Sri Lanka to save over LKR1,000 million annually by slashing security of former Presidents

Image used for representational purpose only. , Photo Credit: Reuters

The annual saving by slashing the excessive personal security provided to former presidents would be LKR1200 million, parliament was told on Tuesday (December 17, 2024).

The personnel security provided to former Presidents would be slashed from January 1, the government has already announced.

Also read | Political sparring in Sri Lanka over privileges to ex-Presidents

The Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala on Tuesday said the government’s aim was to ensure the security of the entire country and the decision to cut excessive security (for former Presidents) was in line with the government policy.

“We pledged to the country that we would ensure that those holding high public positions are as same as the rest of the citizens. We wanted to end the culture of big VIP convoys speeding on our roads disregarding traffic rules,” Mr. Wijepala said.

Mr. Wijepala said LKR1,448 million had been spent to provide security during 2024 to ex-Presidents. “This is a burden on the people in these hard times,” Mr. Wijepala said.

The former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s share of expenditure was the highest with LKR710 million for the deployment of over 310 personnel for his personal protection.

“It is not that we have personally targeted the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa,” Mr. Wijepala said adding that new deployments have come from scientific threat assessments done on the security needs of all six of them.

Mr. Wijepala said all would be provided just 60 police personnel each under the new arrangements as recommended by the committee which assessed the issue.

The opposition Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), which Mr. Rajapaksa heads, dubbed the move a political act of vengeance claiming he was still under threat from remnants of the LTTE.

He is largely credited for victory over the LTTE, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, that had run a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader V. Prabhakaran.