The Honourable Timothy Harris |
|
---|---|
Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis | |
Assumed office 18 February 2015 |
|
Monarch | Elizabeth II |
Governor General |
Edmund Lawrence Samuel Weymouth Tapley Seaton |
Preceded by | Denzil Douglas |
Personal details | |
Born |
Tabernacle, Saint Kitts and Nevis |
6 December 1964
Political party |
Labour Party (Before 2013) People's Labour Party (2013–present) |
Other political affiliations |
Team Unity (2013–present) |
Alma mater |
University of the West Indies McGill University |
Timothy Sylvester Harris (born December 6, 1964 in Tabernacle, Saint Kitts) is the current Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, he previously served as the foreign minister from August 10, 2001 to January 25, 2008. Between 2008 -2010, Harris was Minister responsible for Finance and served as Senior Minister and Minister for Agriculture between 2010-2013. Harris grew up in the rural village of Tabernacle. He attended the Cayon High School and Basseterre High School before making his journey to six university campuses, two in the Caribbean and four in Canada.
In 1988, Harris graduated from the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies with a B.Sc. degree with a First Class Honours in Accounting. The only graduate of the B.Sc. Accounting programme to obtain this distinction. He also received the Victor Crooke Prize for Best Accounting Student. He returned home and worked for two years at managerial level with S. L. Horsfords and Co Ltd.
In 1990-92 he pursued his M.Sc. degree in Accounting at the St. Augustine Campus of UWI in Trinidad and Tobago. He graduated top of the class with an M.Sc. degree with a Distinction in Accounting.
In 2001 Harris successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. The doctoral programme is a joint Ph.D. programme involving Concordia University, McGill and two francophone universities: H.E.C. and UQAM. Harris holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Administration majoring in Accounting.
Harris participated in elective politics in 1993 and since then won his seat on the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party ticket, in each parliamentary elections held in 1995, 2000, 2004, and 2010. Dr Harris has been: Minister of Agriculture, Lands and Housing, Minister of Education, Labour and Social Security, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Education and Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade, Industry and Commerce. He has published several works and received several awards, including the St. Kitts Youth Council Award for Excellence in Education, the FESTAB Community Award for outstanding contribution to FESTAB and a certificate for outstanding contribution to the Cayon High School.