Judge me by my performance: New COPE chief
Says no decision to shut media out
The COPE of the Ninth Parliament is determined to play a productive role to ensure the public’s trust, new COPE Chairman Charitha Herath told the Sunday Times.
COPE under Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna first time Parliamentarian Prof. Herath will begin proceedings from October 6.
“The Auditor General has informed us that there are 31 completed audit reports on different institutions, so we will start with those reports and other documentation which the Auditor General submits to us,” he said. Some of the institutions that COPE will call before it next week include the Ceylon Coal Company (Pvt) Ltd, the Lakvijaya Power Plant and the Central Environment Authority. COPE will also take up the special audit report on the feasibility study and procurement activities of the Central Expressway.
Contrary to certain reports, Prof. Herath insisted COPE had not taken a decision to stop live telecasts of COPE proceedings or to deny the media access to the Committee proceedings. The Parliamentary Business Committee chaired by the Speaker and including party leaders, however, had decided to reevaluate Parliament’s entire media arrangement, and this had been misinterpreted to say that COPE had decided to bar the media from its proceedings, he noted.
“For our part, we had a discussion on this subject when we met last month and we decided to take a decision on October 6. With regard to COPE, I think we will most probably allow things to continue as they did in the Eighth Parliament, when they started showing COPE proceedings live.”
The new COPE chairman added that some Government officials had complained that only their questioning by COPE had been shown in the media while their responses were not. Some had also pointed out that the issues taken up before the Committee were matters related to the previous administrations of these institutions and felt they, who were not involved in these acts, were being shown as culprits in these matters. The Committee will consider these observations and look to develop a mechanism for the people to better understand what is going on in these institutions, Prof. Herath emphasized.
Regarding criticism over his alleged lack of experience, Prof. Herath stressed that though he is new to Parliament, he is not new to politics or the State mechanism.
“I participated in COPE proceedings as the Chairman of one institution and the Secretary of one Ministry. So for nearly 10 years prior to this, I have been participating in COPE proceedings as a Government official. I might be the only COPE chairman who has such experience; both as a Government officer and a politician. I am sorry to say that my academic and administrative credentials and political experience are better than some of those who are making these allegations,” he remarked.
The Auditor General’s Department was there before the 19th Amendment and will be there after the 20th Amendment. The abolishing of the Audit Service Commission will not prevent the Auditor General from auditing these institutions, he further insisted.
He also asked the public to “look at the facts” over criticism regarding the post of COPE Chairman being given to a Government MP. “We have had 14 COPE Chairmen up to now. I will be the 15th. Of these 14, 10 were from the government while four were from the opposition. There were both good and bad chairmen from the Government and the Opposition. Their good or bad reputations do not come from which party they represent but from how well they worked. I believe I can do a productive and impartial job as COPE Chairman,” he insisted.