Monk says President has wronged unlike any of his predecessors May 19, 2015, 9:40 pm

Monk says President has wronged unlike any of his predecessors

May 19, 2015, 9:40 pm 

By Dasun Edirisinghe

President Maithripala Sirisena was the only man who abused executive powers unlike former Presidents after 1977, Prof. Induragare Dammarathana Thera said.

He said President Sirisena had appointed UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe Prime Minister even though the latter did not have a majority in Parliament and removed Chief Justice Mohan Pieris arbitrarily. Those acts amounted to a gross abuse of the executive powers, the Thera stressed.

Prof. Dammarathana Thera made the observation addressing a seminar titled ‘Mahinda Nethi Rata’ (The country without Mahinda) at the Minuwangoda YMBA Hall on Monday.

"Late Presidents J. R. Jayewardene, R. Premadasa, D. B. Wijethunga and former Presidents Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa did not appoint a Prime Minister in that manner," he said, adding that President Sirisena had also appointed a new chief justice after removing her predecessor.

"People did not vote for President Sirisena to change the government," Prof. Dammarathana Thera said, adding that all those acts had been carried out at the behest of some foreign powers.

The Thera said as a result of such actions, the country had become unstable.

General Secretary of the Patriotic Bhiikhu Front Ven. Bengamuwe Nalaka Thera said that the present government was working overtime to tarnish those who worked tirelessly to preserve Sinhala Buddhist Culture and they were labelled racists.