Colombo: Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Sunday that his government was working to have a president and cupboard Street protests after weeks of country’s worst demonstrations, accountable to parliament Economic Crisis in decades.
Hit hard by pandemic, rising oil prices and populist tax cuts, Sri Lanka Is facing heavy inflation and shortage of fuel and other essentials, prompting the resignation of the former prime minister Mahinda Rajapakse And this month his cabinet.
Wickremesinghe said his government has proposed enacting legislation to give more power to Parliament, adding that over a dozen independent committees would be set up to oversee parliamentary oversight and financial matters.
In his televised address, Wickremesinghe said, “According to the new system we have proposed, the President will be held accountable to Parliament. The cabinet of ministers is also answerable to Parliament.”
The proposal may take several weeks to be approved, as it needs to be accepted by the cabinet and the Supreme Court, after which Parliament’s approval will be sought.
President Gotabaya Rajapakse And months after his brother Mahinda took power in 2020 with a two-thirds majority, he rolled back a series of electoral, police and financial reforms implemented by the previous government.
Opposition leaders accused the Rajapaksa government of disproportionately increasing the president’s powers and reducing the role of parliament in lawmaking.
Wickremesinghe, who took office more than two weeks ago, has indicated that inflation will rise as the government’s handling of the crisis, and there could be more protests in the streets.
Critics say Wickremesinghe’s proposed political reforms fall short of expectations and do not meet the protesters’ key demands, including the abolition of executive powers of the presidency.
“The proposal before the cabinet is still giving too much power to the president. He will still be able to hold ministries, disband and dissolve parliament,” said Bhavani Fonseca, senior researcher at the Colombo-based Center for Policy Alternatives.
“While this brings some power sharing, it is not enough,” Fonseca said.
Hit hard by pandemic, rising oil prices and populist tax cuts, Sri Lanka Is facing heavy inflation and shortage of fuel and other essentials, prompting the resignation of the former prime minister Mahinda Rajapakse And this month his cabinet.
Wickremesinghe said his government has proposed enacting legislation to give more power to Parliament, adding that over a dozen independent committees would be set up to oversee parliamentary oversight and financial matters.
In his televised address, Wickremesinghe said, “According to the new system we have proposed, the President will be held accountable to Parliament. The cabinet of ministers is also answerable to Parliament.”
The proposal may take several weeks to be approved, as it needs to be accepted by the cabinet and the Supreme Court, after which Parliament’s approval will be sought.
President Gotabaya Rajapakse And months after his brother Mahinda took power in 2020 with a two-thirds majority, he rolled back a series of electoral, police and financial reforms implemented by the previous government.
Opposition leaders accused the Rajapaksa government of disproportionately increasing the president’s powers and reducing the role of parliament in lawmaking.
Wickremesinghe, who took office more than two weeks ago, has indicated that inflation will rise as the government’s handling of the crisis, and there could be more protests in the streets.
Critics say Wickremesinghe’s proposed political reforms fall short of expectations and do not meet the protesters’ key demands, including the abolition of executive powers of the presidency.
“The proposal before the cabinet is still giving too much power to the president. He will still be able to hold ministries, disband and dissolve parliament,” said Bhavani Fonseca, senior researcher at the Colombo-based Center for Policy Alternatives.
“While this brings some power sharing, it is not enough,” Fonseca said.