P’ment should be a paradigm of efficiency: Prez

President Maithripala Sirisena said the Parliament should be an example of efficiency to the country that was moving towards development goals, and that its efficiency impacted on the public service.

President Sirisena made these remarks while addressing the inaugural ceremony of ‘Eval Colombo 2018’ -- a threeday forum held from September 17 to 19 in Colombo to promote the use of evaluation by parliamentarians through dialogue. The event is hosted by the Global Parliamentarians’ Forum for Evaluation together with Eval Partners, the Sri Lanka Parliamentarians’ Forum for Evaluation, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Parliament of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Evaluation Association.

“When meeting development goals, the efficiency of all sectors is vital. The efficiency of Parliament is not only important for the activities of the House, but also for the activities of advisory committees that have a huge impact on national development. Attendance of MPS to Parliamentary sessions is a major factor contributing to its functions as well as efficiency,” the President said.

Underscoring the significance of increasing women’s representation in Parliament, the President said present day women achieved a higher status in their efficiency. He believes women’s representation in Parliament should be raised to at least 60%.

On a different note, President Sirisena said the efficiency of the public sector, which represented 1.5 million people, was only 30-35% and that it was not satisfactory at all.

The distinguished attendees at the event included Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, Chair of the Global Parliamentarians’ Forum for Evaluation Minister Kabir Hashim, Ministers Rauff Hakeem and Gayantha Karunathilaka, Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri and Sri Lanka Evaluation Association President Prof. Saman Bandara.