Senator Dr. the Honourable Kennedy Swaratsingh was appointed Minister of Planning, Economic Affairs and Development for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago on May 5, 2025.

As of May 13, 2025, Minister Swaratsingh was also appointed Minister in the Ministry of Finance.

A seasoned leader in public service, international development and strategic consulting, Dr. Swaratsingh brings over three decades of experience spanning government, defence, business, and academia.

He began his professional journey in religious service, entering the Regional Seminary at Mount St. Benedict in 1984 and being ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1991. He is notably the first and only Roman Catholic priest to be commissioned into the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force, where he served with distinction, rising to the rank of Major. His military service included leadership roles in welfare, public relations and housing.

Dr. Swaratsingh entered national politics in 2007 as the elected Member of Parliament for St. Joseph. That same year, he was appointed Minister of Public Administration and Information. In this role, he spearheaded numerous transformation initiatives in human resource development, public service delivery and digital governance. He also served as President of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union in 2008 and again in 2010.

A respected business leader and consultant, Dr. Swaratsingh founded Kennedy Consulting Inc. in 2013, later rebranded as Cornerstone Industries International Group Inc. His consultancy work has spanned the Caribbean, where he has successfully structured and secured major international development financing projects in Barbados, St. Lucia, Anguilla, St. Kitts and the US Virgin Islands—working with institutions such as the Canadian Commercial Corporation, Export Development Canada, CAF (the Latin American Development Bank) and Republic Bank Ltd.

His accomplishments include helping Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados secure membership and financing from CAF, as well as supporting large-scale infrastructure and institutional reform projects valued at over US two hundred million dollars.

Dr. Swaratsingh has held several high-level executive roles in both the public and private sectors across the Caribbean. These include CEO positions at The Crane Resorts in Barbados, the Retail, Distribution and Logistics Group (a Neal and Massy subsidiary), as well as leadership roles in the food retail and consultancy sectors.

An academic and thought leader, Dr. Swaratsingh holds a Doctor of Business Administration from Walden University (2015), an MBA in Tourism and Human Resource Management along with multiple postgraduate qualifications from the University of the West Indies. He has lectured on organization design, ethics and public sector leadership, contributing to publications on ICT and productivity, including a featured chapter in Everybody Paddles: A CEO’s Strategic Guide to Building Company Consensus.

He has also served on several boards, including as Director and Vice-Chairman for the restructuring of CL Financial in Barbados, appointed by the Government of Barbados.

Dr. Swaratsingh is a member of the Human Resource Management Association of Trinidad and Tobago and is an accomplished musician. He is widely respected for his commitment to ethical leadership, regional integration and sustainable economic development.