The Prime Minister's Office is a

ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

of the

Government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...

. It provides the administrative and institutional framework for the exercise of the duties and responsibilities vested in the

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka The Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head and most senior member of parliament in the cabinet of ministers. It is the second-most powerful position in Sri Lanka's executive branch behind the president, wh ...

. From 1947 to 1978 it was the most powerful office within the government. However, after the creation of the executive presidency in 1978 the post of Prime Minister became more or less nominal and functions as a deputy to the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

, with a few exceptions.

Staff

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

to the Prime Minister Saman Ekanayake

History

With the establishment of the post of Prime Minister of Ceylon in 1947, under the

Soulbury Commission The Soulbury Commission ( si, සෝල්බරි කොමිෂන් සභාව ''Solbari Komishan Sabhawa''; ta, சோல்பரி ஆணைக்குழு), announced in 1944 was, like its predecessor, the Donoughmore Commission, a ...

, the first prime minister,

D. S. Senanayake Don Stephen Senanayake ( si, දොන් ස්ටීවන් සේනානායක,; ta, டி. எஸ். சேனநாயக்கா; 21 October 1884 – 22 March 1952) was a Ceylonese statesman. He was the first Prime Mi ...

took the portfolio of External Affairs and Defence. The early Prime Minister's Office was located at Senate Square consisting of a working office room of the Prime Minister, along with rooms of the Prime Minister's Secretary (

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

rank), Assistant Secretary (from the

Ceylon Civil Service The Ceylon Civil Service, popularly known by its acronym CCS, was the premier civil service of the Government of Ceylon under British colonial rule and in the immediate post-independence period. Established in 1833, it functioned as part of the ...

), a Private Secretary, along with clerical and support staff. The

Ministry of External Affairs and Defence Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

was also located at Senate Square, along with the

Cabinet office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

and the

Senate of Ceylon The Senate was the upper chamber of the parliament of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Commission. The Senate was appointed and indirectly elected rather than directly elected. It was housed in the old Legislative Coun ...

. Some Prime Minister's preferred to work from their official residence

Temple Trees Temple Trees is the official residence of the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. It is located in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Several recent Presidents have used it as their official residence as well. History Private residence The history of ''Temple Trees ...

or from their personal residence. Per the Westminster tradition, the prime minister had an office at the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

too. With the 1978 Constitution, the president became both head of state and government. The first prime minister in the new capacity,

Ranasinghe Premadasa Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa ( si, රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස ''Raṇasiṃha Premadāsa'', ta, ரணசிங்க பிரேமதாசா ''Raṇaciṅka Pirēmatācā''; 23 June 1924 – 1 May 1993) was t ...

set about defining the new role of the prime minister. He established the Prime Minister's Office at the Sirimathipaya Mansion in 1978, which houses the office of the Prime Minister's Secretary and Secretariat.

Terrorist attack

The

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

carried out a

suicide bombing A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

at the Prime Minister's Office, on January 5, 2000 in an assassination attempt when a

female suicide bomber Female suicide bombers are women who carry out a suicide attack, wherein the bomber kills herself while simultaneously killing targeted people. Suicide bombers are normally viewed as male political radicals but since the 1960s female suicide attac ...

detonated the bomb outside the Prime Minister's Office, killing 13 civilians and three police officers attached to the PMSD.

2022 Sri Lankan protests

On 13 July 2022, during the

2022 Sri Lankan protests The 2022 Sri Lankan protests ( si, අරගලය, translit=Aragalaya, lit=Struggle), are mass protests that began in March 2022 against the government of Sri Lanka. The government has been criticized for mismanaging the Sri Lankan economy, ...

, thousands of protesters stormed and occupied the Prime Minister's Office, after the President's House, the Presidential Secretariat and

been stormed and occupied on the 9 July 2022 demanding that both president

Gotabaya Rajapaksa Lieutenant Colonel Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa ( si, නන්දසේන ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ; ta, நந்தசேன கோட்டாபய ராஜபக்ஷ; born 20 June 1949) is a former Sri Lankan militar ...

and prime minister

Ranil Wickremesinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe ( si, රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ, ta, ரணில் விக்கிரமசிங்க; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who is the current president of Sri Lanka since 21 July 2 ...

resign immediately.

Former Permanent Secretaries

* Nandasara Atukorala, CMG,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(September 1947 - October 1953) * Pararajasingam Nadesan, CMG, OBE, CCS (October 1953 - April 1956) *

Bradman Weerakoon Deshamanya Robin Bradman Weerakoon, CCS (born 20 October 1930) is a Sri Lankan civil servant. As a senior bureaucrat of the Sri Lankan government, he served nine Sri Lankan heads of state in a career spanning half a century.David, Marianne (inter ...

, CCS (September 1959 - 1970) * M.D.D.Peiris, CAS (May 1970 - July 1977) * W.P.M.B. Menikdiwela,

SLAS The Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පරිපාලන සේවය; śrī laṁkā paripālana sēvaya) is the key administrative service of the Government of Sri Lanka, with civi ...

(July 1977 - February 1978) * Eardly Goonawardana,

(February 1978 - September 1979) *

(September 1979 - March 1984) * K.H.J.Wijedasa (March 1984 - February 1989) * K.M.Abeysinghe (February 1989 - August 1994) *

K. Balapatabendi Kusumsiri Balapatabendi , PC (known as ''K. Balapatabendi'') is a Sri Lankan lawyer and diplomat, He was the Permanent Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka (also known as the President's Secretary). Prior to the appointment he was the Se ...

, PC (August 1994 - November 1994) * Hemasiri Fernando (November 1994 - December 1999) * V.K.Nanayakkara (November 2000 - December 2001) *

(December 2001 - April 2004) *

Lalith Weeratunga Lalith Chandrakumar Weeratunga ( Sinhala: ලලිත් වීරතුංග Tamil: லலித் வீரதூங்க) (known as ''Lalith Weeratunga''), (born 14 May 1950) SLAS, is the former Permanent Secretary to the President of Sri ...

(April 2004 - November 2005) * Mahinda Bandusena,

(November 2005 - April 2010) * S. Amarasekara, SLPS (April 2010 - January 2015) *Saman Ekanayake (January 2015 - October 2018) * S. Amarasekara, SLPS (October - December 2018) *Saman Ekanayake (December 2018 - November 2019) *Gamini Senarath,

(November 2019 – January 2022)

Former Chiefs of Staff

* Sagala Ratnayaka (January 2015 - September 2015)

Former Deputy Chiefs of Staff

Rosy Senanayake Bernadine Rose Senanayake, JP, UM (known as ''Rosy Senanayake'') (née Ramanayake; born 5 January 1958) is a Sri Lankan politician, a former beauty queen and also an activist. She is the current Mayor of Colombo, and former Prime Minister's Sp ...

(January 2015 - 19 March 2018)

References

External links

Prime Minister's Office
- official website
Prime Minister's Office staff
{{Authority control * 1947 establishments in Ceylon British colonial architecture in Sri Lanka