Sri Lanka slashes perks for former Presidents

Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Wednesday (September 10, 2025) voted to chop perks and privileges accorded to former presidents or their widows, because the ruling National People’s Power tries to maintain its ballot pledge of removing corruption and slashing extreme state expenditure.  

Passed with a two-thirds majority — that the ruling coalition enjoys — the vote repealed the Presidents’ Entitlements Act, a 1986 legislation that allowed provision of a residence or a month-to-month allowance, secretarial allowance, official transport, to a former President or the widow of a former President; and month-to-month pension paid to the widow of a former President.

It got here a day after Parliamentary  Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne knowledgeable the House of the Supreme Court’s dedication — half a dozen petitions sought to problem the federal government’s transfer to repeal the legislation — that the President’s Entitlements (Repeal) Bill didn’t violate the Constitution, and {that a} easy majority would suffice to enact it. “We are repealing the 1986 Act to avoid wasting taxpayers’ cash,” Minister of Justice Harshana Nanayakkara advised Parliament.

The legislation can be instantly relevant to Sri Lanka’s 5 residing former presidents — Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Ranil Wickremesinghe — and Hema Premadasa, spouse of late Ranasinghe Premadasa. Local media experiences mentioned Mr. Mahinda would possible vacate his mansion quickly.