UNP compares government to a person afflicted with leprosy

The UNP says that in terms of insensitivity there was no big difference between the government and a person affected with leprosy.

Speaking at a ceremony held at the party headquarters Sirikota in Colombo, UNP Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijewardene said that the government acts as a leper in the face of mounting problems and people’s suffering and woes.

“Majority of people are starving and they have no ability to get three meals. Construction workers have lost their jobs due to shortage of cement. Owing to a dollar scarcity there is no medicine and milk powder and it is imminent that the situation will turn worse in the coming months since we have lost cultivation of this season and are poised to lose harvest owing to government bungling with organic fertiliser promotion. On top of that, the price of paper has gone up. The Central Bank does not give dollars to printers to import paper. This will render printing text books and newspapers impossible. Presses too would be out of work soon. This will result in children not getting their textbooks. In the middle of all these troubles, the government pours down millions of rupees to celebrate independence as if there will be no tomorrow thereafter,” Wijewardene said.

“We are not against celebrating independence, but the government should have taken into consideration the present situation before engaging in wasting public money on such extravagances at a time like this.

“Our late leader D.S. Senanayake ushered in independence to this country. They did not think that this country would face this sort of mess later on. They did not foresee the country would be ruined to this level. They expected that people would be free economically and socially.

“Look at the way the power cuts are handled and you’ll see that the government has no sense. The Public Utility Commission says in the morning that there will be no power cuts. But by the time of noon, more than half of the country does not have electricity. The government has lost its senses.”

He said that our children who lost their education owing to the pandemic are now posed to lose some more because there would be no school textbooks soon.