Foreign Ambassadors and Guyana’s Elections

Sep 30, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
I recently read Claudeston G. Massiah’s open-letter response to the US, UK and EU ambassadors’ Joint Statement on the ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice with respect to the timing of Guyana’s General and Regional Elections.
In this regard, some crucial questions require answers: Were the ambassadors’ remarks appropriate, given the established functions of an ambassador? Or even justified, given the ruling by that Court on Guyana’s elections? Do they understand the nature of Guyana’s current crisis and its political history? I think the answer is “no” in each instance.
The ambassadors’ insistence that President Granger “set an elections date immediately in full compliance with Guyana’s constitution” might have been well-intentioned but was also undiplomatic and disrespectful.
A delegation of Caribbean ambassadors would dare not “call upon” President Trump to desist from actively supporting voter suppression in American elections, nor could they urge Prime Minister Boris Johnson to hold a second referendum to help resolve the British political mess called Brexit.
To me, as a native Guyanese, one of the most striking remarks in the ambassadors’ Joint Statement is their condescending observation that “The prevailing political uncertainty….hinders our ability to support Guyana’s development needs”.
Regrettably, it is often very difficult for a poor, underdeveloped country to demand respect from America and European countries while simultaneously seeking economic aid, developmental expertise and corporate investment even as thousands of its citizens desperately seek to emigrate.
Yet, hope springs eternal! Here’s hoping Guyana’s newly-discovered oil, its other abundant natural resources along with local and foreign expertise will lift this remarkable country from poverty to prosperity in the near future.
Robert G. Seales
Ontario, Canada

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