Udaya Gammanpila

Udaya Prabhath Gammanpila (born 6 February 1970) (known as Udaya Gammanpila) is a Sri Lankan politician. He was former Provincial Minister of Agriculture, Agrarian Development, Minor Irrigation, Industries, Environment, Culture and Art Affairs in Western Provincial Council and a former member of the nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya (National Heritage Party) leaving his party to side with the United People's Freedom Alliance by voicing his support for Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2015 presidential election.[1] During the presidential election 2015 Gammanpila formed his new party ‘Pivithuru Hela Urumaya’[2] ‘Pivithuru Hela Urumaya’ is not a registered political party in Sri Lanka. It has estimated number of 50 members.

Gammanpila was active in politics since his schooling days at D. S. Senanayake College where it is alleged that he 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 participated in the JVP organized student protests.[3] he has claimed that he was a student leader of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka.[4]

Gammanpila entered politics in 2000 as a founding member of Sinhala ultra-nationalist political party and was appointed as the Propaganda Secretary 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. In 2017, Australian businessman Brian Shaddick, a key witness in the alleged financial fraud case filed against Udaya Gammanpila. Udaya Gammanpila has allegedly cheated Rs. 20 million and misappropriated another Rs. 21 million along with Sydney Jayasinghe, the second accused when selling shares of Digital Nominees to a businessman called Dhammika Perera.

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 the resistance from both government and opposition members. However, regulations published under this Act were suspended by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

Udaya Gammanpila now is the leader of 'Pivithuru Hela Urumaya' and supports for the comeback of former President, parliament member, Mahinda Rajapakse for the prime minister post joining forces with the 'ekabadda vipakshaya' (joint opposition). Udaya Prabath Gammanpila was first elected as a parliament member in the 2015 elections.