'Resignation of minister is in best interest of all parties,' says St Lucia PM

Prime Minister Allen Chastanet Monday said the resignation of his Public Service Minister, Dr. Ubaldus Raymond, is “in the best interest of all parties and the country”.

Raymond had been sent on leave earlier this month after the government announced that it had launched an investigation into “recent information being circulated in the public domain”.

Prime Minister Chastanet had earlier denied reports that Raymond had tendered his resignation amidst media reports that the minister was at the center of a salacious conversation that had gone viral on social media last weekend.

The media had reported that Raymond had tendered his resignation following the release of a telephone recording on social media between a male and a woman with a foreign accent.

In a brief statement Monday, Chastanet said that “Raymond has served our country well and in several capacities; including Leader of Government Business in the Senate and previously as Minister in the Ministry of Finance.

“I thank him and his family for his years of service to our nation,” Chastanet said, adding that the resignation, which took immediate effect, should not “in no way affect the ongoing investigations.

“The government remains committed to bringing closure to this matter,” he added.

The statement issued by the Office of the Attorney General earlier this month had said that as a consequence of an “initial probe, more information has come to light which warrants further investigations by the relevant authorities.

“The government, in seeking to protect the interest of the People of St., wishes to give the assurance that these investigations will be performed without interference and with the utmost integrity.” the statement had indicated.

Raymond is the holder of a Ph.D. degree in Development Economics from Howard University in the United States. He served as a senior economist in the Department of the Environment and the DC Public Service Commission in Washington DC and as Assistant Professor of Economics at Florida A&M University in the Department of Economics.

In 2011, he unsuccessfully contested a seat on behalf of the now opposition St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP), but resigned his position in the Senate in 2012 to take up the position of Chief Economist in the Turks and Caicos government.

He was appointed Minister in the Ministry of Finance after Chastanet led the United Workers Party (UWP) to victory in the June 2016 general elections.