MEDIA RELEASE Mahinda Rajapaksa Prime Minister

I was shocked and saddened to hear of the untimely passing away of Ratnapura District Parlimentarian Hon. Ranjith de Zoysa while receiving treatment at a hospital in Singapore. He was a hero to the political forces that came together to form the Joint Opposition and later the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna after January 2015. He rose to national prominence as one of the most outspoken and fearless opponents of an unsuccessful and repressive government. A qualified agriculturist himself, Hon. Ranjith de Zoysa was vocal on matters affecting the farming community particularly in the sphere of minor export crops. It is a blow to the movement he was part of, the people he represented and to me personally that fate would take him away at the very moment of our triumph.

Hon. Ranjith de Zoysa was educated at the Rahula National College,Godakawela and later went on to complete a Diploma in Agriculture. He was an Associate Member of the Sri Lanka Agriculturists Association. He entered politics in 1997 by being elected the Chairman of the Rakwana Pradesheeya Sabha. In 2002, he became the Leader of the Opposition of the Rakwana Pradesheeya Sabha. He entered the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council in 2004 and served as the Provincial Minister of Agriculture and later as the Provincial Minister of Health. He entered Parliament in 2010. He was an upright politician who could not be wrongly influenced or misled by the blandishments of power and position. He was only 57 when he passed away, but by all accounts his was a life well lived, in the service of the people.

I wish to offer my heartfelt condolences to his wife Muditha de Zoysa, his son Lakith and daughter Mihintha and the people of Rakwana and the Ratnapura district on the untimely demise of Hon. Ranjith de Zoysa.

Mahinda Rajapaksa

Prime Minister