RAPHAEL Trotman, the former minister for natural resources, often blamed for signing one of the worst oil deals in the world, was not picked for a ministerial post in the coalition by his own members in the Alliance For Change (AFC), leaving many to conclude that he was handpicked for the role by then President David Granger.

Senior AFC members at the time, Michael Carrington and Rajendra Bissessar, who were in the room when the AFC met to select persons for ministerial posts following the 2015 regional and general elections, confirmed Trotman’s omission during an interview on the Gildarie – Freddie Kissoon Show on Wednesday.

“I remember the particular day we sit down and we were dealing with it and Khemraj [Ramjattan] and they were discussing who would be minister, and I could tell you the truth, Raphael Trotman name was never mentioned at that particular day concerning that,” explained Carrington, a former APNU+AFC Parliamentarian.

Trotman had walked away from the People’s National Congress (PNC) to form the AFC with Ramjattan and other political leaders, but through the Cummingsburg Accord, he was reunited with his former colleagues in the PNC, the largest faction in the APNU.

Trotman was also co-campaign manager for the APNU+AFC for the 2015 polls; hence, revelations that he was snubbed by his own party is interesting.

Bissessar who left the party in 2020 citing the coalition’s failure to deliver on campaign promises, said that it was decided at the meeting that Trotman was going to be the adviser to the president on governance.

He said contrary to the Cummingsburg Accord, the AFC received five ministries instead of six which he blamed on the weakness and lack of courage on the part of the leadership of the AFC.

“First of all, the Granger administration took one ministry, which was Tourism and Commerce and Business and so on. One ministry they divided it into two and they gave [Dominic] Gaskin business and gave Cathy Hughes, tourism,” Bissessar told Kissoon.

It was argued that Trotman could not be counted among the six ministries the AFC bargained for since he was not so named by the party.

“He was appointed actually by the Granger administration, not by the Alliance For Change. So how can we consider him to be one of the ministers of the Alliance For Change when the Alliance For Change did not select him as a minister; he became one because the President decided to appoint him,” Carrington stated.

The former MP believes that Trotman was upset that he was not picked by AFC to be a minister.

Trotman’s tenure as an APNU+AFC Minister was rocked by severe controversy largely due to him signing what is considered the most lopsided Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with ExxonMobil and its partners in the Stabroek Block, Hess Corporation and CNOOC Limited.