Several discussions were held on the 19th amendment to the Constitution and its benefits at the monthly meetings of District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCs) of Kurunegala, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Monaragala, Batticaloa, Anuradhapura and Ratnapura under NPC’s project Consolidating Ongoing Multi-level Partnership Actions for Conflict Transformation (COMPACT) funded by MISEREOR and CAFOD.
Around 300 people representing the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities attended the sessions, along with religious leaders of all faiths.
DIRC members had requested the workshops so that they could educate people on the amendment and counter criticism of it by various political parties. At the workshops, the 19th amendment was compared with the 18th amendment that was passed when President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in power and the negative and positive aspects of the 19th amendment were discussed.
Participants agreed that the amendment was a very important political reform that would improve democracy and good governance in the country because it reduced the power of the executive president. They also emphasised the need to put pressure on the government to go beyond the 19th amendment.