Parliamentary Standards Authority: Another attempt to put House in order

Cabinet this week gave approval for the establishment of a Parliamentary Standards Authority which would function as an independent body that supervises Members of Parliament (MPs) adherence to a code of conduct. 

The proposal to enact a Parliamentary Standards Act was made in a joint Cabinet paper presented by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe. A preliminary draft has been prepared by the Legal Draftsman’s Department and will be finalised with feedback from the Speaker and party leaders.

The proposed law has some lofty objectives. These include ensuring the accountability, credibility, transparency and professionalism of MPs so as to enhance public confidence in the effectiveness, transparency and fairness of the legislature. Setting up such an Authority would seem timely given that a majority of people in the country now look upon Parliament with ridicule more than respect. And the blame for falling standards and rowdy and vulgar behaviour rests fairly and squarely with the Speaker, party leaders of political parties represented in Parliament as well as the two whips, i.e., the Chief Government Whip and the Chief Opposition Whip.

Trying to put the country’s most important House in order has been an ongoing process but with little success. Parliament approved a “Code of Conduct” for MPs in March 2018, and it was adopted with effect from 15 April 2018. This was when Karu Jayasuriya was Speaker. The Code of Conduct specifically dealt with attendance, behaviour and civility.

The Code required MPs to “exercise civility and use appropriate language in political discourse”, especially in Parliamentary debate, refrain from assaulting, harassing or intimidating any person and requires all MPs to act in a manner that is respectful of his fellow Members and the Parliamentary Staff and people of the country with dignity, courtesy and without diminishing the dignity of the Parliament. What happened in Parliament in November 2018 months after this Code of Conduct was adopted by the House proved that however flowery and promising language is on a piece of paper, if MPs choose to disregard it, such rules are meaningless. 

Unfortunately, no action was taken against any of the MPs who not only behaved in the most shameful manner in Parliament in 2018 but also caused damage to public property. More disturbing was the fact that some of those who acted as “ringleaders” inside the Chamber on 14 November 2018 were re-elected to Parliament in the 2020 parliamentary election. Since then, we’ve seen the continuation of rowdy behaviour by MPs and now such behaviour has extended to the corridors of the House. The recent altercation between State Minister Diana Gamage and SJB MP Sanjaya Perera in the corridor of Parliament has brought the Legislature into more ridicule. It is unlikely this will be the last of such a scene the public will witness unless Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena stands firm and suspends the errant MPs like he did with another SJB MP Ajith Manapperuma who tried to remove the Mace recently.

MPs are guided by the Standing Orders of Parliament and there are enough rules on behaviour in it, but these are often neglected. Also, without a firm guiding hand by the Chair, Parliament becomes a free-for-all on most days with MPs trying to control how the House is run paying no attention to directives from the Speaker. For this the Speaker is more to blame than the MPs. Also, the two Whips in Parliament also have a major role to play in maintaining the decorum of the House but now it seems that the Whips too have little control over the behaviour of some MPs. The proposed Parliamentary Standards Authority is a positive development but no law can help build public confidence in Parliament until the MPs themselves understand the enormous responsibility that they have been entrusted with by the public of this country and start to fulfil that responsibility in a manner that restores public confidence and upholds the dignity of the House.