By Roy Denish
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake says a former President requested 16 cooks after leaving office, joking that he may have planned a restaurant.
COLOMBO – Retirement is usually a time to slow down, put your feet up, and perhaps master a single, respectable grilled cheese sandwich. But according to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, one former Sri Lankan president apparently had rather grander culinary ambitions after leaving office.
Speaking at a rally in Gampaha, Dissanayake claimed that a predecessor had submitted a rather hefty post-retirement wish list, including a request for an astonishing 16 personal chefs to staff the former president’s kitchen.
The claim prompted Dissanayake to joke about whether the state was being asked to fund a post-presidential restaurant rather than a retirement package.
“He asked for 16 chefs,” Dissanayake told the crowd, before joking that he thought the former leader might be planning to open a restaurant.
The humorous remark came as the President criticised what his administration describes as excessive privileges previously afforded to former political leaders, including official residences, vehicles, staff, and other state-funded benefits.
Under the current administration’s approach to reducing such expenditure, lavish post-retirement benefits for former officeholders are facing greater scrutiny.
As for the alleged 16-member culinary brigade, the unnamed former president may now have to confront the ultimate post-presidential kitchen challenge: boiling an egg entirely on his own.
