More than three years after making a commitment to have the country’s overseas mission heads rotated regularly, Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge has assured that this will be done come 2019.
“The Ambassadors and the Heads of Missions, we did give an undertaking that they will be rotated and that they will do. I didn’t intent that they would all be rotated at once and you will see in the course of this coming year that there will be rotations… We haven’t forgotten, that is to be done,” Greenidge told reporters at this Ministry’s year end press conference on Thursday.
After assuming office back in May 2015, the coalition Government had recalled all Guyana’s overseas Heads of Missions, who were appointed under the previous Administration. The A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change had said that in keeping with international best practices, overseas diplomats should be on a two to four-year rotation and promised to restore this practice.
Greenidge, at the time, had pointed out that the intention behind the recall was also for politicians who are not career diplomats, but were given posts by a President, to bring their term of employment to an end, given that that President
Guyanese Diplomats
has left office.
“There is nothing special about the [People’s Progressive Party] PPP politicians who are wearing the hat of diplomats today. They have to recognise that they served the President who appointed them, then they have to step down, there is nothing peculiar about it,” Minister Greenidge told the Government Information Agency.
Nevertheless, the Foreign Affairs Minister had noted that established protocol is that when a new Government takes office, the various Heads of Mission report to the new President. He said at the time, a President has to appoint those persons that he trusts, that he has faith in, and who know and understand his initiatives.
However, while the current Administration has since replaced those diplomats at its various missions overseas, this was not done without controversy.
In fact, former Guyana High Commissioner to Canada, Harry Narine Nawbatt had filed legal proceeding against Government for wrongful dismissal and was recently awarded $25 million is costs by the High Court.
Nawbatt was appointed under the PPP/Civic Government in February 2015 and was dismissed one month after the coalition Government got into office.
The former diplomat had sued the Attorney General in April 2016, claiming that his contract of employment was not lawfully terminated, thus he was seeking salaries, emoluments and other benefits owed to him.
Nawbatt, through his attorneys Anil Nandlall, Manoj Narayan and Rajendra Jaigobin, sued the Attorney General in April 2016, claiming that his contract of employment was not lawfully terminated, thus he was seeking salaries, emoluments and other benefits owed to him.
In his legal suit, the former diplomat was seeking over $49 million for wrongful dismissal and a breach of contract. He requested damages in excess of $25 million for breach of contract and “special” damage in the sum of $24,295,104; the latter of which was awarded by the High Court in October. He was, however, awarded $500,000 for breach of contract, and court costs in the sum of $50,000.
Nawbatt, in documents, had said he was being paid a monthly salary of $773,801 and his contract would have expired on February 9, 2016. According to the contract inked, the cost of education for Nawbatt’s children would have been paid by the Government, and he was also entitled to this and other allowances.
Nawbatt would have been allowed to terminate his services, provided that a written notice of three months was given.
Likewise, the Government would have had to give notice for the same time frame, or pay Nawbatt six months’ salary and station allowance if such notice was not given.
According to Nawbatt, he was owed $4.3 million for salary up to February 2016; $5.7 million in gratuity; payment of $4 million for 158 days’ leave; $4.8 million in station allowance; $4.6 million in station allowance for leave for five months, and $2 million in business class return air passages, among other things.
