19A controversy: Jayampathy Wickramaratne responds to President’s accusation

President’s Counsel Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne has revealed that during the drafting of the 19th Constitutional Amendment, the terms of the President and the Parliament were proposed to be reduced from six to five years, however, the decision was made to retain the possibility of extending these terms to six years, as any further changes would necessitate a referendum.               

Dr. Wickramaratne stated this in a statement released today (20) in response to the public apology made by President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday (19) for the alleged oversight involving the senior attorney.

In his statement, President’s Counsel Dr. Wickramaratne points out that the former government took the decision that the entire drafting process of the 19th Amendment should be carried out on the basis that the Bill should not be placed for approval at a referendum, in keeping with then President Maithripala Sirisena’s electoral pledge.

He added that while the terms of the President and Parliament were proposed to be reduced from six to five years, the upper limit of six years was not touched as that would require a referendum.

In addition, he stated that Article 83 of the Constitution mandates that a Bill that seeks to amend or is inconsistent with particular Articles listed or the said upper limits would be required to be passed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament and approved by people at a referendum. He noted that it is essential to note that Article 83 itself is included in the list of provisions requiring a referendum.

He further stated that several drafts prepared were all shared and discussed with the Cabinet sub-committee and the draft which was approved by the sub-committee was sent to the Legal Draftsman who took over as required by law and made some changes.

The President’s Counsel stated that then Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had several meetings with the Attorney General and several changes had to be made to the Bill because of the Attorney General’s stance.

Accordingly, then Prime Minister Wickremesinghe presented the Bill to Parliament and when it was challenged in the Supreme Court, the Attorney General argued on behalf of the Government that no provision required a referendum. He stated that the clauses that the Supreme Court held to require a referendum were either amended or withdrawn in Parliament.

Furthermore, in the statement, Dr. Wickremeratne stated that he regret that President Wickremesinghe had thought it fit to place the entire blame on him for not reducing the upper limits of the President’s and Parliament’s terms.

He reiterated that the entire amendment process was based on avoiding a referendum following President Sirisena’s pledge at the Presidential election.

However, yesterday, during an inauguration event of a new court complex in Beligaha, Galle, President Wickremesinghe stated that not amending Article 83 of the 19th Amendment was a lapse on Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne’s part, due to his inexperience in drafting constitutional amendments.

In the meantime, Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said the President ordered the publication of the gazette with regard to the 22nd Amendment since it already received the parliament approval, and that it will not affect the upcoming presidential election. 

During a press conference held today, the Justice Minister stated that however, releasing a gazette publication in this background can lead to confusion and doubt among the citizens. “That is the only issue we had”, he added.

“My opinion is that the current situation is not suitable for this publication. However, President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s opinion was that publication could be done since we already had the approval of the Parliament”, said Wijeyadasa.

“However, this new amendment won’t affect the presidential elections and it will be held at the right time. This is not a critical situation that should cause any outrage”, he said