Sri Lanka’s president defended his controversial appointment of Deshabandu Tennakoon as the head of the island’s police force, and claimed that Constitutional Council “is part of the Executive,” in a demonstration of his apparent willingness to consolidate power in the president’s office.

In a communique released on Wednesday,  that the President must perform his constitutional duties such as the appointment of the IGP and any “restraint placed on the president in the performance of this duty would be in contravention of the Constitution.”

Tennakoon is presently the Acting IGP, a position which became vacant with the departure of C.D. Wickremarathne. Since taking over last year, Tennakoon has initiated the “Yukthiya” an operation assisted by the military in an attempt to crack down on crime and drug trafficking. The operation has come under fire from UN experts as well as diplomatic missions in Sri Lanka, for several reasons including arbitrary arrest unlawful detention and allegations of torture. More recently he told a gathering to spy on each other to ensure that extremism and terrorism do not take root. There are also several court cases against Tennakoon, including a case before the Supreme Court by victims of the Easter Sunday bombing, seeking an order restraining Tennakoon from accepting any appointments as Acting IGP. 

In another case in December last year, the Supreme Court delivered a historic judgment, holding Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon personally responsible for torture. In the judgment, the court found that. Tennakoon had personally visited the individual in remand in a “torture chamber” for a “brief session of torture”. An affidavit from the victim said he “beat the Petitioner with a ‘three-wheel rubber band’ after stripping him naked and ordering him to rub Siddhalepa on his genitalia”.

Furthermore, the HRCL also noted in its recommendation that 24 custodial deaths in three main districts in Western Province and 13 encounter deaths involving the police took place during Tennakoon's tenure. Tennakoon has also been accused of neglecting his duty to prevent violence between pro-Rajapaksa and anti-government protesters during the 'aragalaya' demonstrations. 

Read more on Tennakoon’s history of crimes by Ruki Fernando on Groundviews here.

See the full Supreme Court Judgement here.

Wickremesinghe also claims “the Constitutional Council, which is chaired by the Hon. Speaker of Parliament and established under the Constitution has been empowered to assist the President in the making of certain decisions and is part of the Executive”.

He first made this claim in November last year, to uproar from opposition parties that who maintain that it is part oof the legislature.

“The President is wrong when he says the CC is part of the Executive,” tweeted Tamil parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran at the time. “It is a body that is chaired by the Speaker and is thus part of the legislative structure. It appears under the Chapter on the Executive (in the Constitution) to show that it is a body created to act as a check and balance on the Executive.”

“[The] purpose of Constitutional Council is to prevent interference/influence of executive in selecting members of certain public institutions and stop politicization of public bodies,” added Ambika Satkunanathan, a former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.

“At least President is open about his attempt to consolidate power, which is evident in every draft law put forward.”

Read more from the Sunday Times here.