Dear Editor,
It is now eight months since the Irfaan Ali Administration took over – although five months are delayed due to a move to handle the election results, there is much work to be done besides cleaning up the mess created by the Granger coalition. Nagamootoo. Most important is the appointment of High Commissioners and Ambassadors. This is crucial as foreign diplomats are important to “sell” the country to the commercial world especially at this time when Guyana is raking up billions because of the oil boom.
Appointments must be made in Brazil, South Africa, China, Kuwait, Canada and the United Kingdom. London has been without a High Commissioner for 18 months since the resignation of APNU / AFC Hamley Case and over a year in Ottawa since David Granger’s other nominee Clarissa Riehl quit. Bayney Karran, a diplomat called PPP / C was fired by the coalition Government in January last year. Bayney, an attorney-at-law by profession, was a diplomat for 17 years after serving in Washington and Beijing. He is back in Georgetown working as a senior executive with an oil company.
The Irfaan Ali Government announced that Samuel Hinds, 78, a chemical engineer who graduated from the University of New Brunswick, served as Prime Minister for more than 30 years and briefly as Co-operative President, to be the new US Ambassador US and OAS replace Dr Riyad Insanally, a highly qualified career diplomat holding two master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University. He also speaks fluent French and Spanish.
No announcement has been made whether Dr Insanally, who is in his mid-sixties, will be posted to another country and this raises eyebrows because of his extensive experience serving in Georgetown, and Washington and as a Trade Advisor to Guyana High Commission in London Guyana Sugar Corporation Commercial Representative. Meanwhile, Dr Vishnu Bisram, a well-known Guyanese-born polluter and columnist based in New York, said Hinds is a model and highly honest leader, who has consistently spoken out against rigid elections and will be a diplomat excellent.
Meanwhile a Guyanese in London is not too happy about the undue delay in appointing a High Commissioner who had none for 18 long months … attention was drawn, despite the delay, to the Irfaan Ali Administration coming to power eight months ago and that it should now be in a position to fill the vacancies in the foreign missions. However, Government sources argue that serious consideration must be given to selecting suitable people to fill the posts.
It is important that applicants have the ability to negotiate trade and commerce and ways and means to attract investors to Georgetown. I gather from sources in Georgetown that the administration is considering appointing a woman of Chinese heritage to be an Ambassador in Beijing. The diaspora in Canada advocated for the appointment of Charrandas Persaud as High Commissioner in Ottawa, but was posted to India. I don’t think he could be appointed as he is a Canadian citizen. Charrandas will undoubtedly do a good job in Delhi. He is a Hindu and was an avid follower of Indian culture since he was a child.
Correctly,
Oscar Ramjeet
