Constitutional Reforms: Public outreach programme to raise awareness

The Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reforms has launched a public outreach programme to raise public awreness on proposed Constitutional Reforms, Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reforms Chairman Attorney Lal Wijenayake said.

“This is with the aim of forging a true Sri Lankan identity that is common to all regardless of their ethnicity, gender and religion and also build a strong and stable nation in a democratic framework,” he said.

Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reforms Chairman Attorney Lal Wijenayake addressing a media briefing in Colombo yesterday, said the all previous Constitutions in Sri Lanka were formulated without public consultation.

“This led to many problems,” he said. “But, we have already obtained public views in order to present a new Constitution that is acceptable to all communities and religious groups.We hope to create an awareness among all segments of the public on Constitutional Reforms and urge the public to participate in this process,”Wijenayake said.

“Under this system, youth of the National Youth Council have been trained to educate the public and gather their views on the proposed new Constriction islandwide. This program has already been completed in seven districts. As a second step, we are educating political science teachers and their students on the Constitutional Reforms. They will be deployed to raise the awareness among the various segments in the society. The program has already been implemented in 12 districts,” he said.

“In addition, Civil Society members will be educated with the assistance of the Sarvodaya Organisation to create an awareness among the public on Constitutional Reforms. We will also educate public servants from next month.

“We will be discussing matters such as to why a new Constitution is necessary, the need for devolution of power and the proposed electoral reforms,” Wijenaike said.

The Committee of Public Representations on Constitutional Reforms comprising 21 members to seek public opinion on proposed Constitutional Reforms has handerd over its report to the President, Prime Minister and Speaker in May in last year. Six sub-committees appointed by the Constitutional Assembly will take these views into account and the final reports of the six Sub Committees will be forwarded to the Constitutional Assembly and taken up for debate in this month.