(UDHAYAM, COLOMBO) – The first Interim Report on the draft of a new Constitution will be presented to Parliament by August this year, said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Addressing the Conference on Constitutional Reforms held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) on Wednesday (28), Chairman of the Constitutional Assembly Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe said that there is a difference between the Draft Constitution Bill and the report on the Constitution.
“What we have engaged now is preparing a report on the Constitution”, the Premier said.
The report can be used, publicised and public opinion sought and then a debate will take place. Once the debate is over we can send a full report to Parliament and debate how the Draft Constitution should be prepared. It is a long process that will build the consent not divisions.
“The steering committee appointed six sub committees to deal with different matters. Sub committees consulted all stakeholders and submitted the report. Now the steering committee has to submit the report. The report will be submitted by the end of August.” he said.
“We have accepted that the sovereignty of the people and the Parliament’s right to enact legislation subject to it being approved by a referendum in certain instances which will be decided by the Supreme Court,” the Premier said.
He said Parliament is responsible for enacting laws. The Constituent Assembly is a committee of the house which will sit and prepare a draft Constitution. That is a stage of discussion where we are involved. The resolution itself says where we obtain the views of the public and thereafter give the power to enact a draft Constitution. All the discussions take place in the Constituent Assembly.
“The final authority on Constitution making is the people. Somebody has complained that the public has not yet participated in the Constitution drafting process. Yes that is true because the matter has not yet come to the constituent assembly. The steering committee has to determine the business of the constituent assembly and it also has to prepare a report on the Constitution,” he said.
“We have been able to bridge the gap and reach the consensus in many issues. There are some areas which still we have different opinions. We decided that when we send the report even in some instances refer to different options. We only sending the first Interim Report where we have agreement in some there are agreement in principle but there are options on the principle itself.” said the Prime Minister.
He further added that this is different from earlier steering committee which gave first principles of Constitution followed by report and the draft. So all the differences then emerged in the steering committee. When the report was debated and the sections of the report were debated in the steering committee there after the draft bill was debated.
“Earlier the select committee report was submitted along with the draft and divisions and arguments took place. What we want to send to Parliament is not a report that will not divide the house. In many areas we have reached consensus. Now there is only one division where the Chief Ministers want more power. We all agreed that the state cannot be divided and sovereignty lies in the people.
“There is no proposal to take away the foremost place of Buddhism and all religions have the freedom and that will not be subjected to pressure. Discussions were held during last two weeks between the major political parties, the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) with regard to devolution. We will meet next week to decide the procedure and how we go ahead and how we prepare the report. There are areas still that have to be finalised. We will decide the system of election, validity of law,” Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said.
Former Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa Judge Moseneke, Deputy Chairman of the Constitutional Assembly Thilaga Sumathipala, Ministers, Parliamentarians, Chief Ministers of the Provincial Councils were present.