UNF motion on Ministry financial payments in Addendum to P’ment Order Book

The motion handed over by a group of United National Front (UNF) MPs to the Secretary-General of Parliament to prevent Secretaries to Ministries from making payments out of monies in their funds has been included in the Addendum to the Order Book of Parliament.

It has been listed under‘Notices of Motions for which no dates have been fixed’, and was included in the Addendum issued on Wednesday.

The motion was signed by MPs Rajitha Senaratne, Ravi Karunanayake, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Arjuna Ranatunga, Mano Ganesan, and (Dr.) Jayampathy Wickramaratne.

It was handed over in the wake of Speaker Karu Jayasuriya announcing on 15 November that, in terms of the no confidence motion against the Government which was adopted the previous day, the Cabinet of Ministers stands dissolved in terms of Article 48 of the Constitution.

The motion states that Parliament has full control over Public Finance and hence resolves that from 15 November, Secretaries to any and all Ministries have no authority to approve any payment of monies drawn from the funds of the Republic to pay for the salaries and other emoluments of Ministers, State Ministers, Deputy Ministers and their personal staff, and are also prohibited from defraying expenses incurred in foreign travel and internal air travel, including use of helicopters on behalf of the above Ministers.Any person taking any action in violation of this resolution will be dealt with according to the law.

Secretaries to Ministries are the Chief Accounting Officers (CFO) and are responsible for the disbursement of funds under their purview.