Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon is the Governor of Southern Province in Sri Lanka, which is the country's second fastest growing province and home to several key projects in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) including the Hambantota Port. The youngest governor to be appointed, Tennakoon is also a well known anti corruption activist whose actions has led to the prosecution of dozens of graft suspects and is a proponent of using new technologies to discourage officials from engaging in corrupt activities. Tennakoon is also a respected columnist. Southern Province is also the sister province of China's Hainan Province.  Mr. Tennakoon was known as a very vocal civil activist, who functioned as the Executive Director of Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE), an independent election monitor from Sri Lanka. He was also the Executive Director of Centre for Human Rights and Research – Sri Lanka, a leading nonprofit civil society organization in the country. He was a respected public figure, engaged in promoting and protecting human rights and representative democracy during the civil war and the years after the end of the war. He is the author of ‘Rajun Theneeme Kalawa’ (The Art of making Kings: a book on Political Communication), ‘Maha Sampradaye Kathawa’ (the history of the oldest political party in Sri Lanka – United National Party (UNP) and Varana Puranaya (the history of censorship in Sri Lanka).  He is considered as an opinion leader, who has participated in weekly talk shows, and a columnist in leading weekly publications and social media.