February 27, Colombo (LNW): Prime Minister (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya has strongly criticised the extravagant spending on foreign trips by former presidents, drawing a stark contrast with the more modest expenditures of the current President, Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
During a debate on the expenditure for the office of the President, the Prime Minister revealed that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had allocated a staggering Rs. 3,572 million from public funds for foreign visits between 2010 and 2014.
This spending was, according to Amarasuriya, one of the highest recorded during his tenure, with 2013 alone seeing an expenditure of Rs. 1,144 million on foreign travel.
In comparison, the Prime Minister highlighted that the current President, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, had spent a mere Rs. 1.8 million on his three foreign visits so far.
Amarasuriya pointed out that such a contrast in spending reflected the fiscal discipline that the current administration was committed to, especially when compared to the lavish spending of previous leaders.
Further detailing the foreign travel expenditures of former presidents, Amarasuriya noted that former President Maithripala Sirisena had spent Rs. 384 million during his time in office between 2015 and 2019.
She also highlighted that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, over the course of his two-year term, had spent Rs. 126 million on foreign visits.
The Prime Minister went on to scrutinise the foreign travel spending under former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who, according to Amarasuriya, had spent Rs. 533 million for foreign trips in the 2023-2024 period alone.
Wickremesinghe had reportedly undertaken 33 foreign trips, accompanied by as many as 154 individuals. Notably, he had taken opposition members of Parliament with him on some of these journeys, including a trip to the UK for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, where he was accompanied by 10 people.
Furthermore, 18 individuals travelled with him to Japan for the funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, while 12 individuals joined his visit to the UK for the coronation of King Charles III.
Additionally, the Prime Minister noted that he had taken 23 individuals with him on an official visit to India.
In contrast, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s foreign trips have been much more restrained, with only five people accompanying him on his trip to India.
