The main Opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) urged the Government to adopt a meaningful approach when reducing the perks granted to politicians by ensuring that the benefit of the saved funds is passed on to the public.

SJB Parliamentarian Harshana Rajakaruna stated this during a press briefing held yesterday (17). “Although the ministers of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and the National People’s Power don’t live in official residences, MPs live in official residences. We request ministers to move into official residences. Those official residences have become dilapidated. If ministers don’t use those official residences, they should be utilised in a manner that is useful to the country’s economy. 

“When former Presidents are removed from their official residences, it saves a certain amount of money for the Government. That money is not adequate for economic development. However, there are over 50 ministerial official residences that have not been used. Did refraining from using them result in any benefit to the country? However, the Government has to spend a lot of money to repair those 50 official residences,” he said, adding that merely not using the said official residences does not benefit the country.

Moreover, he opined that although the Government claimed that its MPs do not take their salary, that money being transferred to the party fund does not result in any benefit to the Treasury or the public.