers, Members of Parliament, academics, activists and media participated.
The two Guests of Honour, Ministers DEW Gunasekera and Rauff Hakeem while accepting that there has been a decline in the standards of Parliamentary practice over the years, pointed out that it should be viewed in the context of a the current political culture and the socio-economic conditions.
Referring to the recommendations made in the Parliament Watch report, Minister Gunasekera said that while some were good and can be implanted, there were some which were “only dreams in the prevailing context of political culture.
Minister Gunasekera who stated that ours was vibrant democracy second to none in other parts of the world, admitted that unfortunately the picture has changed and some of the practices are either on the verge of decline or fast disappearing. Citing the election of the Speaker and an example, he said that in the early days, when once the Speaker was elected, he resigned from the political party he represented and became independent. Terming it as “a very good convention”, he reminded that however, several such independent Speakers ended in political wilderness.
He stressed on the need to improve the quality of debates in Parliament and said that the standard of speeches made even during the Budget debate are not up to standard. “Once a speaker who opened the budget debate spoke for one and a half hours, but the speech was totally unrelated to the Budget. The public gallery was full of university students who had come to learn something. What can they take home”, he asked.
He referred to the days when he used to stay in the queue and get a pass to the public gallery to come and listen to Dr N M Perera who used to open the Budget debate.”We had so much to learn”, he said.
Even an attempt by him to convince the Leader of the Opposition that the Budget debate should be taken seriously and the need to select good speakers who could contribute to the debate had failed, he said.
Admitting that at Question Time except for one or two ministers, others are not present to answer questions, he lamented that the whole burden then falls on the Chief Government Whip, who was not equipped to answer supplementary questions.
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In his opinion there were several factors for the deteriorating standards. The change of the constitutional framework to bring the Executive Presidency, consumerism which is the result of the liberalised economy , and the ethnic conflict and the 30-year war were cited by him as reasons.
Referring to the suggestion that meetings of COPE and other Committees should be open to the media and the public, Minister Gunasekera said that the standards of journalism has dropped to such a low level, that if \the media is allowed to report such meetings, it can result in anarchy. “There should be a balance between media freedom and media responsibility. There is no balance at all today”, he emphasised.
Minister Rauff Hakeem said that the decline in parliamentary systems is not an endemic problem but common to most countries and that it is connected to the evolution of parliamentary democracy. He felt the socio-economic factory had led to this situation.
He too endorsed the view that the introduction of the two Republican constitutions has also contributed to the standards declining. He also attributed the lowering of standards of Parliamentary debates to changes in the education system. “We have had to empower the periphery which had created problems,” he said.
He stressed the need for the separation of powers between the legislature, executive and the judiciary.
He expressed confidence in the fact that “We have a very vibrant civil society and a very mature media which we can be proud about.”
Need for constant monitoring
Welcoming the guests, TISL Executive Director, Dr Wijaya Jayatilaka said that most countries have robust systems that examine the functioning of the legislator based on which improvements are made and that this diagnosis is an inevitable requirement if people are to benefit consistently from this powerful and influential institution.
Adding that it is within the ideals of democracy that the legislator is examined, he pointed out that it is through review and analysis that we are able to identify areas for up-scaling or improvements for change.
“The ‘Parliament Watch’ project launched in South Asia is a similar effort. Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) supported by South Asians for Human Rights (SAHAR) has reviewed the functioning of the Sri Lanka Parliament in 2011 and we are gathered here to learn about the findings, to appreciate what is positive, and to identify methods of how best to improve and strengthen the Parliament,” he said.
“No parliament in the world is perfect. Perfection is an ideal we all strive to. Parliament, including its elected representatives, the administration, the citizens and other stakeholders, we hope will reflect on the findings and identify methods of improvements and commit to change management in a meaningful way,” Dr Jayatilaka further said. .
Best parliamentary practices in the South Asian region based on studies in six countries was presented at the forum. The countries covered are Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. A website titled ‘Our Parliament’ designed and operated by TISL also launched at the Forum.
Following the plenary session, panel discussions was held with the participation of several parliamentarians, civil society actors and senior journalists. ‘Citizen’s role in enhancing public access to Parliament’, ‘The role of parliamentarians in making Parliament more responsive to human rights’, and ‘The role of civil society & media in promoting transparency of Parliament’ were the topics of discussion.