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Public Finance com. gets new chairman, but uncertainty over COPE and COPA
View(s):By Sandun Jayawardana
While the appointment of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Dr Harsha De Silva as the new Chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Public Finance (CPF) has been confirmed, uncertainty surrounds the positions of new chairpersons of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and Committee on Public Accounts (COPA).
The SJB has requested its MPs be appointed as COPE and COPA chairpersons, with Eran Wickramaratne nominated as COPE chair and Kabir Hashim as COPA chairman.
Under Standing Orders of Parliament, the chairpersonship of CPF has to be given to an opposition MP. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) under former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa though, changed this practice by suspending Standing Orders to enable the appointment of a government MP as CPF chair.
Standing Orders however, will have to be amended to specifically state that the COPE and COPA chairpersonships should go to the opposition. During a party leaders’ meeting in June chaired by Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, it was agreed to refer these amendments to the Committee on Standing Orders for approval, Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella told the Sunday Times. “However, when I checked this week, I was told that this is yet to be referred to the Committee on Standing Orders.”
Given that two months have passed since the agreement, the Chief Opposition Whip said he is unsure whether the government is going to honour the agreement made in June. “The party leaders’ meeting in June came during the height of the ‘aragalaya’ and the government might be having second thoughts now.”
Mr Kiriella said he blames Speaker Abeywardena and former Leader of the House and current Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena for the suspension of Standing Orders that paved the way for a government MP to chair the CPF. “No one at the Ministry of Finance or the Central Bank disclosed that the country was going bankrupt. If an opposition MP had chaired CPF, we would have known about this at least 1 ½ years ago. We could have gone to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier. In modern democracies, chairpersonships of such committees are given to opposition MPs to ensure checks and balances, but the government completely did away with that.”
The President and Prime Minister are of the opinion that all parties should work together in an all-party government. But question marks still remain over whether it will be an all-party government, a national government or a similar administration, Chief Government Whip and Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said.
He noted that the SJB had indicated that it will not join an all-party government but would support an all-party programme by holding chairpersonships of committees such as COPE and COPA and Parliamentary Oversight Committees. “We are awaiting instructions from the President and PM on this but we expect a final decision will be made by next week,” he added.
Meanwhile, former Minister Dullas Alahapperuma has written to Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena protesting over the removal of him and several SLPP MPs who had supported his presidential bid from several Parliament Committees.
Mr Alahapperuma notes in his letter that both he and SLPP Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris have been removed from the Committee on Parliamentary Business while MPs Dr Nalaka Godahewa and Dilan Perera have been removed from the Committee on Public Finance.
Members have so far only been announced for the Committee on Parliamentary Business and the Committee on Public Finance. Mr Alahapperuma however, says he has learned that former COPE Chairman Prof. Charitha Herath too is to be removed from the new COPE Committee allegedly for supporting him.
Harsha sets out his plan, hopes to bring in more transparency Under his chairmanship, the Committee on Public Finance (CPF) will work to ensure that there is an independent analysis of every proposed legislative change brought by the government, new CPF Chair Dr Harsha De Silva told the Sunday Times. The bipartisan committee will engage and obtain advice from professionals on such proposals to understand the impact on macro and microeconomic sectors that the proposal will have. “We will also provide MPs with a synopsis of every analysis so that they know that the committee has obtained advice from professionals on the proposed legislative changes,” he stressed. Dr De Silva met with committee staff on Friday (19) and his appointment will be formally announced when Parliament meets in the final week of August. Under Article 148 of the Constitution, Parliament has full control over public finance. As such, the CPF is the most powerful committee in Parliament and no finance bill can go to the Chamber without the committee’s approval, he pointed out. The reason for having an opposition MP as chair of CPF is to ensure a system of checks and balances but the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government suspended Standing Orders and dismantled this system, he said, criticising the SLPP government’s “tyranny by majority.” The CPF’s scope is broad, with everything from appropriation bills to mid yearly and quarterly fiscal reports coming before it and Dr De Silva said he aims to bring more transparency to the committee. | |
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