Public Utilities Minister Robert Le Hunte said the good relationship he developed with the Government and people of Ghana helped him to get his citizenship there renounced in four days instead of the requisite two weeks. He explained this yesterday after UNC's Devant Maharaj asked how the Ghana citizenship was renounced so quickly when that country's Constitution states renunciation takes two weeks
"The two week period is stated on Ghana's Government website," Maharaj said yesterday. "I'm calling on Mr Le Hunte to show Trinidad and Tobago the certificate of renunciation since Ghana's rules are that a certificate is given when citizenship is renounced."
Maharaj made the call after Le Hunte was sworn in again as Public Utilities Minister on Thursday night. It was the second such function for the new minister and senator who was initially sworn in last Thursday.
On Monday, however, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) said Le Hunte couldn't be sworn in as a senator and couldn't be a minister since he was a citizen of Ghana. He had served there from 2013 to last month as a Republic Bank official.
The OPM cited Section 42 (1) of the Constitution which debars people who have acquired citizenship from another state from holding senatorship. The OPM said Le Hunte was rectifying the situation. He left T&T on Monday to go to Ghana to renounce his citizenship and returned on Thursday.
Maharaj has written to Ghana's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey seeking confirmation that Le Hunte's Ghanaian citizenship was indeed revoked "within a mere three days"" and in accordance with that country's laws and with a renunciation certificate as required.
He asked: "Was Mr Le Hunte afforded any special treatment by Ghana's Government to expedite this?"
Le Hunte said he wasn't given any special treatment and T&T's Government didn't intervene but it was expedited because he had a good relationship with people when he worked in Ghana for the past four years.
He said based on the advice he received before he was sworn in as a minister the first time, the Ghana status wasn't an issue since he was advised based on the Representation of the People's Act.
"It was when I examined the Constitution myself after that I realised there was an issue and I informed the Prime Minister myself immediately," he said.
"I was given the Ghana citizenship in recognition of the role I was playing in forging trade/investment ties between Trinidad and Tobago and Ghana and I accepted it as I didn't have to renounce my Trinidad and Tobago citizenship."
However, Maharaj said: "Mr Le Hunte swearing on the Constitution essentially violated the oath of office of the Constitution. What was the role of the Attorney General who is the legal advisor to the Cabinet and supposed to vet all such appointments in this latest fiasco? Where's the Law Association on this legal issue of the intent of Section 42?"
He said Le Hunte should have been aware of the Ghana MP for Bawku Central who was jailed for two years for having dual citizenship.
"How can citizens now be expected to repose trust and confidence in Mr Le Hunte who didn't see it fit or proper to advise his political leader that he held citizenship of another country? Yet Prime Minister Rowley will have T&T simply believe it was a 'communication glitch'."
Analysts: He should not have been reappointed
Political analyst Dr Bishnu Ragoonath said Le Hunte shouldn’t have been reappointed as he failed to tell the Prime Minister about his Ghana citizenship when he took the oath of office.
"A classic example of mismanagement,” he said
Political analyst Dr Winford James asked what was checked when the Dr Rowley asked Le Hunte to serve.
"The Prime Ministeer has access to much information. That's what the Attorney General is there for. There doesn't seem to be a legal bar to reappointing him but the situation is an embarassment for Government.
"If it was a deliberate mistake in not telling the Prime Minister of the citizenship, then reappoinment could be reconsidered. It's whether the Prime Minister's Office did proper background checks. These problems of embarassment—the ferries, the Le Hunte appointment—are solved by due diligence. Someone isn't doing their work."
Former Congress of the People (COP) deputy leader Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan said Le Hunte's reappointment "not only undermines integrity in public life but also speaks to the very same issue of corruption the Prime Minister identified as a major problem in Government."
She added: "Before a minister takes the oath of office, it's mandatory they become familiar with Constitutional provisions. If the Prime Minister is serious about improving the problem of corruption within his government he should lead by example. It's on this basis Mr Le Hunte should have been disqualified from holding any public office."