Rama Sithanen

The Honourable
Rama Sithanen
இராம கிருட்டிண சித்தனன்
रामा कृष्ण सिथनेन
GCSK
The Honourable; Rama Sithanen ; இராம கிருட்டிண சித்தனன் ; रामा कृष्ण सिथनेन GCSK
Vice Prime Minister of Mauritius
	In office; 5 July 2005 – 5 May 2010
President	Sir Anerood Jugnauth
Prime Minister	Navin Ramgoolam
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Pravind Jugnauth
Finance Minister of Mauritius
	In office; 5 July 2005 – 5 May 2010
President	Sir Anerood Jugnauth
Prime Minister	Navin Ramgoolam
Preceded by	Pravind Jugnauth
Succeeded by	Pravind Jugnauth
Finance Minister of Mauritius
	In office; 7 September 1991 – 5 December 1995
Prime Minister	Sir Anerood Jugnauth
Preceded by	Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo
Succeeded by	Vasant K Bunwaree
1st Member of Parliament for Quatre Bornes & Belle Rose
	In office; 5 July 2005 – 5 May 2010
Preceded by	Sushil Kushiram
Succeeded by	Xavier Luc Duval
Personal details
Born	21 April 1954 (age 70); Mauritius
Political party	Militant Socialist Movement; Mauritian Labour Party
Spouse	Mrs Sithanen
Children	3
Alma mater	London School of Economics and Political Science
Occupation	Economist
Website	[1]

Rama Krishna Sithanen, GCSK, MP (born Tamil: இராம சித்தனன் Hindi: राम कृष्ण सिथनेन on 21 April 1954) is a former finance minister of Mauritius and vice-prime minister of Mauritius and has held the office between 1991 and 1995 when Sir Anerood Jugnauth was Prime Minister and from 2005 to 2010 Navin Ramgoolam's Cabinet.

In 2011, Dr Sithanen worked as Director of Strategy at the African Development Bank. In the same year he took up the role of Chairman and Director of International Financial Services ("IFS"), a large management company in Mauritius. In 2016, he became the Chairman of Sanne Group PLC's Mauritius branch, following its acquisition of IFS. Between 2013 and 2017, he chaired the Rwanda Development Board. In 2022, Apex Group, a global financial solution provider, acquired Sanne Group PLC and in 2023 Dr Sithanen has become Independent Director and Chairperson of Apex Group's Mauritius group of companies.

Background and education

Dr Sithanen comes from a modest background, due to poverty he was forced to abandon school to work at an early age. However, later on, young Rama took back his studies and went to London School of Economics to read economics and completed a Bsc (Econ) First Class Honours and a Msc (Econ) with distinction.^[1] Later on, during his mandate as Finance minister he obtained a PhD in Politics at the age of 51, while his thesis was 'An examination of alternative electoral systems for Mauritius' from Brunel University.^[2]

Honours

He was honored by the President and was promoted to the highest rank in the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean and received the grade of Grand Commander and therefore use the prefix Hon. and post nominal GCSK.