Lohan Evindra Ratwatte (born 22 June 1968) is a Sri Lankan politician. He is the State Minister of gem and jewelry and a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

from the

Kandy District Kandy District ( si, මහනුවර දිස්ත්‍රික්කය, ta, கண்டி மாவட்டம்) is a district of the Central Province of Sri Lanka. Its area is 1906.3 km². Administrative divisions Ethnic ...

. He is the eldest son of

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Anuruddha Ratwatte General Anuruddha Leuke Ratwatte (14 July 1938 – 24 November 2011), frequently referred to as Anuruddha Ratwatte, was a Sri Lankan soldier and politician. He was a Cabinet Minister and Deputy Minister of Defence. Early life Born in Kandy ...

, former cabinet minister and deputy defense minister.

Early life and education

Born on 22 June 1968 in Kandy to Captain Anuruddha Ratwatte and Carman Ratwatte ''nee'' Rangala, he was the eldest with one younger brother, Mahendra Ratwatte. The Ratwattes were an old

Radala Radala refers to a small minority group in Sri Lanka in the former provinces of the Kingdom of Kandy, who are either descendants of chiefs and courtiers of the King of Kandy of Nayaks of Kandy or descendants of native headmen appointed by the ...

family descending from the courtiers of the Kingdom of Kandy, with Ratwatte, Dissawa of Matale singing the Kandyan Convention. His grandfather Harris Leuke Ratwatte was a colonial era legislator. Lohan Ratwatte was educated at

Trinity College, Kandy "Look to the End" , mottoes = , founder = John Ireland Jones , established = , type = Independent Private , affiliation = Church of Ceylon, Anglican , grade ...

, where he played

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and represented the Kandy Sports Club and Upcountry.

Political career

Ratwatte was elected to the Central Provincial Council in 2009 and was elected to parliament in the

2010 Sri Lankan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 8 and 20 April 2010, to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 14th Parliament. 14,088,500 Sri Lankans were eligible to vote in the election at 11,102 polling stations. It was the first general election ...

from Kandy representing the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). In 2012, he was appointed SLFP chief organizer of Pathadumbara by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, succeeding his father General Anuruddha Ratwatta. He served as State Minister of Road Development. He was re-elected in the

2015 Sri Lankan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 17 August 2015, ten months ahead of schedule, to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 15th Parliament. The United National Party (UNP) led United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) won 10 ...

and the

2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 5 August 2020 to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 16th Parliament. 16,263,885 people were eligible to vote in the election, 31.95% of whom were young voters. The incumbent Sri Lanka People ...

. In 2020, he was appointed State Minister of gem and jewelry related industries and in December 2020 he was given the additional appointed State Minister of Prison Management and Prisoners Rehabilitation.

Controversies

Lohan Ratwatte was charged for the murder of ten supporters of the

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress ( ta, சிறீலங்கா முஸ்லீம் காங்கிரஸ், translit=Srīlaṅkā Muslīm Kāṅkiras; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කොංග්‍රස� ...

in Udathalawinna during the

2001 Sri Lankan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 5 December 2001, just a little over a year after the last elections in October 2000. Background The People's Alliance (PA) government faced a blow when most of the SLMC MPs left the coalitio ...

when his father was deputy defense minister. He was acquitted of all charges by the High Court of Colombo in 2006. Five body guards of the Ratwatte family were convicted and sentenced to death. In 2021 reports surfaced alleging that Ratwatte had threatened to kill two Tamil prisoners and local newspapers reported a government minister forcibly entering the

Welikada Prison The Welikada Prison (also known as the ''Magazine Prison'') is a maximum security prison and the largest prison in Sri Lanka. It was built in 1841 by the British colonial government under Governor Cameron. The prison covers an area of . It is ove ...

to with a group of friends including Pushpika De Silva to visit the

gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...

. He later tendered his resignation on 15 September 2021 where he acknowledged responsibility for both incidents. Both Ratwatte and De Silva denied having entered the Welikada prison and the Commissioner General of Prisons stated no incident was reported, while Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, the Minister of Public Security stated that a licensed firearm was used.

References

External links

Hon. Lohan Ratwatte, M.P.
1968 births Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy Living people Members of the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the Central Provincial Council Provincial councillors of Sri Lanka Lohan Sinhalese politicians Sri Lankan Buddhists Sri Lanka Freedom Party politicians Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna politicians United People's Freedom Alliance politicians {{CentralLK-politician-stub

Early life and education

Political career

Controversies

See also

References

External links