Sri Lanka’s former president and credibly accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa is searching for a new residence in Colombo after parliament voted overwhelmingly to strip former heads of state of their state-funded perks, including official housing.
The President’s Entitlements (Repeal) Bill was passed this week by 151 votes to one, with Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne certifying it into law as the President’s Entitlements (Repeal) Act, No. 18 of 2025. The legislation revokes the Presidents’ Entitlements Act, No. 4 of 1986 and abolishes allowances, transport facilities, secretarial support, and official residences for former presidents and their widows.
Rajapaksa, who has occupied a sprawling official residence on Wijerama Mawatha, will now be required to vacate the property. A source close to him confirmed that his supporters have begun searching for a new house in Colombo “with sufficient space to facilitate his public engagements.”
The former president’s residence became symbolic of the measure, with current Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake disclosing that it carried a monthly rental value of more than Rs. 4.6 million. Dissanayake, who came to power pledging to slash political privileges, argued that taxpayers could no longer fund such benefits.
Last month, Gotabaya’s successor Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested over allegations of misusing public funds while in office.
Rajapaksa has previously said he would vacate if formally requested, though his family denounced the move as “political retaliation.”
Former presidents Maithripala Sirisena and Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga will also lose their state residences, while Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe already reside in private homes.
The repeal bill was one of Dissanayake’s election pledges, riding on the wave of public anger that followed Sri Lanka’s 2022 economic collapse. That crisis, which saw acute shortages of food, fuel, and medicine, triggered mass protests that forced Gotabaya Rajapaksa from office and toppled the political dynasty once headed by Mahinda.
The law preserves pension rights for former presidents but reallocates properties currently in their use for state functions. It also abolishes pension payments to presidential widows.