By Shamindra Ferdinando

Labour and Foreign Employment Ministry Secretary, R.P.A. Wimalaweera, who is also the Chief Accounting Officer of the Ministry, has been asked to appear before the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) today (18) to explain the failure on his part to address concerns raised by the parliamentary watchdog, late last year.

At a special meeting, chaired by COPE, on January 05th, the all-party grouping decided to summon Wimlaweera in the wake of Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara’s strong criticism of Auditor General W.P.C. Wickramaratne, and the watchdog, as well.

COPE Chairman Prof. Ranjith Bandara confirmed Wimaraweera’s scheduled appearance. Responding to The Island queries, the academic said that the issue at hand would be soon taken up with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Premier Dinesh Gunawardena, a well. “The draft of the letter is ready,” the SLPP National List MP said.

Minister Nanayakkara challenged the COPE and the AG, at the National Productivity Award ceremony, held on Dec. 15, 2022, at Temple Trees, under the auspices of Premier Dinesh Gunawardena. Actually, the Premier as the leader of the government parliamentary group, should have pulled up the Minister, COPE member MP Mujibur Rahuman said.

Perhaps, Minister Nanayakkara’s angry response reflected the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government’s attitude towards, not only COPE, but the Committee on Public Accounts and Committee on Public Finance, the former UNP MP said.

Declaring that ministers couldn’t challenge COPE, under any circumstances, Auditor General Wickramaratne has told the January 05 meeting that the controversial speech by Nanayakkara was made in the Premier’s presence.

MP Rahuman stressed the urgent need to clarify the status of watchdog committees, in the wake of Minister Nanayakkara’s declaration that the COPE didn’t have the authority to issue such directives.

The Auditor General, however, has reminded COPE that in terms of the Standing Orders it could even make recommendations to Parliament. The intrepid official has stressed that Secretary to Labour and Foreign Employment Ministry R.P.A. Wimalaweera was yet to address their concerns.

Minister Nanayakkara is on record as having alleged, at the Temple Trees meeting, that the AG and COPE undermined measures taken by the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB) to expedite sending workers to South Korea. The Minister questioned COPE and AG for finding fault with special payments made to employees to speed up the process.