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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