President David Granger’s recent move to terminate the services of six Guyanese diplomats who have been serving in foreign states came as no surprise to the nation, as from the time the coalition government took office in May 2015, it has received fire from various stakeholders for a series of decisions it has made. These decisions have no doubt raised suspicions in the minds of many Guyanese as the APNU/AFC Government has not been forthcoming as to the reasons behind making such moves.
In relation to recalling the Ambassadors, even though the coalition is in a caretaker mode and it is about three months away from the General and Regional Elections, the President has provided no justifiable reason for making such a move, and in fact, has sought to downplay the issue as “just a planned change”. Recalling six Ambassadors at such a time and in such a sudden manner is no minor matter, there must be compelling reasons for doing so. From reports gathered, those terminated are Hamley Case, who was posted in the United Kingdom; Bishwaishwar Ramsaroop, stationed in the twin-island republic Trinidad and Tobago; Clarissa Riehl, who was posted in Canada; Bayney Karran in China, Cheryl Miles in Venezuela, and JR Deep Ford in Switzerland.
When asked about the reason for recalling the Ambassadors, the President was reported as saying that it was the Government’s intention to recruit new diplomats who have reached the eligible requirements, and there was no ‘shakeup’ as is being claimed by some persons. He also indicated that the move is part of his Government’s plan to professionalise the Foreign Service by reducing or removing political appointees and make way for new appointments.
However, not many persons are convinced that the President is being completely honest as there are others in the Foreign Service who are not career diplomats but their services have been retained; one person that readily comes to mind is Guyana’s Ambassador to Cuba, Halim Majeed. There are also others who have been serving in that capacity for a number of years but they have not been touched by the President.
Along with the recalled diplomats, former Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Audrey Waddell was also replaced by a Permanent Secretary; again this was done without any plausible explanation, only giving rise to rumours that there is more to the issue than what is being portrayed by the Administration. The President has since indicated that Waddell will be given a diplomatic posting instead.
While governments have the right to recall and appoint ambassadors and make other policy decisions they desire, in this case, one cannot ignore the fact that the APNU/AFC Government is in an interim status following the No-Confidence Motion it faced on December 21, 2018, hence, its main focus should be on ensuring credible elections are held within the time prescribed by the Constitution.
There are many other unpopular decisions made by the coalition government over the past four years for which they would be made to answer on the campaign trail. For example, it could be recalled that mere weeks after getting into office, ministers were given a 50 per cent rise in their salaries while public servants were literally begging for a decent wage. There was also the unilateral decision to move ahead with closing four sugar estates without carrying out any proper social and economic impact assessments and engaging industry stakeholders. In addition to the thousands of sugar workers being placed on the breadline, hundreds of families have been pushed into poverty. Businesses and the national economy as a whole are also feeling the impact.
Other decisions such as scrapping the $10,000 cash grant for school children and taking away the water and electricity subsidies from pensioners, et cetera, were also highly unpopular as they placed additional burdens on citizens.
It could also be recalled that not long after he was appointed Government’s point man on national security, Minister Khemraj Ramjattan took a decision to enforce a 2 AM curfew for bars and night clubs. His justification for this move was that crime would be reduced. We are all well aware that crime in Guyana has taken on new dimensions and hence, requires modern, strategic thinking and effective policy decisions matched by the necessary resources to confront it. To date, the Minister, nor his Government, has come up with any concrete plan to address the various forms of criminality affecting citizens.
The APNU/AFC must not only talk about being caring, fair, open and transparent, its actions should also prove that it is serious about ensuring accountability and good governance— which are the hallmarks of service.
