By Asoka S. Seneviratne –

Prof. Asoka.S. Seneviratne

The Committee of Public Accounts (COPA) and Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) are parliamentary oversight bodies that determine whether current laws and appropriations are achieving intended results. Therefore, they have been vital and popular subjects of public concern and attention. Revelations of performances by COPA and COPE over the past governments, particularly the previous government, were not pleasant at all because (i) massive mismanagement, (ii) utter misuse, and (iii) rampant corrupt practices and irregularities (the evil Trio) indicated a colossal waste of public funds; there is an urgent need to think and act differently; revelations alone are not sufficient in the right direction or to generate the expected outcome. Furthermore, along with the meaning of “Rata Anurata”,  together given revenue/resources constraint and hence organization and management of limited resources towards “A Thriving Nation  A Beautiful Life”, there is a great need to eliminate the evil Trio. It is the public’s expectation because AKD/NPP let government is a turning point of 76 years of political history since 1948. Given the above, the AKD/NPP government has a crucial role to play in the responsibility and accountability of institutions under the purview of COPA and COPE.  COPA and COPE currently submit reports to parliament with an array of findings and from A-Z recommendations to make improvements or improve efficiency and effectiveness for each rupee spent. However, the history of COPA and COPE, to some extent to be only a media show or question-and-answer session, leading to a circle of the evil Trio, a question-and-answer session. Given the above, this paper suggests result-oriented or productive measures to be taken if COPA and COPF to be meaningful towards  “A Thriving Nation A Beautiful Life”.

Also, we often hear “Mafia” OR “Mafias” (i.e. organized body of criminals) that would affect “A Thriving Nation A Beautiful Life” in many ways. The public used to hear “Drug Mafia,” which is very popular because it has been a menace or significant threat to all in many ways and posed a considerable challenge for law enforcement authorities to deal with. Added to the above, vast evidence was found in the relationship between Sri Lanka Police (a subject matter of COPA) and drug lords/dealers. Recently, the “rice mafia” and “coconut mafia” have been added to the family of Mafias, again related to public institutions with COPE (i.e., the Paddy Marketing Board – PMB and Coconut Development Authority-CDA). We can go ahead; no doubt, many new mafias will come into force.  In the broader sense, “Rata Anura” means that law and order will be restored so that there is no room for any form of Mafias to emerge and disturb public life; it may be the case that Mafias influence the work of COPA and COPE.  Recently, it was reported in the media that Mafias were operating in auctions by Sri Lanka Customs, which is just the tip of the iceberg. Given the above, there is a great need to eliminate Mafias similar to the evil of Trio (i.e. massive mismanagement, utter misuse, and rampant corrupt practices, and irregularities)  because institutions related to mafias may directly or indirectly related  COPA and COPE. This paper examines all of the above based on information from published sources.

COPA and Its Duties

COPA was established in 1923 as the oldest parliamentary oversight body in Sri Lanka. Public Finance (i.e., Government Revenue and Expenditure) is a vested subject of Parliament. Article 148 of the Constitution in Sri Lanka states, “Parliament shall have full control over public finance. No tax, rate of any other levy shall be imposed by any local authority or any other public authority except by or under the authority of a law passed by Parliament or of any existing law”. Parliament exercises its functions over public finance in three (3) stages:

1. In-depth reviewing and approving revenue and expenditure estimates.

2. In-depth review and monitoring of the budget execution.

3. In-depth review and examination of the accountability of the government and its institutions.

Parliament executes the functions mentioned above as a whole and through COPA. Accordingly,  COPA is (i) required to report to parliament every three (3) months on the accounts examined, (ii) finances, (iii) financial procedures, (iv) financial performance, (v) and management (i.e. five oversights)  of any department, local authority, and on any matter arising thereupon. Furthermore, the report must include observations on matters that (i) require medical remedial action and (ii) recommendations to ensure the proper usage of public finance. Given the above, required remedial action is vitally important because it may be the case that (i) massive mismanagement, (ii) utter misuse, and (iii) rampant corrupt practices and irregularities are involved. For some time ago, when Prof. Tissa Vitarana was the Chairperson of COPA (2020), revenue-earning bodies of the Inland Revenue Department and Sri Lanka Customs and Excise Department were summoned before COPA because public media highlighted mounting corrupt practices and irregularities. Furthermore, as corruption and irregularities mounted, Prof Tissa Vitharana directed the development of a mechanism to report corruption and irregularities in state institutions immediately. This directive has been fundamental in many ways. The role of the media is vital to eliminating corrupt practices and irregularities. Therefore, COPA decided to open its meetings to the press as a matter of principle. Indeed, opening the committee to the media would facilitate its work more efficiently.

Rampant corrupt and irregularities revealed by COPA (as well as by affiliated bodies of the Attorney General’s Office-AG,  and Auditor General’s Office – AGO are numerous. Given the above, to work along 5 (five) above-mentioned oversights and remedial measures and recommendations thereby, the most famous is the rampant corrupt practices and irregularities related to the Ministry of Health in 2022. Minister Keheliaya Rabukwella was remanded regarding purchasing human immunoglobulin, and Rituximab can be used as a case study of COPA to  indicate whether current laws and appropriations are achieving intended results.

Regarding irregularities, Keheliya Rambukwella submitted a Cabinet paper requesting permission for the purchases to be carried out through the Medical Suppliers Division (MSD), when there were severe shortages of many drugs and medical devices in the country, the entire procedure was corrupt. Just to remind, another example is the MiG Deal” in 2007. Given the above, the cost of human life suffered and lost cannot be comprehended. In short, we could hardly find a department or local authority free of corruption and irregular practices or involvement from ministers to the bottom of the bureaucracy, so someone concludes that all departments and local authorities are the birthplace of rampant corrupt practices and irregularities. This means mounting work responsibilities for COPA and its affiliated institutions of the Attorney General’s (AG) and Auditor General’s offices.

COPA Case Study with Ministry of Health

It is relevant to indicate that the government manages 86 departments, 25 District Secretariats, 339 Divisional Secretariats, 340 state-owned enterprises and 115 non-commercial state statutory institutions (i.e total 905) and The national budget allocates Rs. 140 billion to manage these institutions. Except 340 state owned enter prices, COPA works with the rest (565). Given the above together above mentioned 5 insights related to the evil Trio, the issues and problems and hence the recommendations by COPA are more or less the same, so that it is matter of strict compliance or adherence. In view of the above, this paper works only with Ministry of Health as below to  determine whether current laws and appropriations are achieving intended results.

Regarding the Keheliya Rabukwella case, COPA vividly indicates the negative impact of corruption in public health sector procurement, urging for transparency, accountability, urgent reforms, and advocating for open contracting in procurement. Key findings revealed issues like improper storage conditions. They compromised patient safety, emphasizing the need for regulatory reforms and infrastructure enhancements to ensure pharmaceutical effectiveness and safety in Sri Lanka based on strategic planning, organization, and management.

At the same time, the auditor general indicated that aside from the foreign exchange shortages, factors like inadequate coordination and monitoring of procurement schedules contribute to the shortages, paving the way for corruption and irregularities in procurement. Finally, auditor general also revealed lack of coordination, not maintaining the required data/information and lack of forward planning with insight.

Recommendations to ensure the proper usage of public funds

In the context of COPA, having procurement plans, regulate drug purchases, ensure proper storage, and enhance quality control mechanisms, I would like use the following recommendation from Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) (i) Revise procurement plans and regulate drug purchases (ii) Ensure proper storage and estimate medicines for procurement (iii) Expedite circular issuance and address post-purchase quality issues (iv) Minimize supply expiration and ensure timely project implementation and (v) Rectify unregistered medicines issuance and enhance quality control. Furthermore, maintaining stock levels, improve coordination, and maximise assistance projects for effective medical supply management, following recommendations are from the Auditor General (i) Delegate procurement responsibilities promptly (ii)  Maintain a three-month stock of supplies for balanced control and cost (iii)  Implement a re-order stock level system for faster procurement (iv) Ensure proper management of stock levels (v) Update and utilize computer systems effectively and (vi) Enhance coordination among involved entities and monitor supply orders closely.

As revealed by COPA, AG, and Auditor General, the problems and issues of the public health sector are crystal clear, and the recommendations thereof are to generate a positive outcome without going through another round of questions-and-answer sessions, a circle of corruption and irregularities. With the AKD/NPP government, it is expected that the above-mentioned circle will not take place for whatever reason or cause, except to generate only positive results.

COPE, the Evil Trio, and Recommendations

The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) was established on 21.06.1979 to ensure the observance of financial discipline in Public Corporations and other Semi Governmental bodies in which the Government has a financial stake. The duty of the Committee is to report to Parliament on accounts examined, budgets and estimates, financial procedures, performance and management of Corporations and other Government Business Undertakings. The Auditor-General audits the accounts of these organizations and form the basis of the investigations of the Committee. It has the power to summon the relevant officials and such other people as it thinks fit to obtain evidence and call for documents. The Committee reports to the Parliament and the recommendations contained in their reports are deemed to be directives to the respective Corporations or Statutory Boards for due compliance.

There are 340 State-Owned Enterprises or Public Enterprises, and all of them, one way or another, came under the radar of the Committee on Public Enterprises. It is not intended to discuss all Public Enterprises, but one of the famous and hotly discussed People’s Bank is worth mentioning to ensure the observance of financial dieseline. It was revealed that the Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) of state-owned People’s Bank increased to 45.94%, and loans borrowed by 10 enterprises and individuals among them. In 2022, COPE directed People’s Bank to submit a full report on non-performing loans to the tune of Rs. 54 billion. COPE said the report should include details on how the loans were evaluated and the persons involved in giving such approval, saying that this information will be made public. The above example is just the tip of the iceberg, and generally, most public enterprises are a significant burden on the government treasury. The Cabinet has recently decided to review the state-owned enterprises, non-commercial institutions, some of which are redundant. As the government reduced the cabinet from 76 to 23, it is essential to  do the same with public enterprises, either by amalgamation where it is possible or  closure without affecting the staff, so the overall benefits would be higher than the cost in the long run. The above action means that the effectiveness of COPE can undoubtedly be improved. Generally, public enterprises problems and issues vary, hence the recommendations to overcome them. However, all above go with the evil of Trio, and accordingly, COPE, AG and the Auditor General have given recommendations to comply with.

Dealing with Mafia (s).

Restoring law and order and strictly adhering to the same is the solution. In a broader sense, recent disclosure of the operation of the President’s Fund is a Mafia, because it has been a captive source of some influential politicians, simply violated all procedures. As investigation has been undertaken together as I have highlighted important facts and figures in my recent article “President Fund’s is a Tragedy” (Colombo Telegraph), it is not intended to write further. However, under the regime of AKD/NPP, any form of Mafia cannot be existed, so that it must be eliminated along with the expected outcome of COPA and COPE as indicated above. Furthermore, now COPA and COPE under the radar of AKD/NPP government, and therefore system change must be ensured/proved.

What is next

It should be noted that both COPA and COPE committees have done a stunningly outstanding job. However, the utmost concern is as follows. If those institutions and officials related to COPA and COPE’s revelations and recommendations are adhered and followed, the public can expect substantial improvement and progress.  However, it is disappointing that those expectations have  not been met, still drag on. As example, it has been nearly two years that crucial medicines in short supply. However, the latest news is that by only 2026 drug shortage can be overcome, mounting pain for patients. This questions the efficacy and usefulness of the above mentioned recommendations. Recently Minister Hadunneththi stated about the  state officials, “ before we took over power, we had struggled on the streets for the rights of the people, against wastage, looting, fraud, and corruption, and also to criticize the government’s wrongdoings. Now, we have to struggle with state officials who worked and took decisions according to the policies of former governments by working against the people, not providing them relief and violating their rights. Now, they have an issue of getting rid of old practices. They do not realize the magnitude and the nature of the mandate. They find it difficult to realize that President Anura Kumara was given a mandate against the policies they had adopted during former governments,”, which is alarming. Furthermore, while rice shortage is a burning issue, the chairman of Sri Lanka Sathosa, failed to carry out its promise to import rice due to some flaws in the process of preparing tenders, while   private traders who have already imported 72,000 MT of rice. The state sector stands exposed for its inefficiency. Sri Lanka Sathosa is a birthplace for corruption, waste and mismanagement (i.e. Garlic scam). Given the above, public tend to think that the new government is not competent enough to carry out even a simple task like importing rice, some consumer protection groups want probe by CID to see has anyone scuttled the government’s import plan in support of the private sector importers. In short “state sector officials” are under the radar of AKD/NPP government because some state sector officials think and act it is still the former regime is in power.

Currently, there are no measures to punish or tame the culprits except for some warnings and strict advice by COPA and COPE for compliance. This is a huge vacuum to determine whether current laws and appropriations are achieving intended results. In other words, this vacuum is a decisive factor in deciding the effectiveness and usefulness of COPA and COPE in many ways. Given the above, I would like to propose the following to overcome the vacuum:

1. The Auditor General must be given the power and authority to prosecute the culprits, and also, as per TISR,

2. Empowering Public Engagement, discuss how engaging the public in combating the evil Trio fosters transparency and accountability.

3. Public Vigilance and Reporting encourage individuals to remain vigilant and report instances of the evil Trio.

4. Formulate well and quickly accessible reporting/complaining flat form (e.g., newspaper column) and introduce rewarding/awarding meaxchnisnsm

*Among many, the writer worked as the Special Advisor to the Office of the President of Namibia and was a Senior Consultant with UNDP for 20 years. He worked as a Senior Economist with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (1972-1993) before he migrated to New Zealand. The writer can contact via asoka.seneviratne@gmail.com