Confusion over P’ment select committee numbers to probe impeachment

Speaker of Parliament Chamal Rajapaksa yesterday notified Chief Whips of the Government and the Opposition to nominate members for the parliamentary select committee (PSC) that will probe the impeachment motion against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, even as confusion reigned over its composition.

Daily FT learns that the Government initially wanted 11 members in the PSC, with seven members from the Government and four from the Opposition.

However, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe opposed this proposal, but it was not clear whether the final composition was to be nine members or 10.

Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga told the Daily FT that the Speaker had written to him asking the join opposition to nominate four legislators to be members of the PSC.

“We will be forwarding the list of names to the Speaker on Wednesday,” Amaratunga said.

Government Ministers and Chief Government Whip Dinesh Gunewardane was unavailable for comment on the issue.