Charitha Herath to replace Dr. Harsha in COPE

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa told the Parliament that Dr. Harsha De Silva who was named as a member of the Committee on Public Enterprises will step down, and he will be replaced by former COPE Chairman Professor Charitha Herath.

"Dr. Harsha De Silva will voluntarily step down from COPE. He will be replaced by Prof. Charitha Herath," said the opposition leader.

He requested the Speaker to allow the Opposition take charge of the Committee on Public Enterprises.

However, he said tht attempts are being made to deny the opposition of the posts of Chairmen of both the Committee on Public Enterprises and the Committee on Public Accounts.

The Committee on Public Enterprises, commonly known as COPE ceased to function when the President decided to prorogue parliament on the 28th of July 2022.

COPE led by Professor Charitha Herath was already digging deep in to multiple government transactions, and produced three key reports to the Parliament.

During the same period COPE produced 12 Special Investigations Reports on individual investigations into Government Enterprises including Sri Lanka Cricket, SriLankan Airlines, Litro Gas, and the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka.

At the time when Parliament was prorogued COPE had already decided to investigate the reasons for Sri Lanka's economic collapse from 2018 to 2022, and the transactions surrounding the Ceylon Electricity Board.

Professor Charitha Herath had left the ruling faction to become an independent MP with the opposition, and this time around his name was not proposed to COPE from the Ruling Faction.

Sri Lanka's Parliament speaker announced the 17 members who would represent the government in COPE.

They are, Jagath Pushpakumara, Janaka Wakkumbura, Lohan Ratwatte, ndika Anuruddha Herath, D. V. Chanaka, Shantha Bandara, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Rohitha Abegunawardhana, Nimal Lanza, S. M. M. Muszhaaraff, Sanjeeva Edirimanna, Jagath Kumara Sumithraarachchi, Premnath C. Dolawatte, Upul Mahendra Rajapaksha, Rajika Wickramasinghe, Madhura Withanage, and (Prof.) Ranjith Bandara. 

The opposition is only represented by 10 Members of Parliament and they are Anura Dissanayake, Rauff Hakeem, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Dr. Harsha De Silva, Eran Wickremeratne, Nalin Bandara Jayamaha, S. M. Marikkar, Mujibur Rahuman, Rohini Kumari Wijeratne, Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam.

With Tuesday's (4) development Dr. Harsha De Silva will no longer be a member of COPE, and as the opposition proposed Professor Charitha Herath will replaced him in the Committee on Public Enterprises.