COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s leftist government asked former presidents, including the once-powerful Rajapaksa brothers, on Tuesday to immediately vacate luxury government bungalows as part of a new austerity drive.

The government has decided to convert the stately homes into upmarket boutique hotels or museums, Information Minister Nalinda Jayatissa told reporters in Colombo.

He said the state would pay former leaders rent totalling $107 a month, as they are entitled to under a 1986 law, instead of providing government housing.

Jayatissa noted that former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was occupying a government house with a monthly rental value of $16,500 (4.6 million rupees), which is more than 150 times his official entitlement.

“The government will not provide housing for ex-presidents or their widows in future,” Jayatissa said.

“They will only receive a rent allowance equivalent to one-third of their pension, which is 30,000 rupees.” There was no immediate comment from Mahinda Rajapaksa, but a local media report said he was willing to vacate if given written notice.

Jayatissa said the former leader could take Tuesday’s public statement as his notice and vacate the premises immediately. Media reports said Rajapaksa, as prime minister in 2021, had spent some 800 million rupees of government money refurbishing the house he currently occupies as a former president.

His younger brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was forced to step down from the presidency in July 2022 over allegations of economic mismanagement and corruption, is also occupying a state mansion.

Two other former presidents — Chandrika Kumaratunga and Maithripala Sirisena — are living in government housing in Colombo’s fashionable diplomatic quarters.

Published in Dawn, January 22th, 2025