The Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on Governance, Justice and Civil Protection has approved the Bill seeking to abolish pension benefits for Parliamentarians. Committee Chair Najith Indika stated the Bill was unanimously approved during the Committee meeting.

Speaking on the matter, Indika said the proposal was in line with a key pledge made in the policy statement of the present Government. “One of the proposals we presented in our policy statement was to abolish the pension granted to MPs after serving a few years in Parliament,” he said.

He further noted the new Bill would repeal the Parliamentary Pensions Act, No. 1 of 1977. If the Legislation is passed in Parliament next week, MPs will no longer be entitled to a pension. 

“After this, the Parliamentary service will be carried out purely as a public service. We believe that this is a very important step in terms of the political culture and in fulfilling the promises that we made ahead of the Elections,” Indika added.