By Sue-Ann Wayow
FORMER Minister of Education Dr Tim Gopeesingh will again return to Parliament this time as a temporary United National Congress (UNC) Senator.
In a statement on Tuesday, the UNC stated that Dr Gopeesingh was chosen based on the advice of Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
He is expected to take up his duties when the Senate meets today (Tuesday).
The UNC in providing a brief biography of Dr Gopeesingh stated that he was awarded the Chaconia Gold Medal in 1999 for his contribution to medicine and public service, is one of Trinidad and Tobago’s and Caribbean region’s most venerated senior medical doctors, having worked in the medical field for over 40 years, specialising in gynaecologic-oncology, where he pioneered laparoscopic surgery in the country in the early 1980s. He is also a former senior UWI Lecturer, Dean of the UWI Medical School and former national cricketer.
Dr Gopeesingh has been a member of the UNC for the past 30 years, and served as a Senator from 2001-2007, and then MP for Caroni East from 2007-2020, when he announced his retirement from representative politics.
Under the Kamla Persad-Bissessar Government of 2010-2015, Dr Gopeesingh served as Minister of Education.
The UNC also stated, “In January, 2020, Dr Gopeesingh was the first public official to warn of the serious threat that the then nascent Covid-19 pandemic posed to our country when he moved a motion in the Lower House to have it debated as a matter of urgent public importance, which was disallowed. Since then, he has publicly spoken out consistently on the many serious issues surrounding the Government’s handling Covid-19 pandemic locally.”
