Denzil Douglas

The Right Honourable
Denzil Douglas
Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis
In office
6 July 1995  18 February 2015
Monarch Elizabeth II
Governor General Clement Arrindell
Cuthbert Sebastian
Edmund Lawrence
Preceded by Kennedy Simmonds
Succeeded by Timothy Harris
Personal details
Born (1953-01-14) 14 January 1953
Saint Paul Capisterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis
Political party Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party
Alma mater University of the West Indies

Denzil Llewellyn Douglas (born 14 January 1953) is the longest-serving Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, having held the position between 1995 and 2015. He leads the Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP).[1]

Biography

Early life and pre-political career

Born on January 14, 1953,[2] in the village of St. Pauls, Douglas studied medicine as a young man. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in 1977 and a Degree in Medicine in 1984 from the University of the West Indies.[3] In 1986 he established a private medical practice as a family physician and served as President of the St. Kitts-Nevis Medical Association in the late 1980s.[2]

Appointment to Privy Council

In 2011, Douglas was appointed to Her Majesty’s Privy Council, with the prefix ‘Right Honorable’ added to his name. The Privy Council is a body of advisors to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom. They advise the queen in dispensing duties as a monarch. Before Douglas, the then-Prime Minister Kennedy Simmonds was appointed a Privy Counselor in 1994.[4]

Political life

Douglas was elected M.P. for St. Christopher (No.6) ward (Newton Ground, St. Paul's, Dieppe Bay, Saddlers, and Harris) in the National Assembly of Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1989 and appointed Leader of the Opposition. That year he was also elected leader of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party.

He restructured the party in preparation for its 1995 electoral victory. He was appointed Prime Minister of the Federation in 1995, re-appointed Prime Minister in March 2000 and again in October 2004 after the Labour Party won a third term with seven of the eight seats on St. Kitts. The Labour Party won its fourth consecutive term in office on January 25, 2010 winning six of the eight seats on St Kitts in the eleven-member National Assembly.

In 2011 he was appointed a Privy Counsellor which bestowed him the title of "Right Honourable."[5][6]

Laptops for high school students

In 2011, Douglas was responsible for the OLPC (One Laptop per Child) program, which provided 2,000 free laptops per year from Taiwan to high school students.[7]

References

Political offices
Preceded by
Kennedy Simmonds
Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis
19952015
Succeeded by
Timothy Harris
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, April 24, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.