The audit act that that paves way for the move will be tabled in parliament soon, he says.

There is no delay in the process, and the government wants to do that in a democratic manner, says Karunanayake.

Noting that he is the only chartered accountancy qualified MP in the present parliament, he says he wants to speed up the adoption of the audit act.

People, who have learnt a lesson of how centralization of power within a dictator took the country to ruin, will never oppose devolving the AG’s powers, says the minister.

Meanwhile, the prime minister has told AG Gamini Wijesinghe to find another job, after the latter made a request to the constitutional council to raise his salary.

The AG’s salary is on par with secretaries of ministries, and raising his salary will lead to anomalies, the PM has noted.

The premier is unhappy with the AG over the report he has submitted to COPE on ex-Central Bank governor Arjun Mahendran.

(Sathhanda/Lakbima)