The tone and tenor of the correspondence by K. Godage under the caption ‘The Maligawa at Pelawatta’ in reply to me in ‘The Island’ of November 6, 2009, points to the obvious state of his excited mind, which, as a general rule, naturally results in confused thinking, as his reply amply demonstrates, although I did not write anything provocative or even critical. Says he of me, ‘He, in his unpardonable ignorance states that … the only charitable explanation for his ignorance is that he was not in the country at the time’. Where on earth have I ever offered such an explanation? I was in Sri Lanka. Even on the few occasions I have been overseas in my lifetime, each of which never exceeded a duration of two months at most, I have been in touch with the current affairs in my country.

And then, could he kindly tell me, and the readers of this newspaper, when and where I have ever even remotely suggested that ‘the official residence of the President should not be in the heart of the city because of opportunity cost?’ In point of fact, I have always advocated that the official residence of the Prime Minister as well should be located outside the city limits of Colombo.

Besides, all those lengthy details about the designing of a building plan by Geoffry Bawa and the rest of it are of no relevance here. My reference was to the Madiwala land on which CBK proposed to build a Presidential house to be used by her after retirement. I only pointed out that her procuring of this land from the UDA was unlawful and her designs were frustrated by judicial decision.

Hence, I see Mr. Godage’s epithet ‘childish’, addressed to me, more applicable to him rather than to me.

Mr. Godage seems to be under the mistaken belief that once a Presidential residence for the country is constructed, that ends the matter. It is not like an official residence for the Prime Minister who will vacate the place once out of office so that the in-coming Premier can occupy the place.

Under the law of the land as it prevails today, a retired President and his or her spouse are entitled to an official residence for the whole of his or her lifetime. Thus, there have been and will continue to be more than one official residence for the retired Presidents and their spouses in our country. There can be several in the future.

Had CBK been able to build the one planned by her, there will arise the need for another for the retired Mahinda Rajapaksa in due course, if CBK happens to be alive by that time. Let me add that there is provision by law to pay a residence rent allowance in the event of the State being unable to find a suitable residence for a retired President or spouse.

I am thankful to Mr. Godage for his kind advice to me to ‘check facts before making statements and misleading the people’ as well as to ‘check facts in the public interest before writing’. In the context of what is stated above, I can do no better than re-direct the self-same advice towards Mr. Godage.