Appointment of Harsha as COPF Chairman MPs should stand up to save legislature: SJB MP

• Says all MPs should make a decision and unite in preventing the President from interfering in Parliamentary affairs

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has expressed concerns over the involvement of President Ranil Wickremesinghe in the appointment of MP Harsha de Silva as the Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance (COPF).  

SJB MP Sujith Sanjaya Perera, speaking at a press conference, urged all MPs to unite in preventing the President from exerting control over Parliamentary Affairs, while emphasizing the need to safeguard the independence of the legislature.  

“It is the Selection Committee, which should have appointed Dr de Silva as the Chairman of COPF, but it was the President who decided on the matter,” he charged.  

 “This should not have been the case. All MPs should make a decision and must come together in preventing the President from interfering in Parliamentary affairs,” said MP Perera.  

“Technically the President need not have intervened. It is a matter for the Speaker,” Dr Harsha de Silva stated.   
“However in this case, the Speaker failed in his duty, and the President intervened to resolve the matter that dragged on for months,” he said.