10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Rauff Hakeem, Attorney-at-Law

Samagi Jana Balawegaya· Mahanuwara· 27 February 2025 ·Debate: Debate: Committee Stage of the 2025 Appropriation Bill - Special Expenditure Heads (Heads 1-25) and Amendments

Parliamentary Procedure
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Rauff Hakeem urged that any Constitution-making process be inclusive and not conducted unilaterally by the Government, calling for engagement with the Opposition, the public, and public sittings. He linked this to the Government’s statements on inclusivity in Geneva and asked that inclusivity begin in Parliament by ensuring Party Leaders are given due representation in the Committee on Parliamentary Business and other important Committees.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Okay, Hon. Chairman.

¶ 02 Therefore, some clarity has to be given to the Constitution‑making process. That has to be an inclusive process; that cannot be done unilaterally by the Government. You have to engage with the Opposition; you have to engage with the public; there have to be public sittings. There have been several attempts earlier. Therefore, Constitution‑making has to be an inclusive process. The Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs has said about it in Geneva and has talked about the inclusiveness of the Government. But inclusivity has to start from this House, giving due place to the Party Leaders in the Committee on Parliamentary Business. I hope the Hon. Prime Minister would bring saner counsel to prevail and see that our due place is assured to us in important Committees. Thank you.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Thursday, 27 February 2025 ·No. 1741437399068186 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Rauff Hakeem, Attorney-at-Law. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 27 February 2025. No. 1741437399068186. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/13246