ජනාධිපතිනියගේ මුක්තිය සීමා කිරීම
The proposed constitutional amendment would limit the President’s immunity, which Ivan welcomes. He argues that a head of state who commits crimes, fraud or wilful breaches of the constitution should be liable to prosecution and lose office on conviction without impeachment, noting that the President ignored the 17th Amendment and used her security staff against opponents under the shelter of immunity.
පී.එස්.ඩී.යට රජ සැලකිලි
Ivan details favours the President granted to her Presidential Security Division. Its director Nihal Karunaratne was promoted to Superintendent of Police without the required EBE examination through two Cabinet papers, and seven chosen PSD men were given luxury flats in a state-owned Bambalapitiya tower rent free, costing the state Rs 2.6 million a year. He calls this corruption.
ජනාධිපතිනිය චෙක්මේට් වීමට ආසන්නයි
Ivan argues that Chandrika Kumaratunga ruled as a hereditary queen rather than an elected leader, flouted the 17th Amendment in the 2001 election she led, and should have resigned or sought a fresh mandate, or stepped back as D.B. Wijetunga did. Now she is cornered, and he predicts the crisis will cost her the presidency and the Bandaranaikes their hold on the SLFP, and says punishing PA-era crimes, though double-edged, is worthwhile.
ජනාධිපතිනියත් නීතිය ඉදිරියට පමුණුවාලිය යුතුය
Ivan argues that presidential immunity assumes a leader will not commit crimes, and that one who does must face the law. He questions how Chandrika Kumaratunga funds her lifestyle, calls the Air Lanka sale to Emirates, brokered by her friend Chandana Silva, corrupt, and links her security forces to the killings of Kumar Ponnambalam and Rohana Kumara, the attack on singers Rookantha Gunathilake and Chandraleka, the burning of Anoja Weerasinghe’s house and body parts sent to Ravi Karunanayake. He urges an impartial commission.
මාළිගා විවාදය යළි කරලියට
A long reply by presidential media director Janadasa Peiris to a report that Rs 800 million had been spent on the site of a planned presidential palace has revived the controversy. The editorial notes what he leaves out about the Temple Trees renovation, including a swimming pool and mini-cinema, and about repairs to President’s House, and observes that earlier leaders from S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike to Ranasinghe Premadasa lived in their own homes, a tradition Chandrika Kumaratunga broke.
විය හැකි දේ සහ විය යුතු දේ
Written on the eve of the local government elections, Ivan sets out what each side must prove against the 2001 results, and says a sharp JVP decline could mark the beginning of its end. He praises the government’s comparatively clean campaign, proposes reforming the executive presidency by removing the arbitrary dissolution power and simplifying removal of a president, and argues that Prabhakaran, like Mandela, could become a stronger leader by abandoning arms.
17 වැනි සංශෝධනයට කොකා පෙන්නීම
Ivan explains that the 17th Amendment gives the Constitutional Council power over the independent commissions and top appointments, yet the President has still not named her nominee despite Article 41(5). He argues that she is protecting her hold over the Chief Justice, Attorney General, IGP and Bribery Commission, since a council would weaken her defence against impeachment and against the Padiyapelella rocket-launcher case linked to a plot to kill S.B. Dissanayake.
පාර්ලිමන්ට් ජෝක්ස් නවතම රංගනය මැඩම් චන්ද්රිකාගෙන්
Reports say the President will attend the budget debate and that there is a question over where she will sit. Ivan notes that under Article 33 of the 1978 Constitution a President may enter Parliament only to present policy, make a special statement or preside at a ceremonial sitting, and only in the chair. She has already broken this by presenting a budget as Finance Minister and a constitution from a minister’s seat, unopposed by the UNP, and he warns the Constitution is becoming a comedy.
උරුමයේ කරුමය
Ivan agrees with Anura Bandaranaike that the SLFP is a Bandaranaike family fiefdom in which Mahinda Rajapaksa is only a capable retainer, but warns that the country is not a fiefdom too. Further sections mock the ‘jobless’ President’s prison visit to her guards at Bogambara and her complaint that cabinet meetings drive her mad, note an unrevealed secret Mangala Samaraweera told S.B. Dissanayake, and describe how powerful remand prisoners end up in hospital rather than cells.
සාමයේ අනාගතය
As the President and the JVP line up against the government’s ceasefire memorandum of understanding with the LTTE, Ivan says Ranil Wickremesinghe misjudged her willingness to cooperate and failed to adapt the 1978 Constitution for cohabitation, as France did in 1986. He proposes constitutional reform giving domestic power to the Prime Minister, and urges that the chance for peace be seized after 18 years of war that neither side can win.