Aid should come with clear-cut conditions so as to preserve democracy – Cardinal Ranjith

Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, on Thursday, said that Sri Lanka needed aid but with clear-cut conditions to preserve democracy, the rule of law, honesty and safeguard human rights.The prelate said that Sri Lanka had suffered a serious erosion of democracy, which had been caused by three factors.

“The first one is the gradual deterioration of the rule of law and the interference of political leaders in the judiciary, which has made justice a non-issue for our people. So, we want that to be rectified. Secondly, the corruption levels of our political system are very high, and only a few people — or rather a few families — have been earning endlessly, while many families are in dire poverty. So, this corruption must stop, and an effective means of controlling it must set up. Thirdly, human rights violations are on the rise, and the more people protest, the more oppressive the governments have become. So, there are a lot of unanswered issues,” he said.

Cardinal Ranjith said that they want the international community to pressurize the government to ensure that these errors are corrected and they ask that aid be given to us in a way that corruption doesn’t occur anymore.

The Archbishop of Colombo added that Sri Lanka is suffering because of wrong policies and wrong economic management. Sri Lanka is in a serious financial crisis, and many people are unemployed or underemployed.

“As a result, they have no income for their families. This has affected the general population. Besides that, there are also other questions: industries have all collapsed, we have huge debts to be paid to other countries for useless projects that had been promoted by the previous governments, more for personal enrichment than for the people’s development,” he said.

The Cardinal said that Sri Lanka does not know how to repay its debt and the national income and the production capacity of the country has fallen. Therefore the country can’t ensure the basic needs of the people, like electricity, coal to run the power generators, and diesel and petrol needed by farmers, fishermen and other people to run their businesses, he said.

Speaking to the Vatican Daily about the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks, the Cardinal said that the victims and the families still need economic, physical, medical and psychological support.

“So, we continue to take care of these needs as much as we can. After the attacks, there was an outpouring of charity from all over the world. So we created a special fund, and some of that money is still available, and we will continue to look after these people even in the future,” he said.

However, the question of justice still remains and the church is still waiting to know the truth behind these attacks. For the victims, it is a more serious question, he said.

“Because they want to know who and why this happened to them. 269 people died in the blasts and then three policemen were killed in another blast as they went to arrest some people involved, which brings the total to 272. So we need answers to these questions, regarding the entire attack: who was really behind it, and why it was carried out. Until we get clear answers on this, our people will not be satisfied,” he said.

The Cardinal also thanked Pope Francis for – ‘out of his own volition’ – giving 100,000 Euros to support some 400 families who were affected by the Easter Sunday church bombings which claimed 269 lives.

“When I came to Rome and met His Holiness, in February this year, he asked me about the welfare of these people, how they are faring and expressed his concern for their needs. So, on his own initiative, he asked me whether he could help us financially, and I said, okay, we are very grateful to him for that. He asked me how much. I said: “Whatever you give, will be welcome”. Then he told me that he had a donation from somebody amounting to €100,000 Euros and that he would give me €50,000. He asked me for the account number of our diocesan funds which I gave to him and when I went back in April and checked the account, I found that he had credited €100,000 Euros to our account. He had given the full amount. I found that he was extremely helpful to our people and we are very grateful to him for that, for the concern and for the constant attention that he has been paying to the needs of these people,” he said.