New Parliamentary committees to be appointed this week

By Yohan Perera   

New committees such as the Committee on Public Enterprises  (COPE), Committee on Public Accounts and others will be appointed this  week, the Parliament Communication Unit said yesterday. 

“House  should approve the committee of selections first for the appointment of  other committees. A motion to appoint the committee of selections which  will comprise MPs from both the ruling party and the opposition will be  presented to the House today. We should be able to begin  the appointment of committees by Thursday,” Director Communications  Parliament Jayalath Perera told Daily Mirror.   

A vast majority of members who are representing Parliament  for the first time are expected to be appointed to committees this time.  More than 160 MPs are first-timers.   

The situation with regard to COPA would be the same as many  of its members including Mohan Priyadarshana de Silva, Lasantha  Alagiyawanna, Prasanna Ranaweera, Suren Raghavan, S. B. Dissanayake,  Tissa Attanayake, Ashok Abeysinghe, Jayantha Ketagoda, Buddhika  Pathirana, Pradeep Undugoda, Mano Ganesan, Sarath Weerasekera, Isuru  Dodangoda, Sudarshini Fernandopulle are out of Parliament.   

In addition, other committees such as the petitions committee  and Ministerial Consultative Committees will have a vast majority of new  members.   
Rohitha Abeygunawardena who was the last Chairman of COPE  and Harsha de Silva who was the Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance  have returned to Parliament while the previous chairman of COPE Lasantha  Alagiyawanna is out of Parliament this time.