Moses Veerasammy Nagamootoo (

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

: மோசஸ் வீராசாமி நாகமுத்து; born 30 November 1947) is a Guyanese

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

who served as the

Prime Minister of Guyana The prime minister of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana is an elected member of the National Assembly of Guyana who is the principal assistant and advisor to the president as well as the leader of government business in the Assembly, but is n ...

under former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

David A. Granger David Arthur Granger (born 15 July 1945) is a retired military officer who served as the 9th President of Guyana from May 2015 to August 2020. He served for a time as Commander of the Guyana Defence Force and subsequently as National Security A ...

from May 2015 to August 2020.

Life and career

Nagamootoo was born in the village of Whim, Berbice,

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

, in the present-day region of

East Berbice-Corentyne East Berbice-Corentyne (Region 6) is one of ten regions in Guyana covering the whole of the east of the country. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the north, the Nickerie District and Sipaliwini District of Suriname to the east, Brazil to the so ...

, in present-day

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

. He is of

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

descent. Nagamootoo worked as a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, and later became a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

. After high school, he co-founded the De Edwards/Rosignal High School in the late 1960s. There he taught mainly economics and British Constitution with great passion and enthusiasm, which were new subjects to the aspiring students in the West Coast Berbice, Guyana area. One of his students went on to major as a PhD in economics and now teaches that subject at the University of California, Berkeley Extension, California, US. He was elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 1992 as a People's Progressive Party MP and subsequently served as Minister of Information and Minister of Local Government. He remained in Cabinet under the presidencies of

Cheddi Jagan Cheddi Berret Jagan (22 March 1918 – 6 March 1997) was a Guyanese politician and dentist who was first elected Chief Minister in 1953 and later Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964. He later served as President of Guyana from 199 ...

, Samuel Hinds,

Janet Jagan Janet Rosenberg Jagan (October 20, 1920 – March 28, 2009) was a U.S.-born Guyanese politician who served as the President of Guyana, serving from December 19, 1997, to August 11, 1999. She was the first female President of Guyana. She previou ...

and

Bharrat Jagdeo Bharrat Jagdeo (born 23 January 1964) is a Guyanese politician who has been serving as Vice President of Guyana since 2020, in the administration of President Irfaan Ali. He had previously also held the office from 1997 until 1999, during the pr ...

. He resigned as Minister in 2000 but remained an MP until 2011, when he resigned from the PPP, having first joined in 1964. As a leader of the PPP, Nagamootoo received the fifth-highest number of votes (595) in the election to the PPP Central Committee at its 29th Congress on August 2, 2008. Nagamootoo was rumoured to be a potential PPP candidate for president in 2011; however, he resigned from the party on October 24, 2011, citing the need for "more ideas and a new conversation about Guyana's economic and foreign policy future". He joined the opposition Alliance For Change (AFC) in October 2011 and was re-elected to Parliament. Following the opposition's victory in the May 2015 general election, Nagamootoo was sworn in as prime minister and first vice-president on 20 May 2015. Nagamootoo briefly took charge of presidential duties on 12 June 2015 while President

was visiting the United States.

As a writer

Moses Nagamootoo is the author of the novel ''Hendree's Cure'' (2001), which describes a world of Tamil fishermen who inhabited the Corentyne village of Whim in the 1950s and 1960s.

References

Peepal Tree Press Peepal Tree Press is a publisher based in Leeds, England which publishes Caribbean, Black British, and South Asian fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama and academic books. It was founded after a paper shortage in Guyana halted production of new bo ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagamootoo, Moses 1947 births 21st-century novelists Government ministers of Guyana Guyanese novelists Guyanese politicians of Indian descent Living people Members of the National Assembly (Guyana) People from East Berbice-Corentyne People's Progressive Party (Guyana) politicians Prime Ministers of Guyana Vice presidents of Guyana People of Tamil descent

Life and career

As a writer

References

External links