Sri Lanka main opposition demands to know if COPE, COPA chairs will be theirs
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has asked the government whether opposition MPs Kabir Hashim and Eran Wickramaratne are still going to be appointed chairs of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) as promised.
Several main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MPs speaking in parliament on Monday August 29 claimed that President Ranil Wickremesinghe when he was prime minister a few months earlier had said the chairmanship of COPE, COPA and the Committee on Public Finance must go to the opposition.
SJB MP Harsha de Silva has already been appointed chair of the Committee on Public Finance.
Related:
Sri Lanka opposition MP Harsha de Silva chairs first public finance committee meeting
Opposition leader Premadasa and chief opposition whip Lakshman Kiriella asked whether standing orders in parliament were going to be suspended in order to make the appointments.
Leader of the House and Education Minister Susil Premajayantha proposed that an agreement on the matter be reached at the next meeting of the Committee on Parliamentary Business chaired by Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena who is currently out of the country. It would be more prudent to discuss the matter in the presence of the speaker as there is no consensus yet on whether the chairmanships should definitely go to the opposition, said Premajayantha.
MP Kiriella responded that a government MP had said that promises made at the height of the Aragalaya (Struggle) protests don’t count anymore. (Colombo/Aug29/2022)
