Udaya Gammanpila

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Udaya Prabhath Gammanpila
Udaya Gammanpila
Minister of Agriculture,
Agrarian Development, Irrigation,
Trade and Environment in
Western Provincial Council, Sri Lanka
Incumbent
Assumed office
07 Juny 2007
Former Chairman of
The Central Environmental Authority
Personal details
Born (1970-02-06) 6 February 1970
Nationality Sri Lanka Sri Lankan
Political party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) (National Heritage Party)
Alma mater D. S. Senanayake College
Monash University
Profession Attorney at Law, Politician
Religion Theravada Buddhism
Website www.udayagammanpila.com

Udaya Prabhath Gammanpila [1] (born 6 February 1970) (known as Udaya Gammanpila) is a Sri Lankan politician and current Minister of Agriculture, Agrarian Development, Irrigation, Trade and Environment in Western Provincial Council.

Gammanpila was active in politics since his schooling days at D. S. Senanayake College where it is alleged that he actively participated in the 1987–89 Insurrection by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, he has neither admitted nor denied this fact, however his principal of the school at the time, R I T Alles, has mentioned in his autobiography “My Life” that Udaya actively participated in the JVP organized student protests.[2] he has claimed that he was a student leader of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka.[3]

Having obtained the highest marks in the country's Advance Level examination in the commerce stream in 1988[citation needed] he won a scholarship to study Computer Science at Monash University[4] [citation needed]. He was a teaching assistant while as an undergraduate and became a member of Australian Computer Society[citation needed]. Later he became an Attorney at Law[citation needed]. After graduation, he joined the corporate sector as a Management Trainee and became the Chief Executive Officer of Australia Lanka Group at the age of 26[citation needed].

Gammanpila entered politics in 2000 as a founding member of Sinhala ultra-nationalist political party and was appointed as the Propaganda Secretary[citation needed] and spokesperson for Sihala Urumaya in December 2000 soon after the internal rift which caused 7 out of 15 Central Committee members to leave the party including the much respected party chairman S L Gunasekera and two deputy chairmen.[5] He joined the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) political party along with members of the Sihala Urumaya as the Propaganda Secretary, when it was formed in 2004 to wheeled candidates who were all Buddhist monks, for Parliament in the 2004 general election. Gammanpila was later appointed as the Administrative Secretary of the party [6] and he presently functions as the Party’s Legal Advisor.[7] He played a major role on behalf of his party supporting Mahinda Rajapakse's presidential election campaign in 2005.

Udaya represented the JHU at All Party Representative Committee (APRC) which was appointed by All Party Conference to formulate a political solution for the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.[8] Although Udaya participated in the APRC, he always stated that there was no ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.[9]

After fellow party member Champika Ranawaka was appointed as minister of environment and natural resources by Mahinda Rajapaksa, he was made the Chairman of the Central Environmental Authority. Controversial legislative act “Environmental Conservation Levy Act” was a brainchild of Udaya which attempted to introduce Polluter Pays Principle (Principle 16 of Rio Declaration) in Sri Lanka.[10] He was able to get the Act passed by the parliament despite of the resistance from both government and opposition members. However, regulations published under this Act were suspended by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

References

  1. ↑ "Udaya Gammanpila for Colombo - UPFA X 19". Udayagammanpila.com. Retrieved 2012-08-20. 
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "Lakbima Hot News". Lakbima.lk. Retrieved 2012-08-20. 
  4. ↑ "Frada Burstein". Tbilisi State University. 
  5. ↑ "More smoke spews out of JHU Benz car". 
  6. ↑ "JHU - A political tragedy". 
  7. ↑ "JHU denies Hemantha abduction allegations". 
  8. ↑ "APRC deliberations a futile exercise — JHU". 
  9. ↑ "Political News | Sundayobserver.lk - Sri Lanka". Sundayobserver.lk. 2008-03-23. Retrieved 2012-08-20. 
  10. ↑ http://www.themorningleader.lk/20071114/spotlight.html

External links

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