SJB to launch hunger strike to remove COPE Chairman

By Saman Indrajith

A hunger strike campaign will be initiated soon if Rohitha Abeygunawardena is not removed from the Chairman post of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) with immediate effect, says SJB Kurunegala District MP Nalin Bandara told Parliament.

MP Bandara said yesterday: “The members of the COPE are resigning one by one. Already eight members have tendered their resignations. Their protest is a reflection of displeasure the public have against appointing Abeygunawardena to this position. We demand that the Chairman be replaced with an MP from the Opposition. Whenever we raise this issue, the Chair tries to remain non-committal stating this and that. It should tell this House whether the Chairman would be removed or not,” Bandara said.

He said so when newly appointed COPE member SLPP Kandy District MP Wasantha Yapa Bandara announced his resignation from the Committee yesterday.

Soon after Deputy Speaker Ajith Rajapakshe announced to the House that the business committee had nominated MP Yapa Bandara’s name to the COPE to fill the vacancies created by resignations, Yapa Bandara got up and stated that he would resign. “This Committee demands that a member from the Opposition should be appointed as its Chairman. As such I resign from this Committee. I will send my resignation in writing,” Yapa Bandara said.

Nalin Bandara said: “Time has come for the Chair to announce to the House what it is intending to do in the face of these resignations. This crisis is evolving fast to become a catastrophe because people consider this a joke. This will further erode public trust in Parliament. As the Chair goes on without heeding to the voice of the people, it seems we’ll have to start a hunger strike to effect this change.”

Nine members have resigned from COPE since the appointment of Abeygunawardena to chair the committee.