Ceylon Today Editorial

Lost value of no-faith motions

Sunday 29th November 2015

 
Late United States President Abraham Lincoln once said, "If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem." Whether this remark is applicable to our country and our society is rather questionable.

We say this as we are saddened by the actions that we, as the general public, have observed in certain politicians, when it comes to having confidence in them. Sri Lankans, are known as a nation who, forget easily – a notion that was even acknowledged by the deceased LTTE terrorist leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran. Our society tends to forgive wrong-doers of their crimes, forget their actions and forgive without a second thought. We tend to forget rather than forgive.

A No Confidence Motion signed by 44 opposing members of Parliament, specifically the members of the Joint Opposition, against Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake was handed over to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya recently. The minister was alleged to have distorted statistics by adding asset values to government expenditure, by and large giving the impression that the government had allocated a huge amount of funds for the education sector.

The motion said that Minister Ravi Karunanayake's action had resulted in Parliament losing confidence in the minister which was ironically portrayed by a No Confidence Motion signed by only 44 Members of Parliament. The signatories include MPs Dinesh Gunawardena, Gamini Lokuge, Bandula Gunawardena, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Shehan Semasinghe, Janaka Wakkumbura, Vijith Berugoda, Kanchana Wijesekera, Namal Rajapaksa, Johnston Fernando, Jayantha Samaraweera, D. V. Chanaka, Dilum Amunugama, Manusha Nanayakkara and Dr. Ramesh Pathirana. Forty four out of 225 members; let that sink in.

We cannot know for sure as to what the real reasons are behind this rolling stone group bringing this No Confidence Motion against Minister Karunanayake. Even a layman who would be standing witness would know that the odds were clearly not in their favour. We cannot say for sure whether they expected a large number of signatories to present their signatures in favour of the motion or whether they did not do their research first. Another question that looms like an elephant in the proverbial room is whether these members of the Joint Opposition know what a No Confidence Motion is.

Of course when they were in power under the full and total control of the former President, if such a No Confidence Motion was brought in the Parliament, they would have had their way. They had the power in number and the mutually accepted strength of intimidation. However, that is not the case now. They are not the ones who are in power and most certainly they do not have the power in numbers with them. Maybe they are still struggling to grasp the fact that they are not the ones in control.

How long will this joke of a Joint Opposition be allowed to run rampant, making a farce of parliamentary affairs? We are not yet sure. We are not even sure whether we should put on the government to be confident enough to take the necessary action to put a full stop to this vaudeville Joint Opposition before it suffers a complete psychological breakdown. One is definitely in their horizons.

A Motion of No Confidence is a statement or vote that a person or persons in a position of responsibility (government, managerial, etc.) is no longer deemed fit to hold that position: perhaps because they are inadequate in some respect, are failing to carry out obligations, or are making decisions that other members feel are detrimental. As a parliamentary motion, it demonstrates to the Head of State that the elected Parliament no longer has confidence in (one or more members of) the appointed government.

There is no need to highlight that this process takes weeks or even months to present a successful No Confidence Motion that would induce action from the government. The No Confidence Motion which once was a powerful tool has become a chew toy for the Joint Opposition today. It won't be long for the people to lose confidence in the No Confidence Motion.