Good governance activist asks people to use elections to reinforce sovereignty

Chrismal Warnasuriya

Sri Lankan voters should use the general elections on 17 August to reinforce their sovereignty, according to well-known attorney-at-law and good governance crusader Chrishmal Warnasuriya. 

“If 4 February 1948 was our first independence and 19 May 2009 was our second, then 8 January this year was without any doubt our third. Nevertheless, the question remains, have we the people reaped the maximum from what was most certainly our third independence, the day ordinary Sri Lankans marched into action against what was seen as an indefatigable force of abuse, corruption, tyranny and autocracy and reclaimed our sovereign right in Article 3, to govern ourselves?,” asked Warnasuriya. 

He added that the 1978 Constitution states that sovereignty is not vested in a monarch or dynasty of politicians but upon the people. 

“In Sri Lanka, the Constitution is supreme – the three organs of state (i.e. the Legislative, the Executive and the Judiciary) operate on par. The sovereign power of this republic is firmly reposed in its people and is inalienable, as guaranteed by Article 3 of the Constitution. There is no sovereign king or queen exercising any prerogative over our power to rule ourselves. By promulgating for ourselves our second Republican (1978) Constitution, we the people do not recognise or tolerate any other source of power or authority over our supremacy! 

“Even a simple reading of the Constitution amply demonstrates that we have adopted the principle of “separating” those powers amongst three separate and distinct organs of state, the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary in terms of Article 4 thereof; so entrusting for a periodic time span these divided powers to be exercised in ‘public trust’ in due regard to the Rule of Law and a Democratic Process inter alia. No single such institution is either superior or inferior to one another and must remain as such for us to be benefitted by good governance,” opines Warnasuriya, who gained an LLM (Master’s Degree in Law) in Corporate and Commercial Law from King’s College, London, in 2006. 

Warnasuriya was called to the Bar as an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court in May 2000, having served as an apprentice at the chambers of Faisz Musthapha, PC (who was then also the Chairman of the Human Rights Commission). 

He also practiced as a barrister, having joined the Middle Temple and followed a term of pupilage at the Chambers of Sir Desmond De Silva, QC (at the time Chief Prosecutor to the Sierra Leone War Crimes Tribunal). He was a member of the group of lawyers and activists who wrote the original draft of the 19th Amendment.