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.”