By Sri Lanka is a country that loves commissions. You name it and it’s there. Although there have been a large number of commissions the outcome does not provide value for money.
The cost of ten Special Presidential Commissions of Inquiry is a staggering Rs 504 million. According to information disclosed in response to a right to information application.
The ten Special Presidential Commissions of Inquiry have been appointed within a period of eight years and there is no information on outcomes or deliverables.
Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed five presidential commissions with an expenditure of Rs. 337 million.
Former President Maithripala Sirisena also set up a number of commissions. He set up the Special PCoI to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC); the Commission to Investigate and Inquire into and Report on the Issuance of Treasury Bonds between February 1, 2015, and March 31, 2016; Commission into Irregularities at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka; Commission to Probe Fraud and Corruption in his own Government; and the Commission into the Easter Sunday Bombings. A journalist jokingly said ‘it is time to set up another commission to find out why so many commissions had to be setup’
