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.

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.

Of the five former presidents, only Mahinda Rajapaksa occupies an official residence.

The other former presidents namely Chandrika Kumaratunga, Maithripala Sirisena, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe reside in their private residences though they get the secretarial allowances, office space, etc. Hence only Mahinda Rajapaksa will have to vacate the official residence once the new law comes into effect. The new law will do away with official residences, monthly allowances, monthly secretarial allowance and official transport and such other facilities provided to former Presidents or their widows.

The Bill cannot do away with the pensions being paid to former presidents as 36 (1) of the Constitution provides for the payment of a salary, allowances and pension to holders of the office of President. 

Hema Premadasa, the widow of late President Ranasinghe Premadasa occupies an official residence though she receives a monthly pension under the existing Presidents’ Entitlements Act. Her pension rights will be abolished under the new law.

As for the matter of security, the former president will continue to be given the adequate security as the situation demands and in the case of the two Rajapaksa brothers, having been the driving force behind the operation to defeat the LTTE, taking their security lightly would be a grave mistake. Politics aside, the state intelligence services should decide on security based on risk assessment and not on political expediency as we have seen the heavy cost the country has paid in the past due to this.

People of the country have a love-hate relationship with Mahinda Rajapaksa. As an individual he remains immensely popular with the public, but his wider family has been the bane not only for him but also for the country. Mahinda Rajapaksa has been and will remain a people’s politician and hence the emotional attachment that many of his supporters have with him.

The former president hasn’t lost his political touch as can be seen whenever he makes a public appearance. That the Government is insecure about a man whose political career is at its end tells more about the Government than about Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Former leaders in any country in the world are entitled to official residences, security and other benefits. Be it India, the UK or the USA, or for that matter Russia and China too, former leaders are given certain benefits. It’s not a political vendetta, said President Disanayake when speaking on removing benefits for former presidents. This bill has vendetta written all over it.