COPE in chaos and SLPP’s arrogance

The appointment of SLPP MP Rohitha Abeygunawardena to the post of Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has thrown the important oversight committee of Parliament into chaos. Led by SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne, a majority of opposition members on the committee have resigned. At present the committee is made up of 19 Government lawmakers and 11 from the opposition but with the quorum required for committee meeting at four, it can continue to meet with no hindrance.

Abeygunawardena, a well-known Rajapaksa ally faces many allegations, none proven so far but enough to cloud public opinion against him. When a person is picked to chair an oversight committee that is tasked with probing corruption, abuse of power, bribery, etc. in State institutions, not only the person chairing it but all its members should have a reasonable degree of credibility. In this case, Abeygunawardena, he is one of the most ill-suited persons to hold a position in this important parliamentary committee and hence the decision of opposition MPs to resign from it is justified.

COPE was previously headed by another controversial SLPP MP Ranjith Bandara who allegedly sided with officials of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) when they came before the Committee. There were also allegations against him of conflict of interests while being Committee chairman with some of his business interests in conflict with his duties as chairman of the Committee.

Bandara lost his position on the Committee after President Ranil Wickremesinghe prorogued Parliament in January following which all committees lapsed and had to be reconstituted with new members. However, the Government has not learned from the bad experience with Bandara and chose to appoint another controversial MP to COPE and the fallout of this is clear now for all to see.

Under the Yahapalanaya Government between 2015 and 2019, a decision was taken to appoint opposition MPs to head oversight/finance committees and hence JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti was appointed as COPE chairman in 2015. It was also a time of more transparency in parliamentary business and hence the Committee was opened to the media and recording of committee proceedings were also made available. This in particular increased public interest in the proceedings of COPE and the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) as well as the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) in particular.

There is no doubt the work of parliamentary committees is important but there have been instances when these platforms have been used by politicians to bolster their personal images and “playing to the gallery’ is not uncommon. Officials called before these committees are certainly answerable to Parliament and should answer to the representatives of the people but the level of decorum of some committee members is highly questionable.

One major problem is that very few people understand that whatever allegations are floated around before a committee, there has to be a more exhaustive process than questioning by a group of politicians to establish the facts of each case. But few people have the patience to wait for such a process to complete this task and hence committees like COPE become popular when officials are dragged through the mud and get talked down to by politicians.

Which is why the committee must comprise members who have a certain level of credibility and decorum. It is also important to allow these committees to be headed by opposition MPs.

The ill-thought-out decision to appoint Rohitha Abeygunawardena as COPE chairman by the SLPP is one more illustration of the arrogance of power. The SLPP may be down but wants to show it is still not out and Abeygunawardena’s appointment is not so much because the party leadership has any special liking for the man, but it is an attempt to showcase the party can call the shots in the Legislature. It also demonstrates how out of touch with public sentiments the SLPP is.