Kamla Persad-Bissessar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Persad-Bissessar in 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 1 May 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Christine Kangaloo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Stuart Young | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 26 May 2010 – 9 September 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Patrick Manning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Keith Rowley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7th Leader of the Opposition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 9 September 2015 – 1 May 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Keith Rowley Stuart Young | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Keith Rowley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Pennelope Beckles-Robinson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 25 February 2010 – 26 May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Patrick Manning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Basdeo Panday | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Keith Rowley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 26 April 2006 – 8 November 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Patrick Manning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Basdeo Panday | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Basdeo Panday | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3rd Political Leader of the United National Congress | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 24 January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Basdeo Panday | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Kamla Susheila Persad (1952-04-22)22 April 1952 (age 73) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party | United National Congress (since 1994) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other political affiliations | National Alliance for Reconstruction (1987–1994) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Awards | Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (2012) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | "Aunty or Tanty Kamla"[1][2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kamla Susheila Persad-Bissessar[a]SCMP (née Persad, born 22 April 1952),[3] often referred to by her initials KPB, is a Trinidadian lawyer, politician and educator who has twice served as theprime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, from 2010 to 2015 and since May 2025. She has also been thePolitical Leader of the United National Congress since 2010, and was theLeader of the Opposition three times, from 2006 to 2007, January to May 2010, and from 2015 to 2025. Persad-Bissessar is the second prime minister to have served non-consecutive terms, afterPatrick Manning.
Persad-Bissessar was the country's first female prime minister,attorney general, and opposition leader,[4][5] the first woman tochair the Commonwealth of Nations[6] and the first woman withIndian ancestry to be a prime minister of a country outside ofIndia and the widersubcontinent.
Persad-Bissessar became the Political Leader of the United National Congress in 2010.[7] After her party lost the2015 general elections, she served as Leader of the Opposition. After leading the UNC and itsCoalition of Interests to victory in the2025 general elections, she was again sworn in as prime minister on 1 May 2025.[8]
In 2011, Persad-Bissessar was named the thirteenth most influential female leader around the world byTime magazine.[9]
Kamla Susheila Persad was born in ruralSiparia[10] in southern Trinidad to Lilraj and Rita Persad, bothHindus ofIndian descent.[11][12] Her father was a bookkeeper and worked in the accounting department ofTexaco, while her mother was a maid and labourer in the cocoa fields, who owned and operated aroti shop.[13] Persad-Bissessar had one brother and three sisters; her brother and eldest sister are deceased, while her other two sisters reside inEngland andNew York City respectively.[14][15][16]
Her paternal grandparents were Soomintra Persad (née Gopaulsingh) and Choranji Persad, and her maternal grandparents were Rookmin and Ramprit.[13] Her paternal grandmother, Soomintra, was a market seller who was a founding member of the Saraswati Prakash Mandir, aHindu temple at Boodoo Trace inPenal, and she had organized a ladies Indian singing and Hindu prayer group, as well as being an elder counsellor who helped those in need. Her maternal grandmother, Rookmin, and her maternal great-grandmother, Sumaria, were both laborers in the sugarcane and cocoa fields and both had to become the breadwinners to support their families after their husbands died at young ages.[17][18]
Persad-Bissessar has credited her mother, grandmothers, and great-grandmother as setting examples for her in feminism and paving the way for her.[17]
She was born into aBrahminHinduIndian family.[11] Her ancestors emigrated in the 1880s from India to Trinidad through theIndian indenture system. Her maternal great-grandparents (her maternal grandmother's parents) were Sumaria and Seepersad who were fromIndia. Sumaria was from present-dayChennai,Tamil Nadu, India and had left India from theMadras Port.[13] Her paternal great-grandparents (her paternal grandfather's parents) werePundit Ram Lakhan Mishra and Ganga Mishra who were from India. Pundit Ram Lakhan Mishra was fromBhelupur,Bihar, India. After indentureship, Pundit Ram Lakhan and Ganga Mishra had settled at Boodoo Trace in the town ofPenal in southern Trinidad. In 2012, Persad-Bissessar visited her paternal great-grandfather's village on a state visit to India.[19]
Persad-Bissessar spent her early childhood living in ajoint family with her parents and paternal grandparents at Boodoo Trace inPenal, where she attended the Mohess Road Hindu School. In 1959, at the age of seven, her family moved toSiparia, where she attended the Erin Road Presbyterian Primary School, and later the Siparia Union Presbyterian Primary School. In 1963, she was accepted toIere High School in Siparia, a newco-ed school at the time. While attending Irere, she was a top debating student, champion badminton and netball player, and she excelled in her classes and was placed in special classes to write theGCE O Levels in 1966. She graduated in 1969.[13]
When Persad-Bissessar was sixteen, she wanted to go to theUnited Kingdom to further her studies, but her traditional father and uncles insisted she stayed in Trinidad and Tobago. However, her mother eventually convinced them to send her.[11][13] Persad-Bissessar then left Trinidad at the age of seventeen, in August 1969, to attendedNorwood Technical College inWest Norwood,London,England.[13] While in college in England, she worked as a social worker with theChurch of England's Children's Society of London.
By the time she left Trinidad, she had already met her future husband Gregory Bisessar, and he was already in England when she was attending college. They married two years later in 1971, when she was eighteen and he was twenty-two. They later left England forJamaica, where they spent fourteen years.[14] In Jamaica she attended theUniversity of the West Indies inMona and graduated with aBachelor of Arts (Hons.) in 1974 and a post-graduateDiploma of Education in 1976.[20] After graduating, she taught atSt Andrew High School inKingston and at the University of the West Indies in Mona, and she was also a consultant lecturer at the Jamaica College of Insurance. She was the youngest lecturer, at the age of twenty-five, to the ever teach at the University of the West Indies.[21] She was awarded aFulbright Scholarship to attendColumbia University to do research leading to a PhD but she opted to study law instead.[3] In 1985, she graduated from theUniversity of the West Indies at Cave Hill with herBachelor of Laws (Hons.). During her time at UWI, Cave Hill she gave birth to her son.[22] In 1987, she graduated fromHugh Wooding Law School with herLegal Education Certificate at the top of her class, with awards for being the most outstanding student and having the best overall performance.[3][21][20] In 2006, she obtained anExecutive Masters in Business Administration from the University of West Indies Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business inSan Juan, Trinidad and Tobago.
In 1987, Persad-Bissessar entered politics serving as analderwoman on theSaint Patrick County Council until 1991. She then became an opposition senator from 1994 until 1995. Persad-Bissessar then became aMember of Parliament for the Sipariaconstituency in 1995 and has been ever since. She served as Attorney General in 1995 untilRamesh Maharaj was able to disassociate himself from ongoing cases and again in 2001 after Maharaj left the party. When the UNC formed Government on 22 December 2000, she was sworn in as theMinister of Education.
On 25 April 2006, she received the support of the majority of Opposition MPs for the post ofLeader of the Opposition.[23] The position of Leader of the Opposition was declared vacant by PresidentGeorge Maxwell Richards[24] afterBasdeo Panday was convicted of failing to make an accurate declaration to the Integrity Commission concerning a bank account held in London.[25] Persad-Bissessar was subsequently appointed Leader of the Opposition on 26 April 2006.[citation needed]
On 24 January 2010, Kamla Persad-Bissessar was elected political leader of the UNC, emerging victorious over the party's founder and former prime minister, Basdeo Panday. She was formally appointed opposition leader on 25 February 2010, having gained the support of a majority of UNC MPs.[citation needed]
Persad-Bissessar took office as prime minister after the victory of thePeople's Partnership in thegeneral election of 24 May 2010, defeating the previous government of the People's National Movement, which had called an early election. Her election campaign has been analysed as a successful attempt to bring together people with different ethnic backgrounds and ideological affiliations under female leadership.[26] She was the first femaleprime minister of Trinidad and Tobago and is also the first femaleCommonwealth Chairperson-in-Office. She was succeeded as Chairperson-in-Office byJulia Gillard with the opening of the2011 CHOGM on 28 October 2011.
On 21 September 2015, Persad-Bissessar was appointed leader of the opposition by PresidentAnthony Carmona after her party was defeated at the polls, following the 7 September 2015 general elections. The People's National Movement led byKeith Rowley secured 23 out of 41 seats to form the government, while the People's Partnership coalition led by Persad-Bissessar secured 18 out of the 41 seats in the House of Representatives to form the opposition. In the2020 general election, the People's National Movement won re-election and Persad-Bissessar remained the Leader of the Opposition. However, the United National Congress did pick up two more seats than previously held.
Having been the leader of her party for fifteen years, she led her party into the2025 Trinidad and Tobago general election with theCoalition of Interests.[27][28] She declared a landslide victory and became the prime minister-elect on 28 April 2025 with the UNC winning an estimated 26 of the 41 seats in the House of Representatives.[29] Persad-Bissessar campaigned on increasing public sector salaries, protecting pensions and reopening the state oil companyPetrotrin.[30] She was sworn in as prime minister on 1 May.[31] Her 2nd term has been marked by an increase of tensions between Trinidad and Tobago and neighbouringVenezuela. On the 27th of October she accusedCaricom of siding withVenezuela against theUnited States in the2025 United States naval deployment in the Caribbean.[32] On 28 October thePresident of VenezuelaNicolás Maduro declared her aspersona non grata, she responded by stating "Why would they think I would want to go to Venezuela?"[33]
| Year | Country | Ribbon | Award | Given by | Field of Merit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 |  India |  | Pravasi Bharatiya Samman | President of India | Public Services |
Persad-Bissessar married Gregory Bissessar in 1971 and they have one son, Chris, and a grandson, Kristiano.[34] She and her husband reside in Philippine,Penal-Debe, Trinidad and Tobago.[35] She is a grandmother of two and has described herself as an adherent of bothHinduism and theSpiritual Baptist faith.[36] She had raised her brother's children after he died in a car accident.[37]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNC | Kamla Persad-Bissessar | 13,900 | 83.0% |  | |
| PNM | Natasha Mohammed | 2,412 | 14.4% |  | |
| PF | Judy Sookdeo | 374 | 2.2% |  | |
| Majority | 11,488 | 68.6% | |||
| Turnout | 16,740 | 57.53% | |||
| Registered electors | 29,096 | ||||
| UNChold | Swing | % | |||
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Leader of the Opposition 2006–2007 | Succeeded by Basdeo Panday |
| Leader of the Opposition 2010 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago 2010–2015 | |
| Preceded by | Leader of the Opposition 2015–2025 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago 2025–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Basdeo Panday | Leader of theUnited National Congress (UNC) 2010–present | Incumbent |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | Chair of the Commonwealth of Nations 2010–2011 | Succeeded by |
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