Basdeo Panday

Basdeo Panday (born May 25, 1933) was the 5th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2001 and has served as Leader of the Opposition from 1976–1977, 1978–1986, 1989–1995 and 2001–2010. He was first elected to Parliament in 1976 as the Member for Couva North. He is the former Chairman and party leader of the Opposition United National Congress. In 2006, Panday was convicted of failing to declare a bank account in London and imprisoned but as of March 20, 2007, that conviction has been quashed by the Court of Appeal. He was granted bail on April 28 pending the outcome of his appeal due to his health condition and the poor state of health facilities at the Arouca prison. On May 1 he decided to resign as Chairman of the United National Congress, but the party's executive refuse to accept his resignation. However, he lost the party's internal elections on January 24, 2010 to Deputy Leader Kamala Persad-Bissessar by a large margin.

Basdeo Panday is married to the former Oma Ramkissoon and has four daughters Niala, Mickela, Nicola and Vastala, one from his first marriage to (Norma Panday)(née Mohammed) who died in 1981. In 2006, he was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.