Sri Lankans have long had a recorded low opinion of the law enforcement services they receive, and given everything that has transpired in the last few years, the trust deficit in governance has grown. One confidence builder has been a number of unprecedented rulings and orders by the Judiciary. 

However, a recent move by the President, to grant a six months service extension to the chief enforcer of law, the Attorney General (AG), has now once again brought the chief prosecutors office under a cloud of suspicion. It also impacts the trans-government endurance of responsibility of state officials, which is vital for good governance. All of this, in the backdrop of the Attorney General’s office already drawing fire for lacklustre performance on several key cases, including that of the Easter Sunday bombings, and their less than satisfactory and at times, controversial performance on the unprecedented MV X-Press Pearl shipwreck tragedy.    

It is reported that the Attorney General's tenure is to end next month, if an extension is not given. The proposal by the President, made to the Constitutional Council (CC) has serious implications for constitutional correctness. Simply put, this proposal, the first of its kind, does not bode well for the troubled governance situation in Sri Lanka. It also reflects poorly on the constitutional democracy of the island. This is due in part to the fact that this move, comes in the build up to a Presidential Election, and a possible General Election following, and also in the backdrop of the United National Party (UNP) General Secretary making, the now famous statement seeking a postponement of elections, for the incumbent President to remain in office without a mandate. Both the statement from the UNP General Secretary and the reports of the President seeking an extension of service for the AG, has drawn strong criticism from many quarters. The opposition had criticised the President's move and questioned the motives behind it, calling for an explanation.

The fact that the members of the CC have not taken the proposal up and continue to postpone action on it from one meeting to the other, is indicative of the gravity of the decision and the implications it carries. One has to ask, what was the President thinking? Some experts have argued that by linking the ongoing investigations and legal proceedings of the Easter Sunday bombings and the Singapore flagged MV X-Press Pearl issue, the President has further damaged the independence of the AG’s office, since the Catholic Church and the Catholic community have been critical of the AG’s handling of the prosecution. Given the concerns raised by the environmentalists and civil society groups regarding the AG’s Department shooting itself (or Sri Lanka, rather) in the foot, over its actions regarding MV X-Press Pearl incident, which many have termed Sri Lanka’s worst man-made marine environmental disaster, and the long standing disputes between the Catholic Church and how the Easter Sunday bombing investigations and prosecutions were underway; has the presidency tipped its hand regarding political interference with the call for a service extension, and by listing the said close attention by the AG that both cases need?

Predictably, the protests regarding the seeking of an service extension and the insensitive justification offered by the proponents, drew strong criticism from the Catholic Church – Bishop’s Conference, which has fired back at the justification, stating that the idea of (or insinuation) that it is responsible for (close attention to the Easter Sunday bombing prosecution) the justification for the extension was false and misleading. On the contrary, the Bishops Conference has critiqued the role played by the incumbent AG in relation to the Easter Sunday prosecution. It is prudent for the President to realise that the presidency also has its limitations, and that despite the power vested in his office, he needs to act as a custodian of it and not as a ruler with it as a tool. 

If a sanity check is required, those who hold high offices should look at the recent ruling by the Supreme Court, which overturned two Presidential Pardons, given to convicted murderers.