COLOMBO : Sri Lanka’s leftist government asked former presidents, including the once-powerful Rajapaksa brothers, on Tuesday ( Jan 21 ) to immediately vacate luxury government bungalows as part of a new austerity drive.
The government has decided to change the stately homes into upscale boutique hotels or galleries, Information Minister Nalinda Jayatissa told investigators in Colombo.
He said the state would give erstwhile leaders book exceeding US$ 107 a month, as they are entitled to under a 1986 laws, instead of providing state cover.
Jayatissa noted that former senator Mahinda Rajapaksa was occupying a authorities house with a regular rental price of US$ 16,500, which is more than 150 days his official rights.
” The authorities will not provide cover for ex-presidents or their wives in coming,” Jayatissa said.
” They will only receive a rent allowance equivalent to one-third of their pension, which is 30,000 rupees ( US$ 100 ). “
There was no fast reply from Mahinda Rajapaksa, but a local media statement said he was ready to vacate if given written notice.
Jayatissa said the former president may get Tuesday’s public statement as his observe and vacate the premises immediately.
Media accounts said Rajapaksa, as prime minister in 2021, had spent some 800 million pounds of federal money refurbishing the property he now occupies as a former senator.
His younger brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was forced to step down from the presidency in July 2022 over allegations of economic mismanagement and corruption, is also occupying a state mansion.
Two other former presidents – Chandrika Kumaratunga and Maithripala Sirisena – are living in government housing in Colombo’s fashionable diplomatic quarters.
Many of the houses were built during British colonial rule for top civil servants from London.