Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is blaming a communications glitch for the revocation of Robert Le Hunte’s appointment as Minister of Public Utilities on Monday.
The announcement of the decision was made by the Office of the Prime Minister on Monday, mere days after the Le Hunte was sworn into the post. It said the decision was made because it had come to the attention of the PM that Le Hunte had Ghanaian citizenship, which disqualified him, under section 42(1) of the Constitution, from taking up a senatorship.
But speaking during a tour of the Diego Martin Sporting Facility yesterday, Rowley cleared up any misconception about Le Hunte’s place of birth.
“He is a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, so let me make that very clear, he is not a Ghanaian, he is a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago who did temporary assignment in Ghana. While he was there he obtained in part of his residency and acceptance in the community he obtained citizenship, there was a communication glitch in the handling of that development,” the PM said.
People in several quarters had argued yesterday that Le Hunte should not be reappointed, given that he did not inform the PM of this situation and also accepted his appointment from President Anthony Carmona knowing he was a citizen of another country. Raising the issue of integrity as well, some questioned whether society could be comfortable with his reappointment given how the issue was handled.
But while the PM yesterday admitted the issue had “breached” the Constitution, he said it was a situation which could not be rectified before now due to the miscommunication. However, he said once Le Hunte has given up his Ghanaian citizenship he will go ahead with the planned reappointment.
Le Hunte is a former banker and was the former managing director of HFC Bank in Ghana, which is owned by local company Republic Bank.