Sri Lankabhimanya Dingiri Banda Wijetunga (,; 15 February 1916 – 21 September 2008) was the fourth President of Sri Lanka from 7 May 1993 to 12 November 1994, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 3 March 1989 to 7 May 1993 and the Governor of North Western province, Sri Lanka from 1988 to 1989. He was awarded Sri Lanka's highest award to a civilian Sri Lankabhimanya in 1993 by President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Early life and education Wijetunga was born on 15 February 1916 to Wijethunga Mudiyanselage Delgahapitiya Arachchila and his wife Manamperi Mudiyanselage Palingumanike Manamperi, as the eldest in a middle-class Sinhala Buddhist family living on the outskirts of the then Udunuwara parliamentary seat in the Kandy District of the Central Province in Sri Lanka. He completed his primary education at Waligalla Central College and thereafter moved on to St Andrew's College in Gampola. Early career After completing his schooling, he joined Ceylon Police as a constable in 1939 and served in Borella, Fort and Maradana and left service in 1942. Subsequently, he joined the Co-operative Department as a Co-operative Inspector thereafter from 1947 to 1959. Political career He was closely associated with veteran politicians like George E. de Silva and A. Ratnayaka. A. Ratnayake who was then Minister of Food and Co-operatives in the D.S. Senanayake Cabinet took him as his Private Secretary. He joined the United National Party in 1946 and unsuccessfully contested the Kadugannawa electorate in the 1956 general election, the Yatinuwara electorate in the March 1960 general election and the Udunuwara electorate in the July 1960 general election. He entered parliament for the first time when he successfully contested the Udunuwara electorate at the 1965 general election. He lost the Udunuwara electorate in 1970, but was returned to Parliament in the 1977 UNP landslide, being appointed Cabinet Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the J.R. Jayewardene administration. During this regime, Wijetunga functioned in various ministerial capacities holding the portfolios of Posts and Telecommunication, Power, Highways and Agricultural Development. He served briefly as the Governor of North Western province in 1988 before returning to Parliamentary politics a few months later. In the last general election he contested he secured the largest number of preferential votes in the Kandy District. Prime minister Wijetunga was surprisingly appointed Prime Minister in 1989 by President Ranasinghe Premadasa. He also held the Ministries of Finance and Labour and Vocational Training in addition