Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has been requested by Galle District Councilor Chandima Weerakkodi in Parliament to once again summon Defense Secretary General (Retired) Kamal Gunaratne and Army Commander Lt. Gen. Vikum Liyanage to the Ethics and Privileges Committee of the Parliament. Sri Lanka’s Latest News.
The Speaker informed the Parliament about this on the 24th. The MP made the above request on the 6th of March.
The MP’s request was prompted by an article sent by the Ministry of Defense to the ‘Sathiaga Aruna’ newspaper distorting the recommendations of the Committee on Parliamentary Ethics and Privileges.
This situation was caused by a disagreement between the MP the Defense Secretary and the Army Commander in the Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security regarding a proposal to reduce the personnel of the armed forces to 100,000. As an alternative to reducing the staff, the MP has mentioned that it is advisable to reduce the facilities provided to the senior officers of the armed forces. On this occasion, the committee investigated a complaint made by the MP that the Secretary of Defense and the Army Commander had argued with him by threatening and threatening him and recommended that the two officers should apologize to the MP.
The Ministry of Defense, which had clarified the matter, had stated that the issue was resolved after the two officers expressed their regret to the committee and not to the MP.
The MP raised the issue of privilege for the second time and requested the Speaker to summon these two officers to the Committee on Privileges, pointing out that the statement was not true.
“If I had not agreed with humanity then, I would have been punished by the court. According to the Committee Act, the Committee has no power to punish such an offence. It has been mentioned in the Act that such an offense can be punished only by the Supreme Court. According to the ministry’s explanation to the newspaper, the Privileges Act has been violated. I draw the attention of the Speaker regarding this behavior of making a mockery of the Parliament. I request that these two persons be summoned to the Privileges Committee and dealt with under the Act. Parliament has been largely ridiculed today. Parliament may be further undermined due to such activities. In this regard, it is requested to proceed under the provisions of the Privileges Act. The councilor said.
The Speaker has referred this request to the Privileges Committee and parliamentary sources stated that the Defense Secretary and the Army Commander will be called back to investigate this.