KAY-MARIE FLETCH­ER

Se­nior Re­porter

kay-marie.fletch­er@guardian.co.tt

One Gov­ern­ment Min­is­ter is deny­ing that nepo­tism is at play when it comes to State board ap­point­ments.

It comes as the wives of three Gov­ern­ment Min­is­ters are set to sit on two State boards.

Cur­ley Ke­sar, wife of Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of En­er­gy, Ernesto Ke­sar, was yes­ter­day an­nounced as one of the eight new­ly-ap­point­ed mem­bers of the Na­tion­al Lot­ter­ies Con­trol Board (NL­CB).

Last week, it was claimed that Natasha Richard­son, wife of Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Pub­lic Util­i­ties, Clyde El­der, and Natasha Mooni­lal, wife of Min­is­ter of En­er­gy and En­er­gy In­dus­tries, Dr Roodal Mooni­lal, were al­so se­lect­ed to form part of the new South West Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ty (SWRHA) board.

There were claims that Natasha Mooni­lal will be the deputy chair­man of the board.

How­ev­er, El­der, while shy­ing away from say­ing if his wife was in­deed ap­point­ed to the SWRHA board, de­nied there was any nepo­tism. In­stead, El­der de­fend­ed his wife say­ing she was more than qual­i­fied for the po­si­tion.

Re­spond­ing to Guardian Me­dia via What­sApp, El­der said his wife is a reg­is­tered nurse, li­censed mid­wife and an at­tor­ney-at-law.

“My wife has not been ap­point­ed to any board as yet, but I be­lieve there was leaked in­for­ma­tion that she might be. In any event, if or when she is, please note that my wife, Ms Natasha Richard­son, is a Reg­is­tered Nurse, a Li­censed Mid­wife and an At­tor­ney-at-Law. She has been em­ployed as a Reg­is­tered Nurse since 2005 and there­fore, she is not on­ly well qual­i­fied but has ex­ten­sive ex­pe­ri­ence in the health sec­tor.”

He said his wife should be con­sid­ered for any po­si­tion be­cause of her qual­i­fi­ca­tions and be­cause she is en­ti­tled to it as a cit­i­zen.

“There is no is­sue of nepo­tism since I am in no way re­spon­si­ble for the Min­istry of Health and what tran­spires there. In any event, she is a cit­i­zen of Trinidad and To­ba­go and is en­ti­tled to be con­sid­ered for any po­si­tion avail­able. Her re­la­tion­ship to me should not ever be used as a means that dis­qual­i­fies her from hold­ing any of­fice she choos­es to be in. She’s qual­i­fied, ex­pe­ri­enced, ca­pa­ble and com­pe­tent.”

Mean­while, Ke­sar did not re­spond to ques­tions about his wife be­ing ap­point­ed to the NL­CB board, while Mooni­lal al­so did not re­spond to al­le­ga­tions that his wife was tipped to be ap­point­ed to the SWRHA board.