20 hours ago
5
KAY-MARIE FLETCHER
Senior Reporter
Former public utilities minister Robert Le Hunte is rejecting suggestions that a so-called “protected list” at the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) was created to favour officials of the People’s National Movement (PNM), insisting the practice has existed for decades and was never intended to exempt anyone from paying electricity bills.
His comments follow claims made by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in Parliament, where she alleged that T&TEC maintained a “protected list” of individuals whose electricity service could not be disconnected.
She said the list included former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley, Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles, and several other current and former PNM parliamentarians.
However, Le Hunte said the list was not created for political favouritism.
He told Guardian Media that its purpose was to ensure certain accounts received additional review or a courtesy reminder before disconnection.
He added that there was a strong possibility the Prime Minister herself could also be on such a list.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Le Hunte said: “As a courtesy, this list over the years has been people from government officials, senior public servants, ambassadors, judges—people who, as the corporation saw fit, would have said, for example, these people, if anything happened to their electricity, it would not be good to have them without electricity for a period of time, based on the judgment of the management of the organisation.”
He said the practice may date back to the Eric Williams administration and stressed that it was never an official board policy or formally approved list.
Le Hunte insisted there was no political involvement in determining who was included and that during his tenure as public utilities minister, no one asked him to approve or recommend names.
He also said he was not aware of anyone on the list avoiding payment.
According to him, any inclusion of ministers or senior officials would have been determined internally by T&TEC management.
Le Hunte further disclosed that T&TEC also maintains other monitoring lists, including customers on approved payment arrangements, describing them as standard administrative practice in financial institutions.
He said the parliamentary disclosure of the list was “much ado about nothing,” and questioned the intent behind its revelation.
“You don’t use parliamentary privileges to do things like that. You make inquiries, you ask questions, and then you come to a conclusion, because when you speak as a prime minister, it has implications for what you do and what you say,” he said.
Le Hunte suggested the disclosure could either be a distraction from other government matters or a signal of possible future action at T&TEC.
He warned that he hopes the controversy is not being used to justify deeper political intervention at the state utility.
English (US) ·