Ambassdor Hardt – bitter/sweet relationship?

May 08, 2014 Editorial

The present United States Ambassador to Guyana is coming to the end of his tour. Diplomats posted to Guyana often serve for no more than three years. Ambassador Dr. D. Brent Hardt has been here for three years and he is preparing to leave.
Undoubtedly, he has done more for Guyana and its security services than any other Ambassador before him. He also teamed up with the British High Commissioner to Guyana, Andrew Ayre, to help promote a clean environment, particularly in the city.
Georgetown had long become a haven for garbage, not because of the efforts of the city council, but more because of the inability of the Municipality to cope with the influx of people into the city. For one, the boundaries of Georgetown had to be extended so immediately the area of operations for the council became drastically increased.
Then, as time went by and businesses expanded, more people began coming into the city. And with more people there came more garbage so in the end there were garbage piles because the city as it was structured simply could not cope with the piles. It was here that Ambassador Hardt, High Commissioner Ayre and Canada’s High Commissioner at the time, David Devine, supported by Head of the European Union in Guyana, Robert Kopecky began a programme that has changed the lives of school children and is slowly transforming the city into a clean place.
The campaign was entitled Pick It Up and it was targeted in schools but even then there were programmes that saw the embassy and high commissions undertaking to remove garbage from the streets and certain communities where garbage collection was not at a premium.
A few weeks ago Ambassador Hardt arranged for Guyana to get three coast guard vessels as a gift as part of the Caribbean Security Basin Initiative. Two days ago he caused the Guyana Police Force to formally receive a major finger printing piece of equipment. And no sooner had the police received it than it had helped solve 63 cases that had gone cold. Two of these were murders.
These were non-controversial things so the Ambassador escaped criticism. But rarely does a diplomat fail to ruffle the features of the government. The newly accredited Canadian High Commissioners, Ms Nicole Giles, almost as soon as she touched down, came under attack from the Guyana Government for comments she made on trafficking in persons.
Last year, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, Ambassador Hardt had cause to comment on the manner in which former President Bharrat Jagdeo shared out radio frequencies. Not only was the distribution unilateral, but it was also highly selective and appeared to be reserved for relatives, friends and political colleagues.
Ambassador Hardt was condemned by sections of the political directorate. This year, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, he had even more to say. He picked up the cudgel for sections of the private media that have been singled out for discrimination by the government. He accused the government of being discriminatory and of threatening the private media. He also criticized the government for dubbing sections of the media as opposition media.
Needless to say, the government did not spare its words for the ambassador. It called him a meddler; it accused him of studied impertinence; it described some of the ambassador’s claims as preposterous and outrageous. None other than President Donald Ramotar described the Ambassador as a meddler in Guyana’s political affairs.
Amazingly, such words were never uttered when the very government literally begged the Americans to get involved in the political affairs of this country. When the now government was in the opposition it not only invited, but begged the Americans to literally take over the government. The result was that the Americans took over the Guyana Elections Commission, ran the elections and installed the People’s Progressive Party.
Dr Cheddi Jagan then invited the Americans to take control of its privatization programme, all the while talking about fledgling democracy. Today, the talk is about meddling. Is this ingratitude?

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Ambassdor Hardt – bitter/sweet relationship?

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