UNP MP Sajith Premadasa today stated that Sri Lanka is following in the path of several of “unimportant” countries and donating money for the development of those countries, while the people of Sri Lanka languish.
What the government should do is launch a clear national policy for securing the safety Sri Lanka’s export companies, he said.
He, however, charged that no such policy has been included in the 2014 budget proposal, which he says contains some “amazing jokes”.
He stated that a family of four requires Rs 40,000 just to survive, but the government is only giving state employees an allowance of Rs 1,200, which translates to Rs 1.68 per hour.
The Hambantota District MP stated that the 2014 Budget proposal also states that the Sri Lankan Government will be donating 50,000 metric tonnes of rice to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP). “There is so much of an excess in rice.”
Premadasa praised Sri Lanka for its immense generosity, but said the government should learn to provide for its own people before offering to others.
While the government is donating 50,000 metric tonnes of rice to the World Food Programme, the malnutrition percentage of children below the age of 5 in Sri Lanka is 13%, he told reporters in Colombo.
He accused the government of disregarding the children and pregnant mothers of Sri Lanka and giving metric tonnes of rice to the starving in other nations.
