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So Watson Duke was not the only son of the Sister Isle to make a fool of himself today.
For the second straight time, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was forced to backtrack on the appointment of his Public Utilities Minister after admitting that Robert Le Hunte, a Ghanian citizen, did not qualify to be appointed to the Senate.
A release from the Office of the Prime Minister indicated that Le Hunte’s presumed dual-citizenship got in the way of his swearing-in at President’s House today:
“It has come to the attention of the Honourable Prime Minister that Mr Robert Le Hunte is a citizen of Ghana and accordingly he is not qualified under section 42(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to be appointed as a Senator.
“Accordingly, the Honourable Prime Minister has so informed the President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
“Mr Le Hunte will be rectifying his position and once this is done the Honourable Prime Minister will appoint him as a Senator and as Minister of Public Utilities. Under these circumstances, until the matter is rectified, the Honourable Prime Minister will assume the portfolio of Minister of Public Utilities.
“It is expected that this situation will be rectified by Friday 1 September 2017.”
The faux pas meant that Le Hunte’s first stint as Public Utilities Minister was almost as short as that of his predecessor, Marlene McDonald, who barely managed take the oath and pose for photos with ‘Godfather Burkie’ before she got her walking papers.
JIn case you’re wondering, section 42(1) states:
“No person shall be qualified to be appointed as a Senator who—(a) is a citizen of a country other than Trinidad and Tobago having become such a citizen voluntarily or is under a declaration of allegiance to such a country…”
Wait, does anyone in the PNM ever conduct ‘due diligence’? What? How do you mean you don’t speak Greek?!
Sigh. At this rate, Christian Mouttet might as well widen his probe on the government’s internal selection processes to the head of the Cabinet.
No wonder successful private sector executives pull a face when asked to serve in Government. The reality of public service is far removed from the sales pitch.
Something like being called on stage for ‘just a little wine’ by Destra.
(Courtesy Islandistas.com)
Live Wire is uncertain whether the Prime Minister needs to be sworn back in to serve as Public Utilities Minister until Le Hunte “rectifies” his Ghanian citizenship. God knows Keithos deserves someone swearing at him right now.
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Mr. Live Wire is an avid news reader who translates media reports for persons who can handle the truth. And satire. Unlike Jack Nicholson, he rarely yells.
https://www.facebook.com/OnlineTrini2DBone/videos/396046610797657/
Wait a minute…wasnt this man a born Trinidadian that got dual citizenship when he took residency in Ghana years ago because of his job??SMH.He is not the only person that has dual citizenship.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20170831/news/hes-back
He had to look deeply..smh
Your reaction is appropriate.
And again, I ask, does the office of the President have a duty of care to the nation to ensure this situation is kosher now to swear him in a second time? Or to enquire into how the situation arose in the first place? Smh
And I still want to know what is the great urgency to have him in this week.
I don’t know the relationship between the PM and Prez Office given all that passed..Becuz the PM left this morning..
Ihu
There is a serious article in today’s Guardian by Rosemarie Sant page A6..
“EX-DIPLOMAT ON LE HUNTE ISSUE: SLAP IN FACE TO GIVE UP GHANA HONOUR’
Nerisha posted it above. Whats so serious about it? The biggest insult is he not knowing he cant be a Senator in TT with another assumed allegiance..
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20170830/news/prof-was-it-deliberate
The presentation and farce of “multiple loyalties” by don’t of citizenships
Just overlook the typos. My fingers seem to be overlapping the small keys on my phone.
You people are commenting on due deligence
Let’s comment on all the Sandals of Kamala’s stewardship. All the money stolen from the public purse. Not on a man who has so far had no crime against his name. Dual citizenship is not a cre only that he has to give up the other to take IP the job position. Let’s focus on real issues that affects us like the state recovering dome if not all the money stolen by the former ministers.
Their eyes too blind to see, just check out the language of some of these ppl who make comments it’s ludicrous, unintelligent, nasty racist, name it you get it and that says a whole lot about these individuals, can’t even make a sensible Comment without calling others names, cursing, belittling themselves whilst they are too numb to understand what they put out only shows the world who & what they are. Many empty vessels.
You see them for what they truly are.
Kala Ramnath
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2017-08-31/ex-diplomat%3A-slap-in-face-give-up-ghana-honour
But by Ghanian law, you cannot serve in most positions there if you have citizenship elsewhere. So why would they not understand the reason that Le Hunte gives up his citizenship?
I’m not really convinced by that former high commissioner.
The article mentions he was honoured twice, first with citizenship in Dec 2016 and another, more recent honour where he was recognized by the gov’t.
Seeing that both events are of relative recency, they may have had hopes for his continuing contribution to their country.
Ergo, slap in face.
Not sure how much backlash there might be, if any, though.
Hhmm..slap in the face for them, but not for TT..hhmm
Seems a bit of an overreaction from the High Commissioner. Is he suggesting that Hunte should give up the opportunity to serve his country in exchange for a perceived “slap in the face”? Steups!
Really sorry for the bungling .He has the potential to improve
I prefer a Prime Minister who makes inocent errors than one who is corrupt. We all make mistakes because we are human. He didn’t commit a crime. That man seems to be a decent man who he attempted to appoint as a minister. We need to allow the man the run the country. We gave Kamla 5 years which was full I’d corruption starting from the head. How quickly we forget.
Inga is not by your appearance you does get the job.if that was the case then the govt wouldn’t have anyone.
Ok – Do you know anything about this man outside of his dual citizenship that affects his suitability for the Post. We must not smear people’s character without justifiable evidence – It’s called Character Assassination.
I am really sorry for the bungling I hope things work out and he is reinstated to office and help to improve our utility service I think that he is a good man for the job
What ah khow is that he is not honestly accepting the position.and you know that’s true.so l will class u as .same.
You need to look past your Politial bias. I still await your evidence of corruption where this man is concern. Not revealing that you hold dual citizenship do not constitute a crime. Of you want to know what a crime is – ask Anand Ramlogan why he ask Mr West to lie for a bribe of Job stability. That is a crime – there are still Good intelligent people I’m this country that would not allow wool yo be pulled over their faces. Enough of Kamla and her corrupt ministers.I look forward to more arrests in the near future of the others who think they will always get away with their corruption.
Forgive the typos. My fingers seem to be overlapping on other keys.
Trinidadians do have short memories…every week was, as they called them, missteps..now they looking for every thing to complain about. .I find they are doing a very good job as the Opposition..even opposing some of the things that they themselves implemented…
So true!
“Looking for every thing to complain about”? Would that be your response to Tobagonians who are suffering because of this ferry scandal?
And is Rowley being better than Kamla something to boast about? Because that isn’t a high bar and I’d like to think that even the most ardent PNM supporter would want more from their Prime Minister than to merely be better than the one who just got voted out of office.
The Tobago fiasco is unfortunate but after listening to the whole speech as to why it has we ended up in this situation I support his decision 100%. You see the State should never give in to blackmail even if it means some temporary inconveniences because it only leaves room for others to think they can get the Government to hand over our tax dollars if they threaten to withhold important services. A precedent must be set. Sometimes to get meaningful changes you have to take a stand even if it means having to withstand temporary inconveniences. To answer your other question no I expect much more than him being merely better than Kamla. However he has not done anything that suggests to me that he just wants to be merely a notch above het. He is making a difference in his stance against corruption. His handling of the economy I think is going ok because he came into power when the economy in recession and I am quite willing to let him use his first 5 years to put his strategies in place to turn the economy around. When Mr Robinson was in Power in 1986 when tough decisions had to be made to see us through that period the Panday fraction mislead this country into believing that Robinson was wicked when in fact he was a good Prime Minister who had to ensure that the Government of the day manage the economy with the scarce resources that was availability at that time. The same thing is happening again but I stand with my Prime Minister who is trying really hard to bring about meaningful change to the way things are done when Political parties takes Office and their Ministers have a feeding party with the Public purse. We had five years of corruption now give him the opportunity to make changes without judging him prematurely. He may make some errors along the way and he has but making mistakes are being human however when you do something in Office for the personal benefits of whom you choose that is not in the Public interest and can be deemed illegal then that’s corruption. Therefore let’s give him a fair chance unless we have clear cut proof the he is guilty of using his Office for corrupt activities.
The whole idea if loud mouthing for the public is to see how much of the corruption the ppl of this country forget. All empty vessels who couldn’t prove themselves worthy of anything clear cut, unbiased, unblemished, honest, reliable, steadfast, because they all leaning on the side that T&T is a 9 days wonder country and that many have forgotten all the ills. Trinidadian need to be truthful and honest about things, see it for what it is, not through the eyes of race, religion and politics then they be set for a better country, it’s the we factor killing this small nation, yet when you read it’s hate, racism, bitterness. What a sad bunch in a such small island.
I appreciate the article but I respectfully wish to submit to you that the statement of the Tobago son is quite out of place and downright derogatory and quite indicative of the very thought process that Mr Duke hinted to. Trinidad is and island just like Tobago is. Together we make one country , the better than them syndrome not working.
Hey guys the Ghanaians are pleased for Le Hunte ase. https://www.myjoyonline.com/business/2017/August-29th/former-hfc-boss-robert-le-hunte-takes-oath-as-utilities-minister.php
What I am curious about, the release from the OPM, I think it was, when listing his background, nothing stood out for me as to what makes this person the only apparent person to head this particular ministry.
Can anyone enlighten me?
He was on the BOD of UDECOTT, he knows how the system works
I still don’t see that as making him THE person to head a ministry of Public Utilities.
And this is rather curious. If from the standpoint of Rep Bank , there is a significant investment there, he seems to hold a position of some weight, isn’t that position seemingly better for our benefit, rather than have him as a minister?
Ghana Citizenship Act 2000:
Section 10—Citizenship by Registration
(1) A citizen of age and capacity of any approved country may upon an application, and with the approval
of the President, be registered as a citizen of Ghana if he satisfies the Minister that—
(a) he is of good character;
(b) he is ordinarily resident in Ghana;
(c) he has been so resident throughout the period of five years or such shorter period as the Minister
may in the special circumstances of any particular case accept, immediately before the application;
and
(d) he can speak and understand an indigenous language of Ghana.
(2) A person who is not a citizen and is or was married to a citizen may, upon an application in the
prescribed manner, be registered as a citizen.
(3) Subsection (2) applies to an applicant who was married to a person who was a citizen at the time of
the death of that person.
(4) Where the marriage of a person registered as a citizen under subsection (2) is dissolved, the person
shall continue to be a citizen unless the citizenship is renounced.
(5) A child of the marriage of a person registered as a citizen under subsection (2) shall continue to be a
citizen unless the child renounces the citizenship.
(6) Where upon an application for registration under subsection (2) it appears to the Minister that the
marriage had been entered into primarily for the purpose of obtaining the registration, the Minister
shall request the applicant to establish that the marriage was entered into in good faith.
(7) In the case of a man seeking registration, subsection (1) applies only if the applicant is permanently
resident in Ghana.
(8) A person shall not be registered as a citizen unless he has taken the oath of allegiance.
This makes no mention of a foreigner being obliged to renounce citizenship. So it is possible that Le Hunte remained a T&T citizen all along and the excerpts which suggest otherwise are outdated.
Yuh better take a trip to Ghana too, yes, Lasana. I have really nice people who will look after you 😉
Btw, I saw that but like you said, couldn’t find anything re: foreigners
Lol. It’s on my bucket list. 🙂
Then you could get the info first hand, man
Omg…..ololol
We need a minister for my company . We almost had Marlene which would have been a disaster (for me for sure) . So let Le Hunte be appointed again . Marlene had two chances so give him two also .
Nadeera, it gets cloudy again
The insinuation there is he would have been obliged to give up his T&T citizenship to get his job in Ghana. That in itself isn’t a big deal.
The problem remains that clearly due diligence was not done. And now, possibly, the PM might be being economical with the truth to save face.
Comedy of errors. Descent into political farce. And in the meanwhile the real issues are left unattended.
Well yes. I doh have words right now Lasana
Now it might be that this act was amended eh. Someone suggested that there might have been an amendment that allowed Le Hunte to keep his Trinidadian citizenship.
Lasana oh ho, my bad, I didn’t realise he SO big in de dance.
Lol. Ok. There was an amendment in 2000 which seems to have removed the obligation of registered Ghanian citizens renouncing their previous citizenship.
So the suggestions of otherwise are likely to have been outdated.
Lasana Liburd phew!
Go back Ghana Please pnm will make you a very sad man
This remind me about a magistrate who resign to take up a judge position and was ask to resign that to lost she wok .now dat a dog and d bone story , Le hunter is d same thing PNM at its best
Only mumbling and bungling. Lord help us
Does he smoke?
Smoke what?
Today’s Newsday:
Rowley yesterday cleared the air on the matter, saying Le Hunte is a TT national who was on temporary assignment in Ghana.
“While he was there, he obtained in part of his residency and acceptance in the community, he obtained Ghanaian citizenship.” Rowley dismissed the recent faux pas surrounding Le Hunte’s appointment as a “communication glitch.” “There was a communication glitch in the handling of that development and by having that in place it offended our Constitution,” he said. “That is easily rectified and by him revoking his appointment to preserve his position in Trinidad and Tobago and qualify him to hold the office for which he has been selected for.” Asked if Le Hunte had provided him with details about his status a a TT citizen, Rowley told reporters: “I have just provided it.” Pressed to elaborate, he added: “I am saying it was a development that the communication which would have prevented it (appointment) from happening, the communication went awry and it has to be done over.
“ So, a few days of doing over and it will be all right. You couldn’t provide it before you knew what happened.” The Prime Minister made it clear that Le Hunte will be re-appointed “So, a rectification is taking place so that we comply with the requirements of the Constitution and it is my intention to re-appoint him as soon as that is done.
That will take 72 hours or thereabouts.”
Lasana what I just read? I still doh know what the glitch was or how it happen. So he answered the question with a non-answer?
Replace “misspoke” with “communication glitch”.
Lasana Ah, I see. So it was a glitch in the brain-to-mouth Filter. That happens to me all the time!
Maven, it was about Govt distraction on Anand issue etc etc…
Wvhat are fuad’s theories,,?
Lasana Liburd, see why communication is important?
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/z2017-08-30/i-will-reappoint-him%2C-says-pm
““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.”” What utter rubbish
Savitri Maharaj how can a communication glitch hand you a foreign passport. I better go to the US EMbassy there and try that glitch and see how dem handle dat development.
Sorry, but that piece not even worthy of a comment. Does the PM think the nation is stupid?
Not the piece, Nerisha. That’s a classic case of shooting the messenger.
It’s the PM’s continuing bungling that should be beneath contempt, not the reportage and/or commentary it spawns.
And they want to check normal citizens background inside out before they could get a lil KFC work but the big boys with all the subjects you could think about ain’t getting no background check stupess that is why the government will constantly embarrass themselves because of lack of common sense.
Trinis have a 10 days memory by next week the minister will grant him citizenship under low and by next month he will hold office
Lasana Liburd, not your forte, neither mines, but just skimming through all 500+ pages of the Uff Report, very instructive. Appendix 13, in particular
Deeply impressed by your interrogatory and forensics, Savitri Maharaj. In an ideal world, you would make a great minister. Trinidad’s loss. The current passing parade of goons, unsavouries and assorted opportunists is a tragedy for our nation. And both parties are guilty as hell. T&T is in a bad shape and needs visionaries to haul it out of its current downward spiral. Our own Paul Kagame (sans human rights violations). Instead we are landed with two sets of er, maggots, taking turns to feast on what’s left of the corpse. Tragic to observe from a distance.
Kala Ramnath, everyone is free to support whichever political party they choose. But do the country, treasury, and future generations a favour and hold your people to account, more so than those who did not vote for you.
Because on some issues, it is baffling that people even refuse to open their eyes to the possibility that something is not entirely transparent.
Seems the standard is, as long as the other party did it.
It gets tiring. More so as guards change and we see no follow through on hold people to account.
What is the keep back in the justice system?
Nerisha Mohammed Is there any evidence that this style of politics is going to change anytime soon?
Yeah, it’s tiring now…going round in circles
Savitri Maharaj Yes? Signs of change?
Change for the worse, Kala Ramnath
Too many people on games n this place
Savitri Maharaj oh lord, don’t spoil my Independence boat cruise wine n’ yam/oops jam, nah..just bought a nice outfit with those directorships I hold in about er 2 dozen state companies
Lucky is just directorships and not ministerial posts..I woulda sell you out too
Savitri Maharaj Oh I used to be one. Remember K Ramnath? Only I allowed a male imposter to occupy my seat.
He had just a TT passport?
Savitri Maharaj Could have had one for Calcutta, possibly. Not to be mistaken for Freeport.
Brian Harry, were you on the UDECOTT Board in 2004?
yes i was
So, you knew all along that Robert Le Hunte was also on the Board?
Savitri Maharaj yes i knew him on the board.
Thank you! So all your posturing here was just that? Smh
Savitri Maharaj what posturing? His being on the board wasn’t relevant to this discussion. What did u want me to say?
It’s not relevant to this discussion? Knowing that the PM went all the way to Ghana to bring him back here to be a Senator/Minister, and not even a citizen of T&T…you don’t see the connection when Mr Rowley was Minister of Housing? Ok…You have not connected it at all? Ok..
Do you know how long he’s been a citizen of Ghana then?
Savitri Maharaj, Robert Le Hunte is a Trinidadian. That’s what I know. I did not know that he had acquired Ghanian citizenship. In 2004 I knew him to be Trinbagonian. Don’t create BS. I didn’t posture on anything. I was as shocked as everyone to hear he had Ghanian citizenship.
Savitri Maharaj Also, when I sat on UDeCOTT board, Dr Rowley was minister of planning. Get your stories right.
Ok, I get Planning, but you saw no connection with Le Hunte, KCR and Uff Report? ??
Savitri Maharaj, No! UDeCOTT as an organization was the subject of the report, we all know that. I don’t know of the connection between he and KCR. You assert that the PM went tp Ghana to recruit him. That’s a stretch. Do you know whether they had a relationship before he went to Ghana? That he was on the board is not pertinent to his hiring. If there’s a direct question you wish to ask then do so, but conjecture and assumptions won’t work.
Robert went to Ghana to work for Republic Bank. Robert as far as I know was born and raised in San Fernando, a place in TT. The second capital
And attended Presentation College…but now has Ghanaian citizenship…sigh..
Savitri Maharaj You still haven’t shown me how I’m linked to his appointment as Public Utilities Minister
Savitri Maharaj, QC!!!!
a simple background check would have indicated his citizenship. are Rowley’s people stupid?
looks like it
Lisa, you an all, none ah them backside ent have any background.
There is very little difference between this appointment and Marcia Ayers-Caesar’s imo.
#UnfinishedBusinessMuch
So is he currently unemployed?
Marlene still holding the record I think.