A Much Needed Social Requirement
- Code of Ethics for legislators
By Upul Kumarapperuma
An absurd looking fish called the Tank Cleaner or Scavenger Fish has become a permanent member and is a common sight in a domestic fish tank. The Tank Cleaner is entrusted with the most serious task of cleaning and maintaining the beauty of the tank which is always ruined by the much attracted other inhabitants of its’ environment. The role of this unsung hero is never taken to account during its’ lifetime hence it is covered with the glamour and the glitter of the other beauties who are instrumental in ruining that environment.
If one compares the role of the legislature and the society with the fish tank and the scavenger fish, the conclusion that could be arrived on the role of Law Makers and the society has been transferred mutually in comparison with the life of the fish tank.
The Constitution is the foundation law of the country, where Article 4 of the Constitution deals with the exercising of the people’s sovereignty. Article 4(a) states, “the legislative power of the people shall be exercised by Parliament, consisting of elected representatives of the people and the people at a referendum.”
If this article is simplified, the meaning and the intention of the article is that the people of the country select a group of their representatives for the purpose of making laws and policies for the governance of the society. In other words, the selected representatives provide the power to the regulatory bodies of the country for the smooth running of the society. Therefore these representatives are identified as Law Makers and their gathering point is known as the Parliament.
The term ‘Law Maker’ is not uncommon in most of developed democracies and it is part of the vocabulary of their media and the society. If we take the term ‘Law Maker’ in the local context, it is very rare in Sri Lankan vocabulary. Even the media is reluctant to use the term whether deliberately or unconsciously.
There is a minimum qualification required for any of the employment provided by the government or private sector. Even a labourer in the state sector needs to fulfill a minimum eligibility criteria and a disciplinary code is in operation to govern them. Whilst a minimum qualification is demanded even for a minor position in the state sector, a qualification has never been demanded for Law Makers except the pleasure of the people of the country and they are exempted from disciplinary control, since the legislature has never implemented rules of discipline for their own people.
There is a serious discussion taking place in the society on this issue due to a series of events that have surfaced on the conduct of so called Law Makers. During the past two decades, there are a number of allegations and court proceedings instituted against these so called Law Makers. There are suspects and those accused of Corruption, Bribery, Extortion, Theft, Criminal Breach of Trust, Murder, Rape, and misusing public property including state funds, still involved in the process of law making and policy planning. They hold their prestigious positions with the blessings and the pleasure of the people.
When considering the deterioration of the quality of the Law Makers, the general belief is that is due to the preferential voting system, where money has become the main criteria to make achievements at an election. The political pundits have also endorsed this phenomenon and started to exert pressure on the executive and demanded to change the electoral system. As a result, the Maithripala Sirisena government has haphazardly drafted a piece of legislation which is more or less a mixture of the preferential system and Westminster system. The minority parties and ethnic minorities of the country have raised serious objections to the said bill on the basis that it has been settled with the ulterior motive of eradicating the voice of the minorities and strengthening the Sinhala Buddhist dominancy.
The Leader of the JVP, Anura Kumara Dissanayake commented on the new bill and said the existing election mechanism is far better than the draft legislation since there is some fairness for the minorities. He added that the reason for the deterioration of the quality of the law makers is the lack of regulations pertaining to activities involved in elections such as the full disclosure of election funds, introducing a ceiling for election campaigns, and introducing some qualification and disciplinary control for Law Makers. In other words, he has expressed the necessity of having a regulatory mechanism to filter and select a quality set of Law Makers rather than introducing an ethnically biased legislation.
Dissanayake also expressed his displeasure at the non-consideration of the draft of the Code of Ethics drafted focusing legislators, which had been tabled before the National Executive Council by him.
Despite the omission on the part of the National Executive Council, the JVP has taken up a smart move to introduce a minimum qualification for their candidates at the next general election.
The promise to introduce the Code of Ethics was one of the key pledges in the 100-Day Programme in President Sirisena’s manifesto.
However, due to reasons not known to the general public, it did not come into effect. Nevertheless, it shows that it was a much needed social requirement since the parliament has, in recent times, become overcrowded not with Law Makers, but with Law Breakers. The classic example for the meekly behavior and the slave mentality of the so called Law Makers was when they raised their hands in support of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which was instrumental in tarnishing all the norms of democracy and good governance for the sake of their eternal leader.
As noted in the beginning of the article, the role of the legislature and the citizen has been mutually transferred to each other. The Parliament and its members, being the trustees of the country, should carry out the role of the Tank Cleaner and provide a better and conducive environment for the inhabitants of its society. Unfortunately with the shifting of the said role from Law Maker to citizen, it has become the responsibility of the 20 million odd population of this country to carefully filter and select their trustees to make the legislature a better and conducive place for their own safety and protection.
(The writer is a senior lawyer)
