Winston Dookeran

The Honourable Winston Chandarbhan Dookeran
Past MP = Tunapuna
Preceded by	Esther Le Gendre
Succeeded by	Esmond Forde
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 June 2012
Preceded by	Dr.Surujrattan Rambachan
Minister of Finance of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
In office 28 May 2010 – 22 June 2012
Preceded by	Karen Nunez-Tesheira
Succeeded by	Larry Howai
Leader of the Congress of the People
In office 10 September 2006 – 3 July 2011
Preceded by	Founder
Succeeded by	Prakash Ramadhar
Political Leader United National Congress
In office 2 October 2005 – 10 September 2006
Preceded by	Basdeo Panday
Succeeded by	Basdeo Panday
Personal details
Born	(1943-06-24) 24 June 1943 Rio Claro, Trinidad and Tobago
Political party	Congress of the People
Alma mater	University of Manitoba London School of Economics
Religion	Hinduism
Website	Official website

Winston Chandarbhan^[1] Dookeran (born 24 June 1943) is a Trinidad and Tobago politician and economist. He previously served as Political Leader of the Congress of the People. His term ended on 3 July 2011 when internal elections was held to select a political leader. At a press conference on 28 May 2011, Mr. Dookeran indicated that he will not be seeking re-election to the post. In the 24 May 2010 election, he successfully ran for Member of Parliament for the Tunapuna constituency.^[2][3]

Education

The young Winston Dookeran attended the prestigious Naparima College in San Fernando, Trinidad.

He then went on to attend the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, where he graduated with a BSc. in Economics. It was there that Dookeran made his first entry into politics and he served as the president of the University of Manitoba Students' Union

He subsequently attended the London School of Economics, where he obtained his Masters Degree in Economics.

Economist and politician

Dookeran spent some fifteen years as a lecturer at the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies. In 1981 Dookeran contested the constituency of Chaguanas as a candidate of the United Labour Front. He was victorious at the polls and was therefore elected as a Member of Parliament, and served in the House of Representatives of Trinidad and Tobago.

in 1986,when the ULF merged with other parties to form the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR), Dookeran again contested the constituency of Chaguanas, and won. Under the leadership of Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson, the NAR had massive success at the polls, winning an unprecedented thirty-three of the thirty six constituencies. Dookeran was made a Cabinet member as he was appointed Minister of Planning and Mobilization.

Dookeran later became Deputy Political Leader of the NAR was a senior member of the government, and acted on several occasions as Prime Minister,most notably during the attempted coup of 1990 when Prime Minister A.N.R. Robinson was held hostage by the Jamaat al Muslimeen.

Dookeran lost his seat in the 1991 elections.

He later became Senior Economist at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC). He was also a member of the Executive Board of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the governor of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

In July 1997 he was appointed as Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. He held that post till 2002. Later that year he joined the United National Congress and won the St Augustine constituency. In October 2005 Dookeran succeeded Basdeo Panday as political leader of the United National Congress after being nominated by Panday unopposed. He would later form his own political party, the Congress of the People(COP), that in coalition with his former party would contest and win the May 2010 snap elections.

Dookeran was then appointed Minister of Finance for the new People's Partnership coalition government and has since begun a series of programmes designed to jumpstart the stagnant economy. His stewardship was confirmed by Standard and Poor's rating of Trinidad and Tobago as AA- with a stable outlook in December 2011.

Publications

1. Leadership and Governance in Small States. Getting Development Right, Co-edited with Akhil Malaki.
2. Identities, State and Markets: Looking at Social Change in Latin America. Edited by Jose Havet, published by Canadian Scholars’ Press, Inc., 1999.
3. The New Regionalism: Caribbean – Canada Trade Agenda. (co-authored with Miriam L. Campanella)
4. The Caribbean Quest: Directions for Structural Reforms in a Global Economy. Guest joint editor, Special Issue Vol XXVIII: 1 –2, Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Published by The Institute of Latin American Studies, Stockholm University, 1999.
5. Choices and Change: Reflections on the Caribbean. Published by the International Development Bank and Johns Hopkins University Press. July 1996.

References

• Meighoo, Kirk (2003). Politics in a Half Made Society: Trinidad and Tobago, 1925–2002. Ian Randle Publishers, Kingston, Jamaica. ISBN 1-55876-306-6. 

External links

• Dookeran's website