Manusha Nanayakkara (born 24 September 1977) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n politician, Cabinet Minister, and member of Parliament for the

Galle District Galle ( ''gālla distrikkaya''; ''Kāli māvattam'') is a Districts of Sri Lanka, district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the co ...

. He is a journalist by profession and was educated at Mahinda College,

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

. He was appointed as the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment on the 20 May 2022. On 20 May 2022, amidst the

2022 Sri Lankan protests The 2022 Sri Lankan protests, commonly known as Aragalaya (), were a series of mass protests that began in March 2022 against the government of Sri Lanka. The government was heavily criticized for mismanaging the Economy of Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan ...

and political crisis, Nanayakkara was sworn in as the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment and officially became a member of the Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe led cabinet, against the wishes of his own party, the

Samagi Jana Balawegaya The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB; , , ) is a centrist political alliance led by Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa. It is the largest opposition coalition in the Parliament of Sri Lanka since 2020. The alliance was formed with the approva ...

(SJB). He and fellow minister Harin Fernando 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 Ranil Wickremesinghe (; ; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the ninth president of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. He has also served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019 a ...

on 22 July 2022. A year later, on 18 July 2023, the Working Committee of the SJB expelled Manusha Nanayakkara and Harin Fernando from the party. Shortly afterwards, on 2 August 2023, Fernando and Nanayakkara were readmitted into the

United National Party The United National Party (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party ...

by the party's working committee. On 9 August 2024, the

Supreme Court of Sri Lanka The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka (; ) is the Supreme court, highest court in Sri Lanka and the final judicial instance of record. Established in 1801 and empowered to exercise its powers subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Sri Lanka ...

ruled that the decision by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya to expel Manusha Nanayakkara and Harin Fernando 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 20 August 2024, it was announced that Manusha Nanayakkara had been appointed by the

President of Sri Lanka The president of Sri Lanka ( ''Śrī Laṅkā Janādhipati''; ''Ilaṇkai janātipati'') is the head of state and head of government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The president is the chief executive of the union governm ...

, as the Advisor to the President on Labour and Foreign Employment, with immediate effect.

References

External links

Sri Lanka Parliament profile
1977 births Living people Sri Lankan journalists Members of the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka Provincial councillors of Sri Lanka Alumni of Mahinda College Samagi Jana Balawegaya politicians {{SouthernLK-politician-stub