Kamla Persad-Bissessar

Kamla Susheila Persad-Bissessar (, ) SC MP (, born 22 April 1952), is a Trinidadian politician, lawyer and educator who has twice served as the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, from 2010 to 2015 and since May 2025. She has also been the Political Leader of the United National Congress since 2010.

Persad-Bissessar was the country's first female prime minister, attorney general, and opposition leader, the first woman to chair the Commonwealth of Nations and the first woman of Indian origin to be a prime minister of a country outside of India and the wider subcontinent.

Persad-Bissessar became the Political Leader of the United National Congress in 2010.

In 2011, Persad-Bissessar was named the thirteenth most influential female leader around the world by Time magazine.

Early life and family

Kamla Susheila Persad was born in rural Siparia in southern Trinidad to Lilraj and Rita Persad, both Hindus of Indian descent. Her father was a bookkeeper and worked in the accounting department of Texaco, while her mother was a maid and labourer in the cocoa fields, who later owned and operated a roti shop.

Her paternal grandparents were Soomintra Persad (née Gopaulsingh) and Choranji Persad, and her maternal grandparents were Rookmin and Ramprit. Her paternal grandmother, Soomintra, was a market seller who was a founding member of the Saraswati Prakash Mandir, a Hindu temple at Boodoo Trace in Penal, 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. Persad-Bissessar has credited her mother, grandmothers, and great-grandmother as setting examples for her in feminism and paving the way for her. After indentureship, Pundit Ram Lakhan and Ganga Mishra had settled at Boodoo Trace in the town of Penal in southern Trinidad. In 2012, Persad-Bissessar visited her paternal great-grandfather's village on a state visit to India. In 2025 when Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, made a state visit to Trinidad and Tobago, he referred to Persad-Bissessar as "Bihar ki beti" . After graduating, she taught at St Andrew High School in Kingston 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. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to attend Columbia University to do research leading to a PhD but she opted to study law instead. In 1987, she graduated from Hugh Wooding Law School with her Legal Education Certificate at the top of her class, with awards for being the most outstanding student and having the best overall performance. The position of Leader of the Opposition was declared vacant by President George Maxwell Richards after Basdeo Panday was convicted of failing to make an accurate declaration to the Integrity Commission concerning a bank account held in London. Persad-Bissessar was subsequently appointed Leader of the Opposition on 26 April 2006. Persad-Bissessar was Leader of the Opposition three times, from 2006 to 2007, January to May 2010, and from 2015 to 2025.

Political leader

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.

Prime minister

Persad-Bissessar took office as prime minister after the victory of the People's Partnership in the general 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. She was the first female prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago and is also the first female Commonwealth Chairperson-in-Office. She was succeeded as Chairperson-in-Office by Julia Gillard with the opening of the 2011 CHOGM on 28 October 2011.

Leader of the Opposition

On 21 September 2015, Persad-Bissessar was appointed leader of the opposition by President Anthony Carmona after her party was defeated at the polls, following the 7 September 2015 general elections. The People's National Movement led by Keith 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 the 2020 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.

2nd term as Prime Minister

Having been the leader of her party for fifteen years, she led her party into the 2025 Trinidad and Tobago general election with the Coalition of Interests. 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. She is the second prime minister to have served non-consecutive terms, after Patrick Manning.

Persad-Bissessar campaigned on increasing public sector salaries, protecting pensions and reopening the state oil company Petrotrin. She was sworn in as prime minister on 1 May. Her 2nd term has been marked by an increase of tensions between Trinidad and Tobago and neighbouring Venezuela. On 27 October she accused Caricom of siding with Venezuela against the United States in the 2025 United States naval deployment in the Caribbean. On 28 October the President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro declared her as persona non grata, she responded by stating "Why would they think I would want to go to Venezuela?"

Persad-Bissessar supported the American and Israeli strikes on Iran in February–March 2026 which resulted in the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar gave her official written statement for African Emancipation Day 2026 (marking the 188th anniversary of the abolition of slavery). She described the transatlantic slave trade as "one of history's greatest crimes against humanity" and praised the unbreakable spirit and determination of enslaved Africans. She also highlighted how descendants of enslaved Africans have enriched every sector of Trinidad and Tobago's society—including music, literature, education, science, public service, and sport. She noted that freedom is not merely inherited but must be protected and strengthened by every generation through building a nation founded on justice, equality, and opportunity.

Awards and honours

Kamla (left) receives the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman from Pratibha Patil, the President of India.

Personal life

Persad-Bissessar married Gregory Bissessar in 1971, and they have one son, Chris, and a grandson, Kristiano. She and her husband have resided in The Philippines, Penal-Debe, Trinidad and Tobago. She is a grandmother of two and has described herself as an adherent of both Hinduism and the Spiritual Baptist faith. She raised her brother's children after he died in a car accident.

Electoral history