UNP did not introduce Exec. Presidency for President Rajapakse to toy with the constitution and bamboozle people

UNP Dep. leader Karu Jayasooriya the Executive Presidency was introduced by former President J R Jayawardena so that it will be a boon to the country, and it continued to be so during the regimes of the UNP . However , after 1994 , with the change of the UNP Govt. , as there were ominous signals of this sweeping power being abused by the subsequent Presidents starting with Chandrika Bandaranaike, there was immense agitation from political parties and all sections of the people that this Executive Presidency shall be abolished.

Since that point of time , including Chandrika Bandaranaike , yielding to the pressures brought bear on the Presidents who came to power , they agreed and made solemn promises to the people at elections that the Executive Presidency will be abolished immediately after they came to power. However , even after the Professor Tissa Vitharaane report recommended its abolition , the President Mahinda Rajapakse , the present President has been dillydallying on this. Moreover , it is Mahinda Rajapske who gave the most promises at elections that the Executive Presidency will  be abolished. Indeed ,he said within six months of his coming to power ,this will be done. 

It is very unfortunate that the present President to whom promises he makes are valid only till elections , has followed the same principle in regard to his promise to abolish the Executive Presidency . What is worse is , he is trying to use the same demonic power locked in it to become a demon himself , Jayasooriya  regretted. After winning elections , he is trying to obtain a 2/3 majority to extend his term in office indefinitely by constitutional amendments. But , before elections he begged the people to get him a 2/3 majority to abolish the Executive Presidency. Sadly , the country is now headed by a President who like Hitler is abusing his  powers in the wrong direction . He is only looking for avenues to perpetuate himself in power and build up his family rule to the detriment of the country and the people, he pointed out.

The 17th amendment to the constitution too was introduced when the UNP was in power . The main aim of it was to de politicize the public sector. The Public service commission , the Judicial service commission , the Police Commission were products of that amendment . All important appointments to the public sector , the police service and the Judiciary were to be made through these Commissions. In other words , the objective of these measures was to eliminate political interference in these appointments . Yet , the President Rajapakse’s obsession for politicization of all these sectors have been so inordinate that he has not appointed these Commissions. Now, these appointments are being made at his own whim and fancy.. Like how he is resorting to backstreet politics and policies with regard to the abolition of the Executive Presidency after making promises, so is he treating the implementation of the 17th amendment , he observed.