Ranawaka Must Not Sit In Constitutional Council To Select IGP: CC Member
April 16, 2016
With just two more days to go for the Constitutional Council to decide on the country’s 34th Inspector General of Police (IGP), a member of the Constitutional Council has declared that if Minister Champika Ranawaka has any ‘credibility and integrity’ he should not sit at the meeting on April 18th to select the next IGP.
Minister Champika Ranawaka
Member of the Constitutional Council W.D.J. Seneviratne agreed that there was a clear conflict of interest if Ranawaka was present at Monday’s meeting, as Senior DIG Pujith Jayasundara who is one of the contenders for the post of police chief was investigating the hit and run accident in Rajagiriya involving Ranawaka, which left one person critically injured.
“Whether to sit in or sit out of this crucial meeting is a decision that only Mr. Ranawaka can take himself. However, if he wants to prove his credibility and integrity, then he must think of the consequences of voting for one of the candidates at this meeting,” Seneviratne told the Colombo Telegraph.
The Constitutional Council will meet on Monday to take the final decision on the 34th IGP after N.K. Illangakoon retired from service on Monday. Currently three names have been proposed, including that of Jayasundara, Chandana Wickramaratne and acting IGP S. M. Wickremesinghe.
Seneviratne pointed out that the members of the Constitutional Council cannot ask Ranawaka to sit out of the meeting despite the clear conflict of interest. “But, if I was him, I will not participate in the meeting to select the IGP,” Seneviratne added.
