• Prez’s CoS notes that not all events involving Prez organised by Prez Secretariat/ministries

In the wake of reported dissatisfaction among former Presidents over the seating arrangements at a recent Government function held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo, the Presidential Secretariat stated that all events organised by the Government are carried out with proper attention to protocol.

There were media reports to the effect that several former Presidents were unhappy with how they were accommodated at a ceremony recently held at the BMICH.

When queried by The Daily Morning regarding the allegation, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's Chief of Staff and Public Security Minister, Ananda Wijepala said that events directly organised by them or ministries are handled with proper protocol and coordination. "If the event is organised through us or a ministry, we take care of all the relevant responsibilities and ensure due respect for former Presidents. For all such events, arrangements are made in coordination with the relevant Protocol Officers."

However, he noted that not all events involving the President are arranged by the Presidential Secretariat or ministries. "In some cases, certain private organisations organise events and invite the incumbent President to attend as a guest. In such instances, the Secretariat is primarily responsible for managing the President’s security and logistics, but may not be involved in the detailed planning of other arrangements, such as who else is attending or where they are seated."

Amidst the fallout from the BMICH incident, there were reports that former Presidents are now reconsidering whether to attend Government-organised events in the future. Their absence at the recent War Heroes’ Commemoration was also linked to similar dissatisfaction.

There are currently five living former Presidents including Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (1994-2005), Mahinda Rajapaksa (2005-2015), Maithripala Sirisena (2015-2019), Gotabaya Rajapaksa (2019-2022), and Ranil Wickremesinghe (2022-2024).