Sri Lanka's parliament on Friday passed a constitutional amendment aimed at trimming presidential powers, beefing up anti-corruption safeguards, and helping to find a way out of the country's worst financial crisis since independence—although opposition parties and civil society representatives have slammed the amendment as not far-reaching enough.
Many Sri Lankans blame former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa for implementing multiple failed policies including tax cuts, a now-reversed ban on chemical fertilizers, and delays in seeking IMF assistance that resulted in the country defaulting on its foreign debt for the first time in history.
As a response to widespread protests, Rajapaksa had backed constitutional reforms that would reduce the powers of the executive presidency and allocate them to parliament in June. He resigned in July following the storming of his office and residence by protesters.
"The president still retains the power to prorogue parliament, to hold ministries, and the constitutional council will still have mostly government appointees," said Bhavani Fonseka, a senior researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a Colombo-based think tank.
Read more here.
