No COPE & COPA established yet; pending investigations severely hampered

COLOMBO (News 1st); The establishment of the Committee on Public Business and the Committee on Public Accounts of the Parliament has been delayed for over a month.

Although more than a month has passed since the new session of the Parliament was inaugurated on August 3rd, due to the non-establishment of the relevant committees, the power of public financial supervision of the Parliament has been severely hampered.

In the recently held party leader meeting, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya made a request to the Speaker to give the chairmanship of the committees including COPE and COPA to the Opposition.

However, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna has requested the Speaker to appoint the chairmanship of the committees, including COPE and COPA, based on the majority consent of the members of those committees.

As a tradition, the ruling party has the right to appoint the majority of members of the parliamentary committees.

A group including the former Central Bank Governors Professor W.D. Laxman, Ajith Nivard Cabraal, former Finance Ministry Secretaries Dr. P.B. Jayasundera and S.R. Atygalle were due to be summoned by the committees.

However, due to the delay in the establishment of the Committee on Public Enterprises, the relevant investigations have been severely hampered.