Timothy Sylvester Harris (born 6 December 1964) is a Saint Kittitian and Nevisian politician, who served as the third prime minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis from 2015 to 2022. He previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 10 August 2001 to 25 January 2008, as Minister of Finance from 2008 to 2010, and as Senior Minister and Minister for Agriculture from 2010 to 2013.

Life and career

Harris grew up in the village of

Tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

Saint Kitts Saint Kitts, officially Saint Christopher, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis constitute one ...

. He attended the Cayon High School and Basseterre High School before going to six university campuses, two in the Caribbean and four in Canada. In 1988, Harris graduated from the

University of the West Indies at Cave Hill University of the West Indies at Cave Hill is a public research university in Cave Hill, Barbados. It is one of five general campuses in the University of the West Indies system. It was the third campus to be established by the UWI System, fol ...

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 University of the West Indies at St. Augustine in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

. He graduated top of the class with an M.Sc. degree with a Distinction. In 2001 Harris successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation at

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

in Montreal, Canada. The doctoral programme is a joint Ph.D. programme involving

, McGill and two

francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

universities: H.E.C. (affiliated to

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

) and UQAM. Harris holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in administration majoring in accounting. Harris participated in elective politics in 1993 and was elected as a Member of Parliament on the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party ticket in parliamentary elections held in 1995, 2000, 2004, and 2010. He held various cabinet posts, including 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. In 2013 Prime Minister Denzil Douglas fired Harris from the cabinet. Harris established the People's Labour Party (PLP) later in the year. In the buildup to the 2015 general elections, the PLP formed the Team Unity alliance with the

People's Action Movement The People's Action Movement (PAM) is a political party in the island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. The party currently holds one of the 11 seats in the National Assembly. PAM operates only in Saint Kitts and for the 2022 general election ...

and the

Concerned Citizens' Movement The Concerned Citizens' Movement (CCM) is a Nevis-based political party in Saint Kitts and Nevis. Led by Mark Brantley, it is currently the largest party in Nevis, holding all three Nevisian seats in the National Assembly and three out of five s ...

. The alliance won the elections, and although the PLP won only one seat, Harris became the third Prime Minister of independent St. Kitts and Nevis on 16 February. He succeeded the incumbent, Denzil Douglas, who served a historic near 20-year tenure.

Honors

* : **

TWN Order of Propitious Clouds 1Class BAR

Special Grand Cordon of the Order of Propitious Clouds (2019)

References

External links