‘Join governance’: PM invites protesting youth

COLOMBO: The prime minister said that protesting youth groups will be invited to be part of governance under political reforms he is proposing to solve the country’s political crisis triggered by an economic collapse, according to The Associated Press.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that under proposed constitutional reforms, powers of the president will be clipped and those of Parliament strengthened. In a televised statement to the nation, he said that governance will be broad-based through parliamentary committees where lawmakers, youth and experts will work together.

“The youth are calling for a change in the existing system. They also want to know the current issues. Therefore, I propose to appoint four youth representatives to each of these 15 committees,” Wickremesinghe said.

Protesters consisting of mainly young people have camped out outside the president’s office for more than 50 days.

According to Wickremesinghe’s proposal, one of the youth representatives will be appointed by the so-called “youth parliament” and the other three will come from protesting groups and other activist organizations.

“The methodology used to chose these individuals can be decided by the youth organizations themselves,” he said.

There has been no immediate comment from youth groups to his proposal.

Setting up new broad-based parliamentary committees apparently can be done under the current constitution, but broader reforms such as reducing presidential powers would need approval of the Supreme Court and a two-thirds parliamentary majority. It isn’t clear when the bill will be introduced for debate.