Why haven’t Parliament yet appointed the financial oversight committees – Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and Public Accounts Committee (PAC), asks Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL).
With the recent prorogation of Parliament by the President, all Committees including COPE and PAC ceased to operate. TISL points out that Parliament being the custodian of public finance is required to appoint the finance committees without any delay in order to ensure financial oversight. Unfortunately, these Committees have not been appointed yet, a TISL statement states.
TISL reminds the public that global good practices require Parliament to ensure an independent environment to have effective finance committees. “One of the main governing principles is that Members of Parliament serving in the Executive arm of the government as Ministers and Deputy Ministers should not serve in the oversight committees. Another principle which has developed into a convention, is to ensure that independent opposition members should head these oversight Committees,” the statement points out..
In the present political climate where MPs are crossing the floor of the House, TISL believes that only a Member who, in fact, sits in the Opposition in the House should head these Committees irrespective of the political party he belongs to.
We, therefore, urge the Government and Parliament to appoint suitable members to these committees without further delay’, the statement adds.
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