By Sujeewa Thathsara and Norman Palihawadana
Former President Maithripala Sirisena had no right to seek forgiveness from the Catholics because he had not owned up to his lapses, Director of the National Catholic Centre for Social Communications (NCCSC), Fr. Cyril Gamini told the media on Wednesday.
“For someone to ask for forgiveness, he or she must admit that a mistake was made. Former President Sirisena still says that he did nothing wrong and that it was the people he appointed that made a mistake. He should have accepted responsibility for the tragedy and resigned from the post the very next day,” he said.
The Catholic Church will boycott the 75th Independence Day celebrations, he said.According to Fr Cyril Gamini spending 200 million rupees on the Independence Day celebrations is a “crime against the people” and a “collosal waste”.
“The Government has organised this celebration at a time when people are struggling with food insecurity, child malnutrition and job insecurity. Daily power interruptions, collapse in the rule of law and violation of human rights are also major problems. Thirty percent of the people are hungry. We can’t repay foreign debt. 33.4 percent of children under five are malnourished. SMEs are collapsing. There are no medicines at hospitals. What celebrations at a time like this?”
Fr. Gamini said that the Church has decided that Archbishop of Colombo,Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and the other senior members of the Catholic Church will not attend the event.
“The government is also misusing laws to curb people’s right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression,” he said.