Parliament on December 10 passed a Resolution to pay all Parliamentarians a monthly allowance of Rs. 100,000 to cover the expenses of maintaining an office and also to increase the allowance of Rs. 500 for attending Parliament sittings up to Rs 2,500. All Parliamentarians are entitled to the increased allowances from January 1, 2017. Ramanayake sending two letters to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya on Friday rejected accepting the increased allowances.
While most of the Parliamentarian welcomed the increases, Social Empowerment and Welfare Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake has written to the Speaker rejecting the recently increased allowances approved by Parliament.
“At a time the ordinary public is supporting the government to get out of the country’s debt trap by making significant sacrifices on their part, it is my personal belief that I being a public representative should make similar sacrifices. Therefore I humbly request you not to make those payments to me” Ramanayake stated in his letters.
Copies of the letters have been sent to the Parliament Secretary-General.
Ranjan has created a Precedent in this instance.
The copies of the letters posted on Minister Ramanayake’s Twitter account are reproduced below:
