A member of Parliament since 2001, Dr. Roodal Moonilal, was first appointed as a Government Senator and was later elected to the House of Representatives.  A strong motivational speaker and debater, he previously served in Government as Minister in the Ministry of Labour, Manpower Development and Industrial Relations and also as Minister of Communications and Information Technology).  In 1999, he was Director, Policy Monitoring Unit, Office of the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

He has served as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (2007-2010) as well as on over one dozen committees of Parliament.

Born December 2nd,1966, Dr. Moonilal is married to Natasha (nee Chadeesingh) who is also an Attorney at law. He holds a BSc. Degree (Hons.) in Government from the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine, an LLB degree in law (University of London), a Legal Education certificate, a Masters of Arts Degree in Labour and Development from the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, the Netherlands and a Ph.D. in Development Studies. He specialized in Industrialization, Labour Relations and Urban Employment and his thesis received the first Cum laude distinction in the history of the ISS Ph.D. program. He is also an Associate of the Geneva based management consultancy firm Hagen Resources International (HRI).

He was a freelance researcher associated with several regional and international labour study efforts and a Caribbean Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management advisory and advocacy consultant.

Dr. Moonilal lectured in Politics at UWI (1988-91, 1993-94, 1996), worked as Head of the Department of Education, Research and Training, All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union (1989-91, 1993-95) and was a Teaching and Research Assistant at the ISS (1995, 1997-98).

He has published studies on labour relations including “The Impact of New Human Resource Management Strategies on Caribbean Industrial Relations and Worker Organizations; Worker Protection: The Case of Trinidad and Tobago; Changing Labour Relations and the Future of Trade Unions; and “Modernization of Public Institutions and Labour Administration: Caribbean Challenges”. He has presented several papers to industrial and labour relations as well as human resource development fora across the Caribbean.

A former President of the Society for the Promotion of Indian Culture at UWI campus, he remains active in support and promotion of Indian culture in his constituency and other parts of the country.

In 2003 Dr. Moonilal became one of the youngest professionals to be included in the prestigious International ‘WHO IS WHO’ of Professionals.

As the current Minister of Housing and the Environment, his responsibilities encompass:

Ms. Joy Creese is a Acting Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Housing and the Environment with extensive expertise in human resource management and human relation issues. She has thirty-three years (33) experience within the public service.

A career civil servant, Ms. Creese joined the public service as an Administrative Cadet in the Personnel Department in 1977. Throughout her career she has completed several in-service training programs in areas such as Project Management, Strategic Human Resource Management, and Leadership. She has served on several committees and was appointed to the Board of Management of the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards in 2009.

In addition to Ms. Creese’s diligent and dedicated work experiences within the public service, she has acquired a range of educational qualifications. Ms. Creese’s qualifications include an M.Sc in Government from the University of the West Indies; a B.Sc in Sociology and Education from Fordham University; a Diploma in Public Administration (Hons.), UWI and an Advanced Certificate in Management from the University of Pittsburg International Management Development Institute.

Mr. Isaac James is a Deputy Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Housing and the Environment. He has over twenty years (20) experience within the public service and his vast institutional knowledge on all aspects of housing policies, programmes and projects adds credibly to his position. He has served within several Ministries and administrations, these appointments honed his diplomatic abilities as well as his experience in leadership, personal and project management.

Preceding Mr. James’s current position, he served as the Director of the Economic Research and Planning, in the formerly known Ministry of Planning, Housing and the Environment from 2004 to 2008. He garnered intimate knowledge and experience within several aspects of the operational nature of housing and its policy development with the now defunct Ministry of Housing and Settlements having acted as Operational Research Officer II and III from the period 1997 to 2004.

Earlier in his career, Mr. James served seven (7) years as a Research Officer II at the Ministry of Finance during the period 1991-1997. His appreciation of analytic work is also evident in several posts he held for over a decade as Statistician 1 at the Central Statistical Office, Teacher II at Success Laventille Composite and an Economist/Statistician at Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI).

Mr. James is a graduate of the University of the West Indies - St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago with a Master of Sciences in Public Sector Management (MSc) and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Economics (BA).

Mr. James has acquired extensive training in policy planning, research and project analysis. He attained specific training in design and management of social policies and programmes at the Inter-American Development Bank.