Sri Lanka’s socialist administration have demanded that past presidents, including the once-powerful Rajapaksa brothers, vacate opulent government residences as part of a new austerity campaign.
The government has chosen to turn the majestic homes into exclusive boutique hotels or museums, Information Minister Nalinda Jayatissa told reporters in Colombo.
The information minister stated that rather than giving government housing, the state would pay past leaders $107 in rent every month, as required by a 1986 statute.
Jayatissa noted that former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was occupying a government house with a monthly rental value of $16,500, which is more than 150 times his official entitlement.
“The government will not provide housing for ex-presidents or their widows in future,” Jayatissa said.
“They will only receive a rent allowance equivalent to one-third of their pension, which is Rs30,000.”
Jayatissa said the former leader could take Tuesday’s public statement as his notice and vacate the premises immediately.
According to reports, Rajapaksa, as prime minister in 2021, had spent some Rs800 million of government money refurbishing the house he currently occupies as a former president.
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.
Current President Anura Kumara Dissanayake came to power in September on a pledge to fight corruption and tightened his grip after his party won a landslide in snap parliamentary polls.
The new government drastically reduced the number of security personnel assigned to former leaders last month, a move that authorities said saved more than Rs1,200 ($4.3 million) annually for taxpayers.
The security of the two Rajapaksa brothers cost the state more than Rs1,017 million ($3.63 million) last year, the government said.
They ruled Sri Lanka for a decade until 2015 and again from November 2019 to July 2022.
