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The Honourable
Harin Fernando
MP
The Honourable Harin Fernando MP
හරීන් ප්‍රනාන්දු ; ஹரின் பெர்னாண்டோ
Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs
	In office; 27 November 2023 – 09 August 2024
President	Ranil Wickremesinghe
Prime Minister	Dinesh Gunawardena
Preceded by	Roshan Ranasinghe
	In office; 20 December 2018 – 17 November 2019
President	Maithripala Sirisena
Prime Minister	Ranil Wickremesinghe
Preceded by	Faiszer Musthapha
Succeeded by	Dullas Alahapperuma
Minister of Tourism and Lands
	In office; 20 May 2022 – 09 August 2024
President	Gotabaya Rajapaksa; Ranil Wickremesinghe
Prime Minister	Ranil Wickremesinghe; Dinesh Gunawardena
Preceded by	Prasanna Ranatunga
Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare
	In office; 25 February 2018 – 26 October 2018
President	Maithripala Sirisena
Prime Minister	Ranil Wickremesinghe
Preceded by	Thalatha Atukorale
	In office; 20 December 2018 – 17 November 2019
President	Maithripala Sirisena
Prime Minister	Ranil Wickremesinghe
Minister of Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure
	In office; 4 September 2015 – 26 October 2018
President	Maithripala Sirisena
Prime Minister	Ranil Wickremesinghe
	In office; 20 December 2018 – 17 November 2019
President	Maithripala Sirisena
Prime Minister	Ranil Wickremesinghe
7th Chief Minister of Uva Province
	In office; 14 January 2015 – 1 September 2015
Governor	M. P. Jayasinghe
Preceded by	Shashindra Rajapaksa
Succeeded by	Chamara Sampath Dassanayake
Member of Parliament; for National List
	In office; 20 August 2020 – 09 August 2024
Member of Parliament; for Badulla District
	In office; 1 September 2015 – 3 March 2020
Majority	200,806 Preferential Votes
	In office; 22 April 2010 – 5 August 2014
Majority	49,073 Preferential Votes
Personal details
Born	28 October 1978 (age 46); Wattala, Sri Lanka
Political party	United National Party (2005–2020, 2023–present)
Other political; affiliations	Samagi Jana Balawegaya (2020–2023)
Spouse	Ravindani Yashendra Dias
Parent	Nihal Benito Fernando,
Alma mater	St. Joseph's College, Colombo
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Businessman

Harin Fernando, MP (born 28 October 1978) is a Sri Lankan politician, Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament. He is the former Minister of Tourism and Lands as well as the former Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs. He previously served as the Minister of Sports before, as well as the Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure Facilities, Foreign Employment, and Tourism ministers in previous Sri Lankan governments.^[1] He was the 7th Chief Minister of Uva Province.

Early life and education

Born in Wattala to a Roman Catholic family, Fernando was educated at St. Joseph's College, Colombo.^[1]

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.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4]^[5]

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.^[6]

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).^[7] 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.^[8] A year later, on 18 July 2023, the Working Committee of the SJB expelled Harin Fernando and Manusha Nanayakkara from the party.^[9] Shortly afterwards, on 2 August 2023, Fernando and Nanayakkara were readmitted into the United National Party by the party's working committee.^[10]

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.^[11]

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.^[12]