Chandrasekera Rohitha Bandara Bogollagama (born 6 August 1954) (known as ''Rohitha Bogollagama'') ( Sinhala: රෝහිත බෝගොල්ලාගම, ta, ரோகித போகோல்லாகம) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n politician and ex Governor of Eastern Province. He was the former

Sri Lanka Freedom Party The Sri Lanka Freedom Party ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය, translit=Śrī Laṁkā Nidahas Pakṣaya; ta, இலங்கை சுதந்திரக் கட்சி, translit=Ilaṅkai Cutantirak Ka� ...

chief organiser for the Kotte Electorate. He had also served as the Cabinet

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

from 28 January 2007 until he was defeated in the General Elections held on 8 April 2010, losing his seat in parliament. He had a long career in law running from 1976 to 1999, before being elected to the

Sri Lankan parliament The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Shri Lanka Parlimenthuwa'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் ''Ila� ...

in 2000 from the

United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...

, and then crossed over to

Early life

Born in Nikaweratiya, North Western Province, to Chandrasekera Malala Banda Bogollagama (former Chairman, National Lotterys Board from 1966 to 1970) and Vinitha Bogollagama (née Senerath), he is one of their five children. Bogollagama attended

Ananda College ''Appamādo Amathapadan'' (Buddhist quote from the Apramada Vagga in the Dhammapada) , motto_translation = Heedfulness, Punctuality leads to Nirvana , location = P De S Kularatne Mawatha , city = Colom ...

in Colombo and later the

Sri Lanka Law College Sri Lanka Law College (abbreviated as SLLC), formerly known as Ceylon Law College, is a law college, and the only legal institution where one can enroll as a attorney-at-law in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1874, under the then Council of Legal ...

, passing out in 1976. He was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

and enrolled as Attorney-at-Law by the

Supreme Court of Sri Lanka The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය, Sri Lanka Sreshthadikaranaya; ta, இலங்கை உயர் நீதிமன்றம், Ilankai uyar neetimanram) is th ...

in October 1976.

Legal career

Bogollagama's career in law ran for nearly thirty years, and included serving as legal consultant to the Ceylon Fertiliser Corporation from 1985 to 1993, and legal advisor to the United States government-run

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

from 1991 to 1999. He was also Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cement Corporation and Chairman and Director General of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.

Political career

As a member of the

, Bogollagama was elected to parliament in 2000 for

Kurunegala District Kurunegala is a district in North Western Province, Sri Lanka. Consists of and consists 30 Divisional Secretariats, 1610 Grama Niladari Divisions and 4476 total Villages. It consists of 14 Electorate Divisions, 02 Municipal Council, 19 Urban C ...

, and served the Parliamentary Consultative Committees on Finance, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Industrial Development & Investment Promotion, and Power & Energy. On 12 December 2001, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed him Minister of Industries. As minister he initiated the "Yuga Dekma", a large industrial fair, in 2002. In 2004 president

Chandrika Kumaratunga Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga ( si, චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග, ta, சந்திரிகா பண்டாரநாயக்க குமாரதுங்க; born 29 Ju ...

dissolved parliament and removed non-cabinet ministers on 12 February. While in opposition in 2004, he was appointed by a unanimous decision to serve as the Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), an oversight committee of parliament responsible for accountability of public enterprises. Bogollagama switched political allegiance on 18 November 2004, siding with the

United People's Freedom Alliance The United People's Freedom Alliance (abbreviated UPFA; si, එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානය ''Eksath Janathā Nidahas Sandānaya''; ta, ஐக்கிய மக்கள் சுதந்திரக� ...

; the President swore him in as the Cabinet Minister of Advanced Technology and National Enterprise Development on the same day. He became the Minister of Enterprise and Development on 23 November 2005. As Minister, he argued in favour of returning Sri Lanka to GMT +05:30 time, which was the official time before 1996. He represented the government of Sri Lanka at two rounds of peace talks with the LTTE at

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

in 2006. He was defeated in the General Elections held on 8 April 2010, losing his seat in parliament and was not reappointed the cabinet.

Foreign Affairs career

Bogollagama was acclaimed for the diplomacy he demonstrated when engaging with the international community on promoting investment, tourism, trade and strengthening diplomatic relations, which he did in a constructive and consistent basis as Cabinet Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Family

He is married to Deepthi Samarakone, She is the youngest daughter of Donald Samarakone (formerly of Ceylon Civil Service) & Srima Samarakone (daughter of Mudliyar A. V. Rathnayake and Mrs Jennifer Rathnayake of "Ratnagiri Walawwa", Boralesgamuwa) has three sisters Kusum, Sucharitha and Jayathri. Rohitha & Deepthi Bogollagama have son & daughter. Dhakshitha (Ex Chairman of the National Enterprise Development Authority)Dashitha appoined (sic) National Enterprise Development Authority Chairman
Daily FT (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 26 June 2018. a BBM graduate in Finance from the Singapore Management University, Singapore and Physician, Dr. Dilshani Bogollagama (AIIMS, New Delhi, All India Institute of Medical Sciences).

References