• Says action by Privileges Committee will preserve P’ment privileges, powers

While requesting Speaker of the Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana to pave the way for strict action against Secretary to the Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies Ministry and the general Treasury, Mahinda Siriwardana over the non-release of funds allocated for the Local Government (LG) elections through the 2023 Budget, Opposition Parliamentarian Prof. G.L. Peiris said that the same would preserve not only Parliamentary privileges, but also its fundamental powers.

Speaking at a media briefing yesterday (27), he said: “Samagi Jana Balawegaya General Secretary and MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara recently handed over a complaint to Abeywardana. He has raised a matter concerning the privileges of the Parliament through that complaint. He said that the Parliament allocated a sum of Rs. 10 billion last year (2022) for the LG elections. That sum was allocated only for that purpose, and nothing else. However, Siriwardana is not releasing that sum now. He disrupts its release, and it is an unfair and unjustifiable challenge to Parliamentary privileges.” If Siriwardana's act is not being considered as a breach of the privileges of the Parliament, he queried as to what should be considered as such. 

"I don't see any more serious a violation of Parliamentary privileges than that. If the Parliament and the Speaker do not intervene and take action in that regard, what is the point? This is why Madduma Bandara has submitted a complaint to Abeywardana in writing. We request him to refer this complaint to the Parliamentary Committee on Ethics and Privileges and to take strict action. Such a move will preserve not only the Parliamentary privileges, but also its fundamental powers, especially those related to public finance administration," he added. 

Speaking further, Prof. Peiris said that out of the many powers vested in the Parliament, public finance related powers are the most important. Against that backdrop, if Siriwardana “contemptuously” refuses to release a sum of money allocated to an institution for a specific purpose, he said that it is clearly an insult to Parliamentary privileges and powers. Therefore, he requested the Speaker to refer the complaint made by Madduma Bandara to the relevant Committee as soon as possible and to take action against Siriwardana.

When contacted by The Daily Morning to query as to whether the relevant complaint had been forwarded to the Parliamentary Committee on Ethics and Privileges, Abeywardana said: “Not yet. It has to be presented to the Parliament first.”

While the Supreme Court, considering a fundamental rights application filed by Madduma Bandara, had issued an interim order preventing Siriwardana from withholding funds allocated for election related purposes through the 2023 Budget, he (Siriwardana) is yet to take steps to release the required funds and has instead forwarded the recent related requests made by the Election Commission and Government Printer Gangani Liyanage to subject Minister, President Ranil Wickremesinghe.