Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman is being accused of using his high public office for private gain. This charge is being laid against the Minister by social activist and Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram. Ram made the accusations over the weekend as the infamous Quintet + 1, ministerial delegation to ExxonMobil’s Texas-based headquarters continues to attract scrutiny.
Ram made his views known over the weekend on his chrisram.net media outlet, since the revelation that Minister Trotman has in fact married the technical officer who had formed part of the delegation to Texas, despite having tendered her resignation a month before the trip.
Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman
He observed that the technical officer has since been formally married to the Minister at a recent ceremony in Grenada—the spice isle.
According to Ram, “Under any reasonable test, this act by Trotman would be considered as corrupt,” and points to using public office for private gain.
Ram has since questioned whether Minister Trotman had informed “his colleagues that he and the young lady were engaged/about to be married… If he did not, was that not a material non-disclosure… And if he did, did they object; and if not, why not?
The social activist, in his critical observation, quipped, “It would be interesting also to know whether Trotman informed ExxonMobil of his relationship with the young woman, and whether he and the other four Ministers who went on the visit did not consider his action, at the very least, inappropriate and personally uncomfortable.”
Ram said the matter has to be seen in context, observing, “On the delegation was Minister Dominic Gaskin of the AFC, who described the AFC ministers of the APNU+AFC Government as un-bribable….Despite what Minister Gaskin said, the cost of the visit does not qualify as an expenditure under the petroleum regime, and must therefore be borne by the shareholders of that company. We need to act responsibly and properly with all the oil companies, not compromise our country and our standards.”
Trotman’s misuse of tax dollars came to light recently, when questions surfaced over his assistant at the Ministry of Natural Resources accompanying a Government delegation to Texas, United States of America, to meet with the ExxonMobil executives. This despite the fact his assistant had already tendered her resignation from that Government agency/Ministry.
Trotman’s assistant in 2015 resigned her senior level post at the Child Care and Protection Agency, an agency she was poised to take over from its current Director, Ann Greene.
Following the elections, the young woman resigned her post from the Childcare Agency and was soon employed as a senior technical officer in Minister Trotman’s close circle.
Observers have pointed out that the young woman has since been accompanying Minister Trotman as part of high level delegations.
Sources close to the Ministry have pointed out that Minister Trotman’s assistant holds a Masters in Child Welfare matters—a distinction she earned while serving as a senior functionary in that Government outfit.
The assistant, now Mrs Raphael Trotman, as a technical officer in the Ministry of Natural Resources, accompanied a delegation at tax payers’ expense to Geneva, Switzerland for a United Nations Conference in Sept. 2015 (26-29).
She also accompanied a Government delegation to the France COP 21 Conference, held in December that year.
Another taxpayer-funded trip that Trotman’s assistant was feted was at the Trinidad Energy Conference, and again in Oslo, Norway, among others. Minister Trotman’s assistant was recently the subject of public scrutiny when questions surfaced over her accompanying a ministerial delegation to Texas for a high level meeting.
