The government has deleted from the action plan of the Ministry of Justice and National Integration its commitment to abolish the pensions and special privileges of retired presidents and their families, a document obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act shows.
In March, the secretary to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake issued a circular to the secretaries of all ministries pointing to a Cabinet decision taken that month to accept the National People’s Power election manifesto—“A thriving nation, a beautiful life”—as their national policy framework.
It also said that “all ministries have reviewed the commitments identified for them and conveyed proposed amendments to the Presidential Secretariat. The finalised benchmarks were published in an annexe that was not publicly released with the circular.
The Sunday Times obtained the annexe by filing an RTI request to the Presidential Secretariat. Among a large number of proposals under the Justice and National Integration Ministry—including to “address unresolved and unprosecuted cases relating to the 2022 protest and expedite legal proceedings with proper protocols”—a proposal to delete
“abolish pensions and special privileges given to retired presidents and their families” has been marked as “accepted”.
Also deleted is the commitment to “safeguard the voting rights of persons migrating for jobs within and outside the country”.
Retained in the relevant ministry’s action plan is the commitment to “abolish the executive presidency and to appoint a president without executive powers by the parliament”.
It was reported earlier this year that a committee appointed by President Dissanayake found that there was a constitutional bar in the way of the government’s intention to cut these privileges. For instance, it was found that some of the benefits could not be abolished without constitutional amendments.
Article 36(2) of the Constitution says, “Upon the assumption of the office of President the holder of such office shall become entitled to the receipt of such salary and allowances and thereafter, of such pension as may be determined by Parliament. Any subsequent amendment, repeal or replacement of this Article and any subsequent law or any provision thereof inconsistent with this Article shall not have retrospective operation.”
And Article 36(4) says, “Parliament may by resolution increase, but shall not reduce, the salary, allowances or pension entitlement of the holders of the office of President.”
(sundaytimes.lk)
(This story, originally published by sundaytimes.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)
