Moonilal is a founding member of the United National Congress, and he served as the first Youth Affairs Officer of the party.
There he specialized in industrialization, labour relations and urban employment, and his thesis received the first cum laude distinction in the history of the Ph.D. program at the Institute of Social Studies.
Moonilal was a part-time tutor in politics at UWI (1988–91, 1993–94, 1996), and was a teaching and research assistant (TRA) at the Institute of Social Studies.
[citation needed] Moonilal worked as Head of the Department of Education, Research and Training, All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union (1989–91, 1993–95) and was rehired in an advisory capacity in 1999, during which time he also served as Industrial Relations Consultant and Advisor to the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA), Port-of-Spain (1999-2000).
[citation needed] On 24 May 2010 Moonilal was elected as Member of Parliament in the Oropouche East Constituency and subsequently became the Minister of Housing, Planning and the Environment in the People's Partnership government.