Expensive to maintain ex presidents: Sri Lanka government

Colombo, Nov 6 (PTI) Sri Lanka government on Wednesday announced that a committee is reviewing the issue of the expenditure on security details for former presidents and a decision would be taken only after its report.

Declaring that it is expensive to maintain the former presidents, Vijitha Herath, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the cabinet spokesperson, told reporters here that the government incurs an expenditure as high as Rs 1,100 million annually for it.

“Once the committe report comes out, we will put it up to the cabinet for appropriate action,” he said.

Rs 1,100 exceeds the amount allocated to the police hospital, Herath said and added, over 100 police and military personnel have been allocated to each one of the six former presidents/widows.

Herath was responding to a letter written by the former president Chandrika Kumaratunga to the Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday claiming that her security has been reduced.

She claimed that there is information that the members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who ran a violent campaign for creating a separate Tamil state, have vowed to kill her.

Herath said her security had not been reduced and that it was a false claim.

The current government in the run upto the presidential election had pledged to slash all privileges extended to former presidents, including personal security.

However, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, after he was elected, appointed a committee to report to the cabinet on the privileges.

Herath said slashing of security was needed given its high cost to the public exchequer. “In future, there will be apportioned security provided to them based on assessments,” he added. PTI CORR NPK NPK