Speaker way off mark on parliament costs

The People’s Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL) Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi told The Island that a single parliamentary session cost Sri Lankan taxpayer a whopping Rs 25,721,413 mn and not Rs 4.6 mn to Rs 5mn as previously estimated.

Â

The civil society activist said that the PAFFREL had recently obtained parliamentary expenses in terms of the Right to Information Law.

Â

According to K.A. Rohanadeera, Assistant Secretary General of Parliament made available to The Island by PAFFREL, 95 sittings in 2017 had cost Rs 2,443,534,315.

Â

When The Island pointed out that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had estimated the cost of a single sitting at about Rs. 5 million, Hettiarachchi said obviously the accounts taken into consideration now and then were different.

Â

Hettiarachchi said that massive expenditure the country incurred in maintaining parliament should be examined in the context of extremely poor performance of lawmakers.

Â

Hettiarachchi said that in response to his RTI query, the parliament had acknowledged that the House didn’t maintain a record of lawmakers’ absences even on days sittings were suspended for want of a quorum, which is 20 MPs.