APNU+AFC govt. seeks to avoid PPP-like actions that weakened Foreign Service- Granger

Aug 02, 2016 News

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By Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell
The APNU+AFC Government is looking to stay clear of certain moves by the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Government that allegedly caused a once strong Foreign Service to end up on life support.

Appointments based on political loyalty as well as postings lasting decades will not happen under the new dispensation. This is according to President David Granger. He said this during the most recent Public Interest edition.
On that programme, the President stressed the importance of a strong foreign service. He said that Guyana is a young nation with “serious problems; particularly with our territorial integrity.”
Granger said that Guyana has always looked upon the Foreign Service as the first line of defence and because of this Guyana, from the time of Independence, has had a robust foreign policy.
In this regard, the President said that there was always a need for the best possible persons to be selected to represent Guyana overseas.
“So my main concern when speaking to the diplomats (last week) was to make sure that that they understand the national interest,” the President stated.
Granger said that he needed the diplomats to understand what Guyana has to achieve though their missions overseas.
“In this regard I emphasized that they don’t represent any ethnic group or any political party. They are not being appointed as political a patronage. They are there to serve the national interest.
The President said that he is convinced that the persons appointed are fully capable of doing what is expected of them. “They understood the policy and their duties.”
Granger said that he sought to correct a mistake perpetuated by the former administration.
“The last administrated inherited a corps of professionals, people who have been qualified. They were removed, and many political appointees replaced them and it was clear that they (the political appointees) did not have the same grasp of foreign policy.”
Granger said that some of the new diplomats have had ties to the PNCR and other parties that form the coalition.
These include Frederick Hamley Case who has been appointed Guyana’s new  High Commissioner to United Kingdom, and Former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Clarissa Sabita Riehl, who has been appointed High Commissioner to Canada.
The President said that many of the persons cited by the reporter are not official members of the PNCR. He then said that it is hard to find people in Guyana who have never expressed a political opinion, but, “you cannot fake experience and we put our emphasis on selecting persons with experience to go and serve in a professional manner.”
Rotation
Another “mistake” that the PPP/C made which Granger said he is going to correct is allowing appointments to last for decades.
Granger said, “The rotation of diplomats is of paramount importance. If a diplomat is kept in his or her position for too long he (or she) tends to lose effectiveness. This was a fault under the previous administration. Many diplomats were kept there for up to 20 years.”
The President said that his administration is looking to make sure that there is a system in place to make sure that diplomats do not spend more than three years in one post.
“So the present corps of diplomats will be understudied by professional foreign officers and in the fullness of time we will have a purely professional diplomatic foreign service,” said President Granger.
The Head of State stressed that it is very important for diplomats to be rotated.
Further, he said, “You cannot appoint a person to a high diplomatic position without allowing that person to understand what international diplomacy is all about. I am very confident we will be able to achieve the goal of having a professional foreign service in three to five years,” said Granger.
Youths in foreign serve
Government Ministers are not youths for the greater part. A similar situation was noticed with the appointment of diplomats. President Granger was asked if he sees a place for youths in Foreign Service.
He responded that the Foreign Service is a large field and qualifications for entering such a field would not only be a course in International Relations.
“Some mistakenly believe that once they study International Relations at the University of Guyana they will become a diplomat one day. (But) we want to see international lawyers, international economists and people who are able to conduct negotiations. We also want to see people who understand the environment,” said Granger.
The President continued, “We may want to send someone to the United Nations to discuss Human Rights, or to Paris to discuss the environment or global warming. We need more than people who study International Relations.
Therefore, the President said that he would encourage young people who are interested in joining the Foreign Service not to consider just International Relations.
“If they are interested in biodiversity, international law, economics or trade, then go ahead and do that and there will be a place in the Foreign Service for you.”
The President said that Guyana needs a variety of skills and talents so “I encourage people to be qualified first then you can go into the field (Foreign Service). Particularly under my administration, I have emphasized that we are focusing on economic diplomacy. I want people who can go out there and sell rum, rice, sell our timber and of course promote investment in Guyana.”

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