Education
Moonilal has a Bachelor of Science Degree with Honours in Government from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Saint Augustine, an Bachelor of Laws degree in law from the University of London., a Master of Arts Degree in Labour and Development, which he graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1991/1992, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies during 1995 to 1998 from the Government of the Netherlands Institute of Social Studies, The Hague. There he specialized in Industrialization, Labour Relations and Urban Employment and his thesis received the first cum laude distinction in the history of the Doctor of Philosophy program at the Institute of Social Studies.
Career
He was a part-time tutor in Politics at UWI (1988-1991, 1993-1994, 1996), and was a Teaching and Research Assistant (The Right Audience) Institute of Social Studies, The Hague (1995, 1997-1998). He was also Advisor to ATS/GWTU (1999), lectured part-time at UWI, Saint Augustine (1999-2000) and was Lecturer at the Institute of Social Studies, the Netherlands (May–June 2000). In 1999, he was Director, Policy Monitoring Unit, Office of the Prime Minister.
Moonilal lectured in the areas of Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management (Human resource management) at the UWI, Saint Augustine and worked as an Industrial Relations consultant in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean.
Moonilal is married to Natasha Moonilal (formerly Chadeesingh). Moonilal worked as Head of the Department of Education, Research and Training, All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union (1989-1991, 1993-1995) and was rehired in an advisory capacity in 1999, during which time he also served as Industrial Relations Consultant and Advisor to the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA), Portuguese-of-Spain (1999-2000).
A strong motivational speaker and debater, he previously served in Government as Minister in the Ministry of Labour, Manpower Development and Industrial Relations and also as Minister of Communications and Information Technology). In 1999, he was Director, Policy Monitoring Unit, Office of the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
He has also served as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (2007-2010) as well as on over one dozen committees of Parliament.
The portfolio of this Ministry has been altered several times during this administration and is now known as the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
Politics
On May 24, 2010 Doctor Roodal Moonilal was elected as Member of Parliament in the Oropouche East Constituency and subsequently became the Minister of Housing, Planning and the Environment in the People"s Partnership government.
Membership
A member of Parliament since 2001, Doctor Roodal Moonilal, was first appointed as a Government Senator and was later elected to the House of Representatives.
