Disclose how much was spent on chogm

Tuesday, 12 Nov 2013

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) claimed that the government imported luxury vehicles not for the Commonwealth Leaders but for the ministers and their henchmen.

Addressing the media yesterday, JVP Parliamentarian, Sunil Hadunnetti said, ministers have started clashing over the allocation of luxury vehicles, and expect to receive these vehicles once CHOGM is over.

"The luxury vehicles were imported without import duties. Tax exemptions amounting to nearly Rs 910 million were granted to import the Benz cars. Import duties were granted for those vehicles with the purpose of distributing them among government politicians later," he noted.

He also claimed that government politicians and their supporters have used the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to generate an income for themselves.

Hadunnetti noted the government has been spending money in the run up to the summit without checking costs, and challenged the government to disclose how much they had spent to organize the CHOGM.

"In order to celebrate the event, CHOGM fans were set up in Colombo although these fans are not rotating. One small fan had cost Rs 7,000 while a large fan had cost Rs 15,000. It is not the ordinary people who stand to benefit by such displays but it is the government supporters who do," he noted.

He stressed, none of the politicians who will be given luxury vehicles will bear the burden of any expenditure incurred for CHOGM. It will be the ordinary people who will have to pay the price for all the unnecessary expenditure mooted by the government.

VIDEO: GOVT ‘DROWNING’ DUE TO CHOGM EXPENSES – RANIL

November 12, 2013 

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe says Sri Lanka is wasting money for the Commonwealth meet like no other country which has hosted it so far and that the government, which was “nose deep in water” before CHOGM is now “drowning”. 

The UNP leader said that he had visited several Commonwealth summits in the past and that none of those countries had wasted as much funds as Sri Lanka has done so far.

Before the expenditure for CHOGM the government was like a person nose deep under water and now after those expenses the water limit has risen and they are drowning, he told reporters in Colombo.

Wickramasinghe stated that when he was on his way to Sirikotha this morning people were washing the streets with shampoo. “Where will this end?”

If they are putting shampoo today they will put hair gel on the street tomorrow, he stressed.

He further stated that the government is breaking down walls and rebuilding them instead of patching them up and applying paint and also that the natural grass is being removed and replaced with artificial grass.

He stated that the heads of states who are visiting the country will not see these things and might only “yell at us” and go back.

The person who was nose deep in water with only his eyes visible no longer even has that now, he said, referring to the government’s present financial state. 

The government knows that it cannot continue like this and therefore is attempting to hold elections in the first half of next year, he said, adding: “They think we (UNP) aren’t prepared. That the UNP is divided.”