THE COMING SHAKE-UP IN GUYANA’S DIPLOMATIC CORPS
August 20, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom, Source
A diplomat is a diplomat. However, in Guyana we have encouraged a false classification of our diplomats: career diplomats and politically-appointed diplomats.
A diplomat is a diplomat. Once you enter, and are so appointed, you are considered a part of the Foreign Service, regardless of where you worked before you took up your appointment.
Some of those who were not part of the Foreign Service prior to taking up diplomatic postings have been on the job for years. So when are these persons going to be considered as career foreign service officers?
Suppose someone is appointed as an Ambassador. Suppose that person prior to that appointment was not a member of the Foreign Service. Suppose that person works for fifteen, twenty, thirty years as a diplomat. Why should that person not be considered a career diplomat? Is it simply because at the time of that person’s initial posting that person was not a member of the Foreign Service? This is a ridiculous notion.
This is what makes the rigid classifications of career Foreign Service Officer and politically-appointed Foreign Service Officer so absurd. This is what also leads to the expectation that regime change should trigger a shake-up in a country’s diplomatic corps.
Whenever a government changes, it is argued that the “politically-appointed” diplomats should expect to be removed. In fact, it is posited that they should resign. If they do not, it is argued they should be axed.
At present there are high expectations that a number of the Ambassadors appointed by the PPP, who prior to their appointment were not employed within the Foreign Service, will be axed by the new administration. This now seems a done deal, since it was announced sometime ago that only one Ambassador will be retained.
In light of that announcement, it does seem strange that it has taken so long for the new appointees to be announced. But we are told that the Foreign Ministry is studying applications. Sooner or later – it now seems to be sooner – the hammer is going to be dropped on those considered as “politically- appointed” diplomats. They are going to be sent packing.
Guyana’s High Commissioner to India did what most expected of these appointees. He returned home. It is being reported that Guyana’s Ambassador to Suriname will return home soon. No successor has been named. This has left a vacuum to be filled, and it will most likely be filled by someone from outside of the Foreign Service who will have no prior diplomatic experience.
In other words, in terms of the classification, one “political appointee” will replace another, if not in Venezuela in some other country.
The experience gained by those so-called “politically-appointed” diplomats is going to be lost to the Foreign Service. This will affect the quality of diplomacy that Guyana can practice, because with so many experienced persons expected to leave the Foreign Service at the same time and so many inexperienced ones having to come on Board – remember it was said that only one Ambassador will be retained – Guyana’s diplomatic capacity will be seriously undermined.
It is something that the new government should consider. If for political reasons it does axe all those persons who are considered political appointees to the Foreign Service, it is best to do in a staggered way, so as to ensure continuity and a smooth transition. Perhaps the second in command at most missions should be granted a period of understudy by those whom they will replace. This will aid in ensuring that a huge hole is not created within Guyana’s diplomatic corps.
But why replace the “political appointees”? Why not utilize the experience they would have gained and channel them into other diplomatic positions?