Ending ex-presidents’ benefits: For public good or political vendetta?

THE Government may deny it, but the Presidents’ Entitlements (Repeal) Bill which was passed by Parliament yesterday seems to target one man, namely former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. A section in the Government seems to have strong desire to get the former president out of his official residence at Wijerama Mawatha and to do so a bill to repeal entitlements given to former presidents and their widows was introduced. This after repeated attempts by the Government to arm-twist Rajapaksa out of the official residence failed.

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Cabinet spokesman Minister Nalinda Jayatissa, when asked by journalists on Tuesday, said the law was not introduced targeting former President Mahinda Rajapaksa but instead to cut benefits to all former presidents; however, the Government’s record on this tells a different story.

President Anura Kumara Disanayake said at a public rally in January that the monthly rental value for the Wijerama residence that Rajapaksa occupies was estimated at Rs. 4.6 million and the valuation had been done by the Government Valuation Department. His message to President Rajapaksa was, pay up or quit. There are questions about how accurate this estimate is given that an RTI applicant seeking the valuation report on the Presidential Secretariat was told that no such information was available to them.

In response to calls for him to quit the house, a lawyer for Rajapaksa asked for it in writing but that was not forthcoming and instead the Government brought the bill to have the former president ousted.