Minister of Public Utilities Robert Le Hunte has apologised to the country for the circumstances surrounding his appointment, revocation and reappointment to the post.

Le Hunte was sworn in for the second time in a week during a ceremony at President's House in St Ann's last night, after returning from Ghana, where he renounced his Ghanaian citizenship.

Speaking with the media following the second swearing-in, Le Hunte said he took full responsibility for the “communication glitch” which caused his initial appointment to be revoked.

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Four days later, the appointment was revoked on the grounds that he was a citizen of Ghana and was not qualified to be a senator under section 42(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and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

Le Hunte said last night that he was unaware that having dual citizenship would have been a problem.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Le Hunte also sought to make it clear that despite obtaining citizenship in Ghana, he has always remained a Trinidad and Tobago citizen.

Strong ties with Ghana

“I have never, at any time, renounced my Trinidad and Tobago citizenship.”

Asked whether renouncing his Ghanaian citizenship would affect his future prospects of taking up any positions in that country, Le Hunte said he maintains a relationship with Ghana as his wife is Ghanaian.

“So I think I have rights to be able to go back there,” he said.

He added that he believed Trinidad and Tobago will continue to maintain strong ties with Ghana.

And he declared that he was not daunted by the negative publicity surrounding his appointment.

While the matter is seemingly cleared up now, Le Hunte admitted that he was not happy that his term began with controversy.

“This would not be how I would have liked my first week in office to be at all,” he lamented.

However, he said he was ready to move on and put the matter to rest.

“I think there is a lot of work to be done in the ministry, providing water and electricity to the people of Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.

“This ministry touches the people where it matters and I am anxious to put this behind me and move on to the work at hand, which is serving the people of Trinidad and Tobago and trying to provide them with efficient services.”

Le Hunte said the most pressing issue affecting the ministry is decreased revenue.

“The reality of what is happening to our utilities from a big-picture perspective is that the revenue we get as a country is now less and we have to find ways of ensuring that we make these utilities as efficient as possible. We have to find ways to do more with less because we do have less as a country.”

Le Hunte said there were issues in the Water and Sewerage Authority and the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission that need to be dealt with head-on.

Le Hunte is the country's fifth Minister of Public Utilities since the People's National Movement took office in September 2015.

The others were Ancil Antoine, Fitzgerald Hinds, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Marlene McDonald, who held the office for less than 48 hours.