Trinidad reappoints sacked Ghanaian minister

Robert Le Hunte, a former boss of HFC Bank in Ghana, has renounced his Ghanaian citizenship paving way for his reappointment as a Minister of Public Utilities in Trinidad and Tobago.

Le Hunte has since apologised over the glitch which saw him being appointed and then revoked within a week. He was sworn in for the second time in a week during a ceremony at President’s House in St Ann’s Friday evening, after returning from Ghana, where he renounced his Ghanaian citizenship.

According to him, he erred on his part leading to his initial appointment being revoked and takes full responsibility for it.

Last week Thursday, Le Hunte, who is the former managing director of HFC Bank in Ghana, was sworn in as Public Utilities Minister by President Anthony Carmona. Four days later, the appointment was revoked on the grounds that he was a citizen of Ghana and was not qualified to be a senator under section 42(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

“I would like to apologise, as I did to the Prime Minister and the people of Trinidad and Tobago for this communication glitch and I also want to take full responsibility for that,” Le Hunte told the media after his second swearing-in.

“I also want to say emphatically that at the time of my swearing-in last Thursday, based on the professional advice and the information that was provided to me, the concept of dual citizenship was not an issue. Therefore, when I accepted the position it was on the basis that I thought that there was not an issue.”

Le Hunte said it was while doing research and “looking deeply” at the country’s Constitution that he became aware his Ghanaian citizenship would cause an issue.

“I therefore brought it to the attention of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister on Monday and I took immediate steps to rectify the situation.

“Those steps included flying to Ghana and revoking my citizenship, which has now been done and I am back here with all matters being cleared up and nothing preventing me from assuming this position.”