MP Eran resigns from COPE

SJB Parliamentarian Eran Wickramaratne resigned from the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) today. He served on COPE in previous Parliaments and was reappointed a member of COPE after the recent prorogation of Parliament.

COPE has been established to ensure the observance of financial discipline in Public Corporations and other Semi Governmental bodies in which the Government has a financial stake. By appointing a ruling party member as its Chairman, the committee fails to meet its objectives of keeping a check on the executive arm of the government, MP Wickramaratne said in a statement reasoning his decision to step down from the Committee.

"To this end, the 2015-2019 government followed a best practice of appointing the Chairmen for the two key Committees COPE and COPA from the opposition,"

The duty of the Committee is to report to Parliament on accounts examined, budgets and estimates, financial procedures, performance and management of Corporations and other Government Business Undertakings. 45 years since its establishment, COPE has come to be a redundant committee, he said. 

"Mismanagement and corruption have largely gone unchecked due to limitations in Standing Orders. Standing Order should be widened, where irregularities and fraud when in light, should reach the Attorney General direct and CIABOC proceeding to act. The government blocks the process by limiting Standing Orders, thereby the effectiveness of COPE is now in question,"

Appointees to COPE as part of its 31-member team or Chairperson, must not be associated with allegations and/or convictions. A committee that has an overview of checks and balances must have clearly outlined qualifications and disqualifications for its members, he noted.