Why the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution Bill has its fundamentals wrong

2022-09-13

The amendment of a constitution is a serious task. However, some may argue that it is not such an important task as far as Sri Lanka is concerned. That is because of the most trivialised manner in which constitutional amendments have been brought about in Sri Lanka in recent years. However, if the amendments to a constitution are treated in such a fashion, then that will further affect the nation and the state negatively. In a country which has already taken a downturn, introducing any constitutional amendment in a trivial manner needs to be condemned.

For a constitutional amendment to be meaningful, it must be concerned with the extension of the fundamental notions around which the existing constitution is based. Trying to match a set of fundamentals in a constitution with a contradictory set of principles set out in an amendment is virtually an absurdity. The fundamentals that belong to the main instrument, which is the 1978 Constitution, will in any case prevail against such amendments, and the amendments would be of very little use except to create greater obstacles to national objectives. 

As the Constitution of the Republic, the 1978 Constitution is fundamentally flawed. The most foundational notion of a republican constitution is the foundational notion of the rule of law. It is the rule of law that determines the content, structure, and the depth of a constitution. The 1978 Constitution was an attempt to displace the rule of law and to replace it with the rule of the executive. The making of republics in history has happened in the opposite direction. The republic was developed to subdue the over-powerful executive. The fundamental principle of a republic was the rule of law. Thereby, everyone was brought under the laws that were made publicly. 

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