A doomed week it was for the country’s legislature. It not only recorded an actual slaying of a senior politician, Chief Government Whip, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle but perhaps also the political demise of another, the colourful JVP Parliamentary Group Leader, Wimal Weerawansa who was seen literally beating his chest over an alleged conspiracy within the Marxist outfit to oust him.

Besides the pall of gloom cast by death and defection, the House atmosphere proved volatile with the crisis over the appointment of an acting secretary general from outside parliament reaching its zenith, forcing Tuesday’s sessions to wind up prematurely amidst thunderous UNP protests.

As far as the UNP went, ‘death had no dominion.’ To a sombre House, mourning the loss of the government’s chief whip, the UNP injected fire from the start. Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara barely managed to announce the death of Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle before calling upon the newly appointed Acting Secretary General, Dhammika Kitulgoda to take his seat only to have an angry group of UNP legislators led by a highly charged Dayasiri Jayasekera gather in the milieu to shout slogans.

It was futile for the Speaker to appeal to the protesting legislators’ better senses, as they appeared hell bent on disrupting the sessions alleging there was a ‘stranger in the House.’

Their grouse was that Kitulgoda had no right to occupy the seat of secretary general due to unconstitutionality despite the Speaker’s stoic defence of the appointment as a constitutional and legally sound one.

But the issue was dredged early morning by Opposition Chief Whip, Joseph Michael Perera who rose to a point of order, to stoically oppose the appointment of Kitulgoda as the chief executive officer of parliament.

"It is unconstitutional and illegal. Besides, there is absolute conflict of interest as Kitulgoda also functioned as secretary of the currently defunct Constitutional Council (CC)," he charged.

But the Speaker’s position was that the appointment was made for a period of 14 days and even offered that by making a temporary appointment, the President has perhaps meant to fill the vacancy through the Constitutional Council on a future date! Justification

Likewise, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was full of justification for the new appointment.

"I want to draw attention to two facts. The post of the secretary general of parliament has fallen vacant. The Constitutional Council is dysfunctional. Parliament cannot function without a secretary general. It is only logical to appoint an acting secretary general and that has been done according to the provisions of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution," said Wickremanayake.

In support, he added a list of similar appointments made by the present regime in recent times, ranging from judges of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, the Auditor General, the IGP, members of the Human Rights Commission, members of the Public Service Commission and Finance Commission. "These appointments had to be made. They were also of a permanent nature. Where was the UNP protests then?" he demanded.

Wickremanayake added that this appointment was quite in keeping with tradition as there was a precedent when Former Secretary General of Parliament Priyanee Wijesekera was appointed to the post for a period of 14 days. "She was reappointed at 14 day intervals for nine months before being made permanent," he added.

But Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe would have none of it. He remained thoroughly unconvinced of the procedure followed and cited the government’s refusal to appoint Former Auditor General S.C. Mayadunne to the CC using his ‘parliamentary consultancy’ as an excuse.

"A daily newspaper has published a comment by Mr. Kitulgoda where he claims that his appointment is in accordance with the law. This is a breach of privilege. Besides, the House’ privileges have been violated with the appointment as well. How can the government not appoint Mayadunne to the CC alleging conflict of interest and appoint Kitulgoda as chief executive officer?" queried he.

What’s more, Wickremesinghe fortified his argument by claiming that it was agreed within the CC some years ago not to make acting appointments and that decision was breached by the new appointment.

The Speaker’s defence was he has not received any complaints from the floor of the House regarding Kitulgoda’s appointment, only to have the UNP legislators come charging towards the Chair demanding the cancellation of the ‘unconditional appointment.’

Amidst the chaos, government legislators were also seen gathering inside the Well, while some began shoving and pushing in earnest. An errant Reggie Ranatunga was seen resorting to low conduct by attempting to assault slogan shouting UNPer Johnston Fernando, only to be cautioned by fellow government MPs Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Mahinda Amaraweera and the like.Speaker finds ‘nothing’

The resumption did not improve things. The Speaker announced that he spent the break checking computer records to find out whether there were previous records of the Constitutional Council containing any decision not to make temporary appointments. "I found nothing. I declare this appointment legal and constitutional," he said.

But Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s position was that it was following a decision that Kitulgoda decided to step down as secretary general and revert to the CC as its secretary. "He was holding both. And we objected to this," he said. "No, he resigned to pave the way for the deputy secretary general to get promoted," noted the Speaker, only to earn the reply, "he did not go on his own. He was pushed towards that decision."

The legal battle reigned supreme with Wickremesinghe insisting that Kitulgoda be made to leave, with Joseph Michael Perera aiding the argument that it was absurd in any case to have the secretary of the CC also functioning as the secretary general of parliament. "This is the height of absurdity," he remarked.

If the government thought that it saw the end of UNP’s protests, the afternoon session, held specially to felicitate the outgoing Secretary General, Priyanee Wijesekera proved tumultuous. Deceptive calm

The session began with a deceptive calm with Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe waxing eloquent on a subject close to his heart — British parliamentary tradition. And he spoke at length of the importance of the post of clerk to the House of Commons from which the secretary general’s post is derived.

"This clerk adheres to high standards of office and we have emulated this example since the time of Ralph Deraniyagala. We had a distinguished line of officials and we should not downgrade a distinguished position now," he opined.

While Wickremesinghe noted that the dispute over the post had to be resolved within the House as it could not be challenged in court unlike many others, he grudged the fact that there was no consensus in the House over the new appointee.

The UNP legislators ensured that nobody was heard after Wickremesinghe. They drowned the voices of R. Sampanthan to Ferial Ashraff to Douglas Devananda with little effort, shouting themselves hoarse: "saatakaye sape," ‘Hora pathveem apata epa."