Karl Offmann
|
The Honourable Karl Offmann GCSK |
|
|---|---|
| 3rd President of Mauritius | |
|
In office 25 February 2002 – 7 October 2003 |
|
| Prime Minister |
Anerood Jugnauth Paul Bérenger |
| Vice President | Raouf Bundhun |
| Preceded by | Ariranga Pillay (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Anerood Jugnauth |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 November 1940 |
| Political party | Militant Socialist Movement |
| Spouse(s) | Marie Moutou |
| Children | Gilles Bernard Hans Eric |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Karl Auguste Offmann, GCSK (born 25 November 1940) is a Mauritian politician.
After two of his successive predecessors had resigned over their refusal to sign a controversial anti-terrorism bill, the parliament elected Offmann to serve as President of Mauritius on 25 February 2002. He served in the post until Paul Bérenger became his prime minister and nominated a new president on 1 October 2003.
Because secondary education was not free, his family could not afford to meet the costs of education for seven children. Thus, when he completed primary school education, he chose to compete for a scholarship in order to pursue his studies further. He won the government-awarded mechanical Engineering Apprenticeship Scholarship in 1956 and secured a seat at the prestigious Royal College School and the Technical College of Floreal. To acquire practical knowledge and experience, he was trained at the Mauritius Railways Department where he stayed up to 1963. In that same year, he was approached by the team of the Daily Express to work as a technician in the composition sector. He worked for the paper until 1979 when he was offered the post of Director of Father Laval's Printing, a company owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Port-Louis and for which he worked until 1983. From 1983 to 1986 he was Director of the Daily Socialist, a publication which belonged to a political party. In 1975, he obtained the Diploma of Political and Social Sciences at Claver House, London.
Offman joined the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative in 1957, where he became deeply involved in the overall strategy of the movement with regard to its information campaign and training programme. The programme was in favour of the working youth of the Indian Ocean Islands and on the African Continent as well on the international scene.
In 1964, he was selected by the Mauritian Branch of the JOCI to participate in the first International Training Course. It committed him to fight illiteracy, poverty other social evils on the international plane.
...
Wikipedia