Basdeo Panday

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Basdeo Panday (2008)

Basdeo Panday (born May 25, 1933 in Princes Town , Trinidad ) is a politician from Trinidad and Tobago . He was the country's prime minister from 1995 to 2001 .

Education and studies

After completing school, he worked on a sugar cane plantation and as a primary school teacher and administrative clerk in the municipality of San Fernando . He later completed an acting degree at the London School of Dramatic Art (1960), a law degree at Lincoln's Inn (1962) and an economics degree from London University (1965) with a master's degree . At the beginning of the 1960s he had a few minor roles as an actor in films and television series, such as Nine Hours to Eternity .

Political career

1966-1995

After returning to Trinidad and Tobago, he worked as a lawyer and adviser to trade unions . His political career began in 1966 when he joined the Workers and Farmers Party (WFP). In 1973 he became first chairman of the "All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union" (ATS & GWTU). Panday held this office until 1995. Later he was also one of the founders and from 1976 to 1986 chairman of the United Labor Front (ULF). Panday was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1976 and has since represented the constituency of Couva North in the parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. From 1981 to 1986 he was opposition leader in parliament. During these years he founded the opposition alliance National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) together with the DAC of Arthur NR Robinson , the THM of Lloyd Best and the ONR of Karl Hudson-Phillips . When the NAR defeated the PNM, which had ruled since independence, with 33 to 3 mandates in the parliamentary elections in 1986 and appointed Robinson as the prime minister, he appointed him minister for foreign affairs and international trade. However, after just two years, Panday left both the cabinet and the NAR. He then founded Club 88, which later became the United National Congress (UNC) party . At the same time, he was again the opposition leader from 1989 to November 1995.

1995-2010

Basdeo Panday (1997)

After the election to the House of Representatives in 1995, he was appointed Prime Minister by President Noor Hassanali on November 9, 1995 to succeed PNM chairman Patrick Manning . Panday formed a coalition government with the NAR and was the first Indian Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Pasday was re-elected Prime Minister on December 22, 2000 after the parliamentary elections in 2000. On January 25, 2001, he also took over the post of Minister for National Security. In the early parliamentary elections of December 2001, there was a tie in parliament with 18 seats each for the PNM and the NAR. On December 24, 2001, there was a scandal when the incumbent President Arthur NR Robinson broke with parliamentary tradition and, despite the tie with the NAR, preferred Manning to the incumbent Prime Minister Panday and appointed him Prime Minister. Since no parliamentary speaker could be elected due to the tied vote in the House of Representatives, Manning ruled without a parliament for the next ten months. Panday was again leader of the opposition, but was also defeated by Manning in the again early elections to the House of Representatives on October 7, 2002.

On April 24, 2006, he was sentenced to six years in prison by a court in Port of Spain for tax evasion between 1997 and 1999. The court found it proven that during his tenure as Prime Minister of the Integrity Commission he had concealed bank balances in a bank in London. After the conviction, he resigned as leader of the opposition. The verdict was overturned on appeal in March 2007. In 2010 he was defeated in the election of UNC chairman to Kamla Persad-Bissessar and four months later withdrew from the political landscape.

Private

Panday is married to Grandma Panday, née Ramkissoon, for the second time and has four daughters, one of them from his first marriage. His daughter Mickela is politically active and announced the establishment of a new party in 2018. In 2010 Basdeo Panday founded the Basdeo Panday Foundation based in Couva , the purpose of which is to help the poor.

Awards

In January 1997 he was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa of Laws (LL.D. hc) from the University of Binares (India) . In 2005 he received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman of the Indian state.

Fonts

  • Basdeo Panday et al .: Basdeo Panday, the making of a prime minister. Selected speeches (1966-1998). 1998, ISBN 976-8157-06-2 .

literature

Web links

  • Biography on the website of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Basdeo Panday Guilty As Charged News, April 25, 2006
  2. ↑ Mickela gets support for the new party . In: Trinidad Guardian . May 21, 2018. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  3. ↑ Gail Alexander: Panday launches foundation to help poor . In: Trinidad Guardian . November 25, 2010.
  4. ^ KR Gupta & Amita Gupta: Concise Encyclopaedia of India . Atlantic Publishers, New Delhi 2006, ISBN 978-81-269-0639-0 , pp. 1229 .
personal data
SURNAME Panday, Basdeo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Princes Town