Harin Fernando

Early life and education

Born in Wattala to a Roman Catholic family, Fernando was educated at St. Joseph's College, Colombo.

Political career

Fernando was appointed as the United National Party (UNP) electoral organizer for Badulla District when he was only 27 and won the highest number of votes in the Uva Provincial Council Election in 2005. He was elected as a Member of Parliament for the Badulla District in 2010 and resigned on 5 August 2014 to contest as candidate for Chief Minister of Uva Province. Even though Fernando won the highest number of preferential votes, the UNP lost in Uva Provincial Council elections. Fernando became the leader of the opposition in the Uva Provincial Council.

Fernando played a critical role in President Mahinda Rajapaksa's defeat in the 2015 presidential elections, after Rajapaksa called for an early election where the UPFA won narrowly at the Uva Provincial Council elections. Fernando had strongly criticised the Rajapaksa regime for its corruption, authoritarian rule and rise of lawlessness. Harin's criticisms significantly reduced Rajapaksa's popularity in Badulla and Monaragala. Fernando openly campaigned for the common candidate Maithripala Sirisena in the elections.

Soon after the elections, a number of UPFA provincial councillors backed Fernando, thus giving the UNP a majority in the Uva provincial council. He was sworn in as Chief Minister of Uva Province before the Governor and succeeded Shasheendra Rajapaksa. In August 2015, Fernando was elected to parliament, gaining the highest votes in the Badulla District. Shortly afterwards he was appointed as Cabinet Minister of Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure.

Fernando criticized Facebook for being too slow to combat social media users who had used Facebook and WhatsApp to plan and facilitate the anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka.

On 20 May 2022, amidst the 2022 Sri Lankan protests and political crisis, Fernando was sworn in as the Minister of Tourism and Lands and officially became a member of the Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe led cabinet, against the wishes of his own party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB). He and fellow minister Manusha Nanayakkara had subsequently been suspended from the SJB. Both ministers would later resign from their ministerial portfolios on 9 July 2022, but would again be reappointed to their same positions by President Ranil Wickremesinghe on 22 July 2022. A year later, on 18 July 2023, the Working Committee of the SJB expelled Harin Fernando and Manusha Nanayakkara from the party. Shortly afterwards, on 2 August 2023, Fernando and Nanayakkara were readmitted into the United National Party by the party's working committee.

On 9 August 2024, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ruled that the decision by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya to expel Harin Fernando and Manusha Nanayakkara from the party was legally valid. As a consequence of this judgement, their expulsion resulted in the loss of their parliamentary seats and ministerial portfolios.

On 16 August 2024, it was announced that Harin Fernando had been appointed by the President of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as the Advisor to the President on Tourism, Land, Sports, and Youth Affairs, with immediate effect.

References

References

1. "Full list of Cabinet ministers".
2. (28 September 2014). "Harin's triumph in defeat lifts UNP sky-high". The Sunday Times.
3. (14 January 2015). "Harin Fernando takes oath as Uva Chief Minister". adaderana.lk.
4. (18 August 2015). "Preferential votes- General Election 2015". adaderana.lk.
5. (19 August 2015). "3 Chief Ministers and 4 opposition leaders elected to parliament". Hiru news.
6. Safi, Michael. (14 March 2018). "Sri Lanka accuses Facebook over hate speech after deadly riots". [[The Guardian]].
7. "Nine more cabinet ministers sworn in".
8. "New Cabinet of Ministers sworn in".
9. "SJB decides to expel Harin and Manusha".
10. bugsbunny. (2023-08-02). "Harin and Manusha back in the UNP".
11. Sooriyagoda, Lakmal. (9 August 2024). "Harin, Manusha lose Parliamentary seats". Daily Mirror Online.
12. (17 August 2024). "Harin appointed Adviser to President on Tourism, Land, Sports and Youth Affairs". Daily FT.