Public Utilities appointment bungled

Rowley took leadership of the ministry after Port-of-Spain South MP Marlene McDonald was appointed as minister and then fired within the space of three days.

Responding to the issue in a statement yesterday, the United National Congress (UNC) Opposition expressed amazement at, what it described as, “the sheer incompetence once again displayed by this Keith Rowley-led administration”.

The UNC said the latest development has brought to the forefront, once again, that the Government cannot accomplish the most basic tasks of being “in charge.” “The inability of the prime minister to fill a Cabinet vacancy, without incident, is a failure of leadership in the highest order. The action taken by the prime minister today is not a simple matter. He has acknowledged that the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago has been violated and that this breach, under his hand, has brought the Office of the President into disrepute, again. A remedy to this situation cannot simply be a reappointment of Mr. Le Hunte once his situation is “rectified”.

The UNC said President Anthony Carmona acted on the advice of the prime minister in appointing Le Hunte as a senator and minister, therefore the prime minister effectively ill-advised and mislead Carmona.

The OPM in its statement said Rowley will advise Carmona to re-appoint Le Hunte once his “situation is rectified” supposedly by Friday.

Senior government officials indicated the issue could be one of dual citizenship and it is being addressed.

They said the statement from the OPM is the Government’s official position on the matter. Several attempts to contact Le Hunte for comment were unsuccessful. Le Hunte’s retirement as executive director from HFC Bank (Ghana) Limited was announced on August 15 and 16 on the bank’s website. The announcement said he was leaving to take up a ministerial appointment in TT. After his swearing in at the Office of the President on Thursday last week, Le Hunte told reporters he had a successful four-year tenure at HFC Bank and was determined to use his business skills to serve as a government minister.

Attorney Kenneth Lalla SC said the attorney general is responsible for advising the prime minister and the Government pertaining to the law. While he said he did not know the facts of the matter, Lalla said the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs normally does checks to ensure government appointments adhere to constitutional requirements. He said the Constitution does not debar anyone who has dual citizenship from being appointed as a senator. However, he said anyone who is a citizen of another country and not a citizen of TT cannot be appointed as a senator.

Lalla said clarity must be provided in Le Hunte’s case. He did not believe Le Hunte was at fault in this matter.

UNC chairman David Lee described the situation as embarrassing and “another conundrum by the PNM government.” Lee said such a situation would never have arisen under the former Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration. “Where is the due diligence by the Office of the Attorney General?” Lee asked. He also claimed the situation reflected a lack of integrity by Le Hunte. Lee said Le Hunte was no stranger to the political arena and should have known what are the requirements to be appointed as a senator.