Colm Imbert

The Honourable Colm Imbert MP
Minister of Finance of Trinidad and Tobago
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 September 2015
Prime Minister	Keith Rowley
Preceded by	Larry Howai
Member of Parliament for Diego Martin North/East
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 December 1991
Preceded by	Anthony Smart
Personal details
Nationality	Trinidadian
Political party	People's National Movement (PNM)
Alma mater	University of the West Indies
Occupation	Civil Engineering

Colm Imbert

is the Minister of Finance since September 2015 and Member of Parliament for the constituency of Diego Martin North/East, which he has represented since December 1991.

Imbert was previously Minister of Health (2001–2003), Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education (2003–2005), Minister of Works and Transport (1991–1995 and 2005–2010) and Minister of Local Government (1993–1995), Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago 2010-2015) as well as Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives (2007–2010) during his 31-year parliamentary career.

Political career

1991

Imbert first entered elected politics on 16 December 1991 by winning the Diego Martin East seat for the PNM in the 1991 general elections, defeating the incumbent Anthony Smart of the NAR with 7,111 votes (54.98%). He was appointed the Minister of Works and Transport and Minister of Local Government in the PNM Administration during the four years following the election.

1995–2001

In the 1995 general election, which was called by the then Prime Minister Patrick Manning one year ahead of schedule, he once again won the seat of Diego Martin East for the PNM, although PNM did not win the election. He also contested general elections in 2000 and 2001, winning his seat on both occasions. In 2001, after the general election of December 2001, the PNM was appointed by the then President of Trinidad and Tobago, A.N.R. Robinson, as the government, although it had tied, 18 seats to 18 seats, with the United National Congress in the election. In this short-lived government, which lasted for 9-month until the financial year expired in September 2002, Imbert served as Minister of Health

2002

Imbert won his seat once more in 2002 and was re-elected the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Diego Martin East. He was re-appointed Minister of Health and served in that position until 2003, when he was appointed Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education. In 2005, after the resignation of the then Minister of Works and Transport, Franklin Khan, Imbert was appointed Minister of Works and Transport.

2007

In 2007, his constituency, Diego Martin East, was renamed Diego Martin North/East due to boundary changes, and in the general election of 2007, Imbert won his seat again, for the sixth time. He was re-appointed Minister of Works and Transport and served in this position until the general election of May 2010, when the PNM lost the government. Imbert was also appointed as the Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives of Trinidad and Tobago from November 2007 to May 2010

2010

In the 2010 general election, after the then Prime Minister Patrick Manning called a snap election, Imbert won his seat, Diego Martin North/East, for the seventh time. However, the PNM lost the overall election, winning only 12 out of 41 seats in the House of Representatives, and he became a member of the Parliamentary Opposition for the second time in his political career.

2015

In the 2015 general election held on 7 September, Imbert once again won the seat of Diego Martin North/East with the largest ever vote count in his political career. With a tally of over 12,000 votes, Imbert defeated his rival by a margin greater than 7000 votes. The People's National Movement won the general election with 23 out of the possible 41 seats and following this victory, Imbert was appointed Minister of Finance by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

2020

In the 2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election held on 10 August, Imbert won the seat of Diego Martin North/East for the 9th time, again by a margin of over 7,000 votes. The People's National Movement won the general election with 22 out of the 41 seats at stake, giving Prime Minister Rowley and the PNM a second consecutive term in Government. Imbert was reappointed Minister of Finance on 19 August, 2020

Imbert has acted as Prime Minister on several occasions since 2015, in the absence of the substantive Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley

Early and Personal life

Imbert grew up on the St Augustine Campus of the Unversity of the West Indies (UWI) in Trinidad and attended the UWI Staff School (1964–1966), St Mary's College, Ireland (1966–1968), Mt. St. Benedict (the Abbey School) (1968–1973) in Tunapuna and St. Mary's College CIC) (1973–1975) in Port of Spain, before attending the University of the West Indies in St Augustine, Trinidad, followed by a career in civil engineering, construction and politics. His father, Ignatius Desmond Imbert (deceased) was a well-known Professor in Civil and Construction Engineering at the UWI and his mother Dr Maura Imbert, (still alive at age 94) is a distinguished biochemist and astronomer.

In 1982, Imbert moved to Maraval, a suburb of Port of Spain, where he still resides.

In his early years, he was a competitive swimmer, long distance runner, rugby player and weightlifter/bodybuilder.

He is married with one son

Professional/academic qualifications

Imbert holds a master's degree in Oil and Gas Law with Distinction from the Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University in Scotland (2016) with a specialization in oil and gas fiscal regimes, and a master's degree in Construction Law and Arbitration with Distinction, again from the Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University in Scotland (2007), with a specialization in the legal aspects of procurement by public authorities, and a master's degree in Maritime Civil Engineering from the University of Manchester (1982), with a specialization in coastal erosion and sediment transport, and a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering with Honours from the University of the West Indies (1979). He is a Registered Engineer in Trinidad and Tobago and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of the UK.

Work experience

After graduation from the University of the West Indies in 1979, Imbert worked as a consulting civil engineer on a variety of construction projects in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean before specializing in Port, Harbor and Coastal Engineering in 1982. In 1985, he took up a position as a lecturer in Construction Management and Engineering at the University of the West Indies, a postgraduate programme.

While lecturing at the University between 1985 and 1991, he also worked as a specialist consultant for two years (1990-1991) on sea defences in Guyana for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, involving a modern redesign of Guyana's 280-mile-long, 250-year-old seawall. He also started his construction business during this period, and got involved in residential and commercial building construction and specialist consulting in port, harbour and coastal engineering.

While in Opposition during the period 1995–2001, and 2010–2015, he worked as a property developer and project manager on a number of substantial building projects in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean. During this period, he was involved in the design, construction and financing of over 350 housing units and major sporting facilities.

Legal Matters

In October 1999, Imbert, as a property developer, became involved in a legal dispute with a subcontractor over a construction contract for a stadium in Grenada. The case took 21 years to be finally determined by the Privy Council [2020] UKPC 25, and involved complex arguments over an equitable assignment and an oral trust and included 3 appearances before the Privy Council, as well as several substantive and interlocutory matters in the High Court and Court of Appeal in Trinidad and Tobago and in Grenada. In October 2020, Imbert emerged victorious in the Privy Council and was awarded a substantial sum that had been held in escrow for 21 years. It is one of the longest-running construction disputes in the Caribbean