Give COPE & COPA power to recover misused funds; SLAS tells Namal

The Sri Lanka Administrative Service Association proposed that the Committee on Public Finance and the Committee on Public Enterprises be given the powers recover the money lost to the government from the officials who misused the public funds and the politicians who decided to misuse the government funds and also to enable for them to be subjected to the judicial process and be punished.

Discussions on this regard took place at the National Council Sub-Committee on Identifying Priorities in Formulating Short-, Medium- and Long- Term Policies which met in Parliament yesterday (Oct. 18) under the chairmanship of Namal Rajapaksa, Member of Parliament.

The Sri Lanka Administrative Service Association attended the meeting held to obtain expert opinions for the National Council Sub-Committee on Identifying Priorities in Formulating Short-, Medium- and Long- Term Policies.

Accordingly, the Sri Lanka Administrative Service Association presented a proposal containing amendments related to the executive presidential system of the country, amendments related to the Council of Ministers and ideas and suggestions for the reforming of the public service.

The sub-committee also discussed at length the need to amend the ordinances to remove the existing legal obstacles for upgrading the public service through digitization, and the association pointed out that it would enable the creation of a more efficient public service which is an essential factor.

The chairperson informed the Sri Lanka Administrative Service Association to submit short-term amendment proposals related to updating the public service to the committee within two weeks.

The chairperson of the sub-committee pointed out that a national policy can be quickly prepared after submitting the amendments to the parliament through the National Council.

Namal Rajapaksa, Member of Parliament also pointed out that through reforming the public service by way of a national policy, the services needed by the people can be provided more quickly and with high efficiency.

Members of Parliament, Johnston Fernando and Sagara Kariyawasam were also present at this Committee meeting held.