Basdeo Panday

Basdeo Panday ( born May 25, 1933, Princes Town, Trinidad ) is a politician from Trinidad and Tobago. He was Prime Minister from 1995 to 2001 of Trinidad and Tobago.

  • 3.1 Prime Minister
  • 3.2 Election defeat in 2001
  • 3.3 conviction for tax evasion in 2006

Formation and Studies

After school he worked on a sugar plantation, and as a primary school teacher and administrative clerk in the municipal of San Fernando. Later he finished studies of the performing arts at the London School of Dramatic Art (1960), the law at Lincoln's Inn (1962 ) and economics at the London University ( 1965) with the academic degree of Master.

Political career

Union leaders

After returning to Trinidad and Tobago, he worked as a lawyer and adviser to trade unions. His political career began in 1966 with the entry into the Workers and Farmers Party (WFP ).

In 1973 he was the first chairman of the trade union "All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union " (ATS & GWTU ). This office practiced Panday from to 1995. Later he was also one of the founders and 1976-1986 Chairman of the United Labour Front ( ULF).

Member of Parliament and leader of the opposition

Panday 1976 was first elected to the House of Representatives and has been representing the constituency of Couva North in the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. From 1981 to 1986 he was leader of the opposition in Parliament. During these years he founded together with the DAC of Arthur NR Robinson, the THM by Lloyd Best and the ONR by Karl Hudson -Phillips, the opposition coalition National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR ).

Minister

When the NAR in the parliamentary elections in 1986, the ruling since independence PNM with 33 defeated superior to 3 mandates and with Robinson presented the Prime Minister, he was appointed the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. After only two years, however, Panday left both the Cabinet and the NAR.

Following this, he first founded the club 88, the later party United National Congress ( UNC) renamed itself. At the same time, he was from 1989 to November 1995 again opposition leader.

Prime Minister, election defeats and conviction for tax evasion

Prime minister

After the election of the House of Representatives in 1995, he was on 9 November 1995 as a successor to the PNM - Patrick Manning chairman of President Noor Hassanali appointed Prime Minister. Panday formed together with the NAR a coalition government and was the first Indian origin Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

Pasday was elected after the 2000 general election on 22 December 2000 again as prime minister. On January 25, 2001, he also assumed the post of Minister of National Security.

Election defeat in 2001

In the early parliamentary elections of December 2001, there was an equality of votes in Parliament and with 18 mandates for PNM and the NAR. On 24 December 2001, there was a scandal when the incumbent President Arthur NR Robinson broke with the parliamentary tradition and Manning spite of a tie with the NAR the current acting Prime Minister Panday preferred and appointed as Prime Minister. As a result of the equality of votes in the House of Representatives no parliament speaker could be chosen, Manning ruled over the next ten months without a parliament.

Panday, in turn, became leader of the opposition, but was defeated at the Manning also again early elections to the House of Representatives on 7 October 2002.

Conviction for tax evasion in 2006

On 24 April 2006, he was sentenced by a court in Port of Spain for tax evasion in the years 1997 to 1999 to a prison term of six years. The court considered it proven that he had concealed in his tenure as Prime Minister of the integrity Commission bank deposits on a bank in London. After the conviction, he resigned from his position as leader of the opposition.

Awards

Publications by and about Basdeo Panday

  • Selwyn R. Cudjoe: Basdeo Panday And The Politics Of Race. Massachusetts in 1997.
  • Panday, Basdeo include: Basdeo Panday, the making of a prime minister: Selected speeches ( 1966-1998 ). 1998, ISBN 976-8157-06-2.
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