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Parliamentary watchdog committees: COPA, COPF, and COPE back in action

13 Nov 2022

  • Aim to inquire into audits of 800 institutions
  • Focus on SOEs
  • COPF to make recommendations on Budget 2023
 By Skandha Gunasekara  The reconstituted parliamentary watchdog committees have begun their investigations into various irregularities in the State sector and Government, including that of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).  COPA priorities  Newly appointed Chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA), Opposition MP Kabir Hashim, speaking to The Sunday Morning, said that they had begun looking into a number of audit reports compiled by the Auditor General’s Department as part of the process.  “We have some very good members who have had experience in the committee. Currently, we are focusing on a number of audit reports from audits carried out by the Auditor General’s Department. These involve a number of institutions and, on a priority basis, we’ve picked performance audit reports and started calling up those institutions. There are 800 odd institutions.” He said that initial focus had been prioritised for key institutes and issues such as the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau and the Food Commissioner’s Department, the latter having problems in carrying out its duties at a time the country was facing a food shortage.  “We have started with the Foreign Employment Bureau because it is one of the leading revenue makers for the country and plays a significant role in the economy. We are also looking at an issue with the Food Commissioner’s Department, which is to do with food security, on storage of food and its failure to carry out its mandate,” Hashim said. He added that COPA was also investigating concerns of a seed shortage for vegetable farmers, which was exacerbating the food crisis.  “We followed it up with vegetable seed production – there’s a big drop in production and a huge gap, with a lot of seeds being imported to fill the gaps. Despite the imports, vegetable farmers don’t have the required seeds of particular vegetables on time to grow them. This is a huge problem because we have a food shortage and we are not supplying enough seeds to vegetable farmers. Therefore, we have summoned them as well.” According to Hashim, the committee needed to evolve to identify problems ahead of time instead of putting out fires after.  “This week saw the COPA reaching its 100th year since being set up and we are looking at revamping its structure. We believe that the structure itself has to be updated and modernised and capacity has to be developed. Otherwise, we are going to be looking at issues after the problem has happened. That’s not how this should be run.  “I believe that we need to have a regular monitoring mechanism and a performance evaluation system with KPIs for all Government institutions. Otherwise, the volume is too large and we won’t get anywhere,” Hashim stated, adding that the committee was in consultation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on strengthening the committee’s activities.   COPF analyses Budget ’23   Meanwhile, the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) chaired by Opposition MP Dr. Harsha De Silva is currently engaged in analysing the proposed Budget. “We are working on the report on the Budget. Before the committee stage debates of the Budget start, there is a report that I have to present. It is on the fiscal assumptions, financial assumptions, economic assumptions, and how accurate these Budget numbers are,” de Silva stated.  He stressed the need to carry out reforms by taking into consideration the current state of the country and social aspects in particular.  “Reforms are necessary, but the context is now completely different from what it used to be. The World Bank says poverty in Sri Lanka doubled this year from 13% to 27.5%. According to a study conducted by the University of Peradeniya, poverty is over 40%. This is an unprecedented situation and never in the history of Sri Lanka have we seen this kind of poverty.” He asserted that the Budget must ensure a focus on alleviating the living conditions of vulnerable groups.  “Given this new context, there has to be a major focus on the social protection side. I’m looking at whether the Budget will actually address the real issues, because unless you look after the people who have fallen into poverty and who are really vulnerable, no reform can go through. This is not like performing reforms in 2016 or 2017. This is a completely different situation.” De Silva affirmed that the committee would make recommendations to Parliament on how best the Budget could be improved.  “We don’t have powers to influence the Budget per se, but I’m trying to do new things and do a proper analysis and point out the areas where they can improve. If they are willing to listen to us, then they can certainly amend the Budget for the better during the committee stage.”    COPE has its hands full    Meanwhile, the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has also commenced several probes. COPE member MP Mujibur Rahuman said that the controversial coal tender had been taken up by the Committee.  “We looked into the coal issue. The last discussion we had was where we summoned the Ministry Secretary, the Lanka Coal Company (LCC) Chairman, and the tender board officials, but none of them could answer the questions and they accepted that they had violated the tender procedure.” He said the officials had agreed to ensure that no more violations took place. “The Ministry Secretary agreed that he wouldn’t make any mistakes in future. That is all we can do as the COPE now has no powers to penalise. We can only investigate.” The sugar scam is also on the COPE’s agenda. “We have a plan to look into allegations of corruption in a number of institutions such as Lanka Sathosa and the sugar scam issue.”  For the months of October and November, the COPE is also scheduled to probe irregularities at the LCC, Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital, Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau, National Livestock Development Board, and the Central Cultural Fund.  


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