Friday, August 7, 2015

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Yahapalanaya, a catch word for all




Then the question arises as to why suddenly good governance has become so important. Both in theory and practice people begin to value something when they have lost it. One may understand the value of a friend or relation when such person is dead. Similarly people will understand the value of freedom when freedom is lost. This is how good governance has become so dear to our people; they simply had less of it during the past few decades.


By Gamini Abeywardane

During the sixties and seventies Socialism was the most fashionable word in the political lexicon of our country. In the bipolar world at the time a fair section of the educated community as well as the politicians of our country thought that socialism had answers to most of our sociopolitical and economic woes. As such, ideas of socialism were popular among youth and most politicians even if they were not socialists at heart used the word ‘socialism’ for political gain.

However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent changes that occurred in the former socialist countries socialism as an economic theory has lost its appeal.  As a result no one in politics today including the JVP and other socialist parties are talking much about establishing a socialist society.

Instead most of them seem to be talking about good governance. Good governance or Yahapalanaya in Sinhala connotes governing strictly according to the law ensuring all sorts of democratic freedoms as recognized by the constitution and other laws of the country. It also means that Rule of Law and independence of the courts and police are respected and there is less room for corruption.

Then the question arises as to why suddenly good governance has become so important. Both in theory and practice people begin to value something when they have lost it. One may understand the value of a friend or relation when such person is dead. Similarly people will understand the value of freedom when freedom is lost. This is how good governance has become so dear to our people; they simply had less of it during the past few decades.

It all happened because constitutionally we created more opportunities for bad governance. Under any constitution people who have power tend to do wrong things disregarding the spirit of the law which leads to bad governance. The situation became worse with the first republican constitution of 1972 which strengthened the power of the elected politicians while weakening the independent institutional mechanisms that were designed to ensure equality of the people and good governance.

The situation became much worse with the second republican constitution of 1978 which created the all-powerful executive presidency. Most of the powers of the state were concentrated in the executive president who also had some indirect control over judiciary and the legislature. This in simple terms meant that any wrong doing could be covered up or condoned if the executive president so wished, examples of which were too numerous to describe here.

This paved the way for people to understand the value of good governance the same way the people all over the world began to value socialistic ideas during the time of feudalism and extreme capitalism. During the past three decades people have understood the value of an independent police force, judiciary and election mechanism more than ever before. The level of corruption was so high, now they seem to know the importance of a good anti-corruption mechanism. This is how good governance or Yahapalanaya has become a catchword for all politicians.

However mere repetition of this word on political platforms will not create a real Yahapalanaya. First of all the politicians who govern the country should set an example for the rest of the society to follow. With regard to the necessary legal and constitutional framework a giant step has already been taken in the form of the nineteenth amendment to the constitution which has to be bettered through more amendments in the future. Now it is up the people to exercise their preferential vote diligently so that they send the right people to the parliament who can ensure good governance for the people.            











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