Reform The Proposed 20a To Strengthen; Not Weaken, Transparent And Public Oversight

By abolishing the audit commission and exempting the President and Prime Minister’s offices from audit, the 20A will permit daylight robbery of public funds Now Chinese port authorities are trying to pressure local farmers to sell their land to make way for a Chinese industrial zone in Hambantota

- Shreen Saroor

Following parliamentary elections, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa wasted no time in obtaining cabinet approval and thereafter gazetting the proposed 20th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka. Many commentators have noted how the 20A as proposed will diminish parliamentary powers, erode judicial independence, and weaken independent commissions. But it is also critical for ordinary people—especially those who voted for the current government—to know that the proposed 20A will usher in an era of unchecked corruption shackling future generations. The President and the Prime Minister urge us that repeal of the 19A is necessary for economic development. What they don’t tell us is that the proposed reforms reduce transparency and oversight, at the expense of economic development. We can and must demand more from our elected leaders.

Passed in 2015, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution requires the Constitutional Council to appoint a qualified auditor as independent Auditor-General. The 20A empowers the President to appoint any person to this position in his sole discretion. Constitutional protection for the Audit Service Commission will disappear, and audits will no longer be required for the President and Prime Minister. [1] Whereas the 19A strengthened the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption by allowing it to initiate its own inquiries, the proposed 20A removes constitutional protection altogether, meaning the commission could be abolished by a simple majority vote in Parliament. Even if the Bribery commission remains, the 20A