Anil Gayan


Anil Kumarsingh Gayan is a Mauritian politician and lawyer.

Early life, education and marriage

Anil Gayan's ancestors migrated from India when the island was a British colony. He is the son of Socile Boolell and bus driver Deokaran Gayan. Gayan completed his secondary education at Royal College Port Louis and was awarded a scholarship in 1968 to study in England as a "laureate". He studied law at the London School of Economics and University of London until 1974.
Gayan married Sooryakanti Nirsimloo, an academic of the MGI, whose younger sister is writer Ananda Devi Nirsimloo-Anenden.

Political career

He was the foreign minister of Mauritius from 1983 until 1986 and from September 2000 until a cabinet reshuffle in December 2003.
In 2009, he formed a new group called FNM in preparation for the by-elections during which he challenged rival cousins Pravind Jugnauth and Ashock Jugnauth. FNM had activist Atma Doolooa as deputy leader, barrister Ashley Hurrunghee as president, and comedian Hassen Rojoa as general secretary. However, Gayan was defeated at the Constituency No.8 by-elections when the FNM participated in such events.
Gayan later joined the Muvman Liberater and was elected in the 2014 general elections in Constituency No. 20. He was part of Cabinet as Minister of Health and then as Minister of Tourism.

Legal career

In 1974, Gayan joined the Attorney General’s Chambers as Crown Counsel. Since 1995 Gayan has been a Senior Counsel.
In 2008, he was part of United Nations mediation in Guinea-Bissau. Gayan led a 20-member African Union group of observers during the 2010 Rwanda elections.

Controversies

In 2015, the appointment of the head of the Cardiac Center, which is a department under Gayan's ministry, caused some controversy. In May 2016, Gayan sent a "Freedom of Information" email to a newspaper to request the newspaper to provide information about the salary of its staff. The Director of Publications of the newspaper replied by disclosing his salary and commented that the newspaper is a private entity. In June 2016, several Non-Governmental Organizations were concerned about the increase in usage of synthetic drugs in Mauritius while Gayan stated that the situation was not alarming.