Ralph Maraj (; born 21 January 1949) is a

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

politician, actor, playwright, and teacher. He served as

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

under a

People's National Movement The People's National Movement (PNM) is the longest-serving and oldest active political party in Trinidad and Tobago. The party has dominated national and local politics for much of Trinidad and Tobago's history, contesting all elections sinc ...

(PNM) administration, Minister of Communication and Information Technology under a

United National Congress The United National Congress ( UNC or UNCTT) is one of two major political parties in Trinidad and Tobago and the current parliamentary opposition. The UNC is a centre-left party. It was founded in 1989 by Basdeo Panday, a Trinidadian lawyer, e ...

(UNC) administration, and was a founding member of

National Team Unity National Team Unity (NTU) was a political party in Trinidad and Tobago led by Human Rights lawyer and former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj. Founded as ''Team Unity'', to contest party elections in the United National Congress in 20 ...

before returning to the PNM to work as a speech writer for

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Patrick Manning Patrick Augustus Mervyn Manning (17 August 1946 – 2 July 2016) was a Trinidadian politician who was the fourth Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago; his terms ran from 17 December 1991 to 9 November 1995 and from 24 December 2001 to 26 Ma ...

. Prior to entering politics in 1991, Maraj worked as a teacher at

Naparima College Naparima College (informally known as Naps) is a public secondary school for boys in Trinidad and Tobago. Located in San Fernando, the school was founded in 1894 but received official recognition in 1900. It was established by Dr. Kenneth J. G ...

San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...

. He also attended that school. He wrote several plays, the most successful being ''Cynthia Sweetness''. Maraj also starred in the movies ''The Right and The Wrong'' (1969) and ''

Bim ''Bim'' is a 1974 Trinidad and Tobago film written by Raoul Pantin and directed by Hugh A. Robertson. It was described by Bruce Paddington as "one of the most important films to be produced in Trinidad and Tobago and... one of the classics of Ca ...

'' (1974), described by Bruce Paddington as "one of the most important films to be produced in Trinidad and Tobago". Maraj entered politics in 1991. He won the

San Fernando West San Fernando West is a parliamentary electoral district in comprising the western part of the city of San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. It came into effect in time for the 1956 Trinidad and Tobago general election. Members of Parliament This c ...

seat in the 1991 General Elections on a PNM ticket. Maraj served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from December 1991 until 7 May 1995, when Prime Minister Manning announced in a television address that he was demoting Maraj to Minister Without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister. Maraj claimed that this was the first he heard of this shift in his Ministerial duties. Later that year Maraj's sister, Occah Seapaul, Speaker of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, was removed from the position following a power struggle with Manning. After Seapaul's removal, Maraj defected from the PNM and joined the

Opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...

UNC. This reduced the PNM to an almost unworkable one-seat majority in Parliament. Manning was forced to call a General Election which he lost. Maraj contested the Naparima constituency on a UNC ticket and won. Maraj was re-elected to that seat in the 2000 General Election. In the subsequent UNC administration Maraj served as Minister of Communication and Information Technology until he resigned from the party, together with

Ramesh Maharaj Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC (; born 16 September 1945) is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian politician. Early life Ramesh Maharaj was born to Hindu Indo-Trinidadians, Dolly and Nanan Maharaj, on the 16th of September 1945 in Diamond Village, Trinidad ...

and

Trevor Sudama Trevor ( Trefor in the Welsh language) is a common given name or surname of Welsh origin. It is an habitational name, deriving from the Welsh ''tre(f)'', meaning "homestead", or "settlement" and ''fawr'', meaning "large, big". The Cornish langu ...

, late in 2001. This defection cost the UNC its majority in Parliament. In the subsequent

General Election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, the UNC lost control of government, but Maraj lost his seat to newcomer Nizam Baksh. Maraj resumed his theatre career in 2013, when his play ''The Saint'' was performed in San Fernando's Naparima Bowl.Verdel Bishop
"Ralph is back into Theatre"
''Trinidad Express Newspapers'', 16 February 2013.

References

* Meighoo, Kirk. 2003. ''Politics in a Half Made Society: Trinidad and Tobago, 1925-2002''.

External links