Parliament is to enact legislation shortly to do away with the pension rights of members. According to Cabinet Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe, a Bill to abolish the pension of all members of Parliament will be presented soon to the House. He said the salary of MPs is something that they are entitled to, but pensions will be definitely abolished.
Pension rights for members of Parliament were yet another creation of the late President J.R. Jayewardene. Along with enhanced emoluments and lavish perks, in order to keep MPs from being lured into corruption, he also introduced a pension scheme for the benefit of MPs. The then Opposition was vocal in its criticism of the move by JRJ to lavish pension rights on MPs. But they too did not fail to avail themselves of the benefit. While criticising the President, Opposition MPs too availed themselves of the pension to which they were entitled after serving only five years as MPs. This, while a public servant has to put in a minimum of 25 years of service in a Government department to be entitled to his/her pension.
The pension scheme for MPs has drawn much public criticism, and rightly so. To begin with, all MPs are loaded with various privileges and perks on top of their salaries. This is in addition to what they earn on the side by way of corruption and other questionable deals, where ruling party MPs are concerned. They also have as their personal staff spouses, sons and daughters, and other family members, who are being paid by the public purse. On top of that, they are also granted pensions after serving only five years as MPs. Perhaps Sri Lanka is the only country where its legislators are conferred with pension rights. For doing what, is the question?
Besides, pensions are strictly reserved for those in the public service in return for performing their official functions on behalf of the State, whereas what Parliamentarians are expected to perform is a service to the public, which does not warrant a monetary return. Would-be Parliamentarians during election time scream from platforms that all they want is to be of service to the public and to that extent they are prepared to sacrifice all their wealth. But what has been happening is that they not only draw their MPs’ salaries but are also entitled to a pension. According to Minister Samarasinghe, certain individuals clamour to enter Parliament chiefly to benefit from the pension, which they will go on to enjoy for their lifetime. In the first place, most MPs do not even attend Parliament, sometimes for months. That these individuals too will be drawing a pension after five years demonstrates the whole injustice in the system. Here we have public servants working tirelessly to eke out an existence, breaking their backs for 20 long years to be entitled to pension rights, while our erstwhile people’s representatives, who are mostly seen dozing in their seats during proceedings, pocket a fat pension after a mere five years in Parliament. To imagine that those worthies who played havoc in Parliament on that shameful day in November five years ago, pouring water on the Speaker’s chair and throwing chilli powder at the Police, are also claimants to pension rights. Isn’t this a horrendous waste of the people’s money, which certainly could have been put to better use?
Therefore, the move by the new Government to abolish MPs’ pensions could be said to be eminently justified. In fact, the public is bound to question whether the pensions to MPs – particularly ruling party MPs – could not have been rendered redundant, given the accumulated loot amassed over the period of time they served as Parliamentarians. Therefore, they are bound to applaud the new Government for doing away with the pension of MPs.
True, when Basil Rajapaksa was Finance Minister, he extended the period of pension entitlement for MPs. But this was not of retrospective effect, and those already benefiting would continue to benefit by receiving their pensions on a regular basis. Hence, it would be better if Minister Samarasinghe clarifies whether those already receiving their MP pensions will continue to do so or if the decree to abolish pensions would apply even to those already benefiting from it. Abolishing pensions of MPs is justified for another reason. Essentially, pensions are usually associated with old age. But what is happening now is that even young MPs, some of them in their twenties, will be entitled to a pension after serving five years in Parliament, which, to say the least, looks odd. This is in addition to all the privileges they enjoy for having been MPs.
The new Government under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is doing away with most of the privileges hitherto enjoyed by Ministers and MPs and thus saving the Government much-needed funds that could be used for development purposes and the welfare of the public. Most of this, needless to say, was wasteful expenditure at a time the country was declared bankrupt. The money thus saved would now be transferred to the Treasury to be used in a prudent manner that would benefit the public.
