“For governance to be good, it needs to be democratic” Eran tells launch of Code4Good

Delivering the keynote address during the Code4Good Sri Lanka forum which was held on 17 November in Colombo, an initiative which strives to make a positive social impact on communities within the country, Deputy Minister of State Enterprise Development Eran Wickramaratne stressed that in order for governance to be good, it needs to be democratic.

Deputy Minister Wickramaratne made this observation while elaborating on the Government’s endeavour to establish and sustain good governance within Sri Lanka. 

Moreover remarkingon the fundamental aspects of democratic governance Deputy Minister Wickramaratne noted that the process by which political leaders are appointed should be legitimate and credible. 

“As you know, there are leaders being appointed at every level. I remember the time when the story was that of stuffing election boxes. That phenomenon has largely been eliminated; it’s being done through a more legitimate process. But in my view we still haven’t used ICT in the electoral process. Maybe the time will come we will all be voting from home. Hopefully all Sri Lankans living abroad too can be involved in the democratic process,” he said.

Wickramaratne also opined that the balance of legislators should represent the different and diverse interests of the island nation’s population. 

“A government can’t just be comprised of those representing the majority of the population. All segments of the population, including the minorities, need to be adequately represented and their views voiced.”

As part of his keynote address during the Code4Good Sri Lanka forum, the Deputy Minister of State Enterprise Developmentarticulated that another prominent aspect of democratic governance wasto ensure that those appointedas legislators acted with responsibility and commitment.

“Democracy is a dynamic and continuous process, not something that should be invoked every four to five years when there is an election. A process of reasoning and responding should happen all the time. Until a couple of years ago, democracy was limited to elections; but that’s changing rapidly.”

In conclusion commending the Code4GoodSri Lanka Initiative, Wickramaratnestated: “The overall idea of Code4Good is to bring tech teams together with social causes. Just because somebody has a technical education, it shouldn’t mean they are removed from civic responsibilities. Whatever their field of study, everyone has something to contribute in making society better. I am pleased to see the manifestation of that today.”