Politicising the post of Auditor General

The Auditor General is a highly critical position within the structure of public administration in the country, and he or she heads the National Audit Office (NAO) - a crucial independent constitutional office responsible for auditing public finances, ensuring accountability, and reporting to the Parliament. 

In unprecedented circumstances, the key post which is responsible for ensuring the accountability of state finances, has remained substantively vacant since last April under a political administration which championed the virtue of accountability and transparency in public spending before coming into power.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s nomination to the coveted post has been rejected by the members of the Constitutional Council (CC) on 3 occasions so far and the State has been without an Auditor General (either acting or permanent) since 7 December. The President’s most recent nominee O.R. Rajasinghe – the Internal Audit Director of the Sri Lanka Army – was voted down by the members of the CC two weeks ago. During the CC meeting, at which the President’s nominee was taken up for voting, only four members had voted in favour of the nominee while five had voted against. Meanwhile, a prominent Opposition legislator has already voiced his displeasure about the inability of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) – key parliamentary oversight committees – to undertake their functions after 6 January 2026, due to the non-appointment of an auditor general.

Last week, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) urged President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to take immediate steps to appoint a permanent Auditor General in accordance with the Constitution, stressing that such an appointment was essential to safeguard the integrity of the NAO and to maintain the confidence of citizens as well as international partners in the State’s financial governance while expressing deep concern over the prolonged failure to appoint a permanent Auditor General following the retirement of the former Auditor General in April 2025. Even Chair of the Committee on Public Finance (COPF), Dr. Harsha de Silva, in a letter addressed to the President, emphasised that absence of an Auditor General disrupts constitutional mandates under Articles 148 and 154, which grant the legislature control over public finances. Analysts have pointed out the necessity of having a permanent Auditor General at a time when the nation is  currently emerging from a severe financial crisis with the assistance of the International Monetary Fund under the Extended Fund Facility program, as well as support from other international agencies in addition to receiving substantial financial assistance from foreign bilateral and multilateral donor partners in the aftermath of the disaster caused by Cyclone Ditwah.

Concerns have been expressed by the representatives of the civil society as well as good governance activists about the Government’s moves to appoint individuals who are personally and politically affiliated to the NPP administration, which undermines the independence and autonomy the post of Auditor General is vested with by the constitution of the country. The powerful official does not come under the supervision of any Minister or officer of the Government and are entitled to access all necessary documents and information.

People could recall how the NPP/JVP severely criticised former President Mahinda Rajapaksa when he appointed Mohan Peris, a personal friend of the former, as Chief Justice in 2013. It is quite strange that a political coalition which pledged to break free from business as usual is attempting to do the very things they vigorously opposed not so long ago. Few months ago, the President nominated H.T.P. Chandana, an audit officer at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, to the highly sensitive position. The nominee was said to be a contemporary of Dissanayake at the University of Kelaniya.

Nevertheless, the Government must take swift action and appoint an Auditor General without unwarranted delay to ensure the integrity of public financial transparency without trying to politicise one of the most critical state institutions.