Understanding the dynamics surrounding Fredrick Kissoon’s recent gibberish-like pronouncements in Court as it relates to racism under Dr. Jagdeo’s Presidency specifically in the Guyana’s Foreign Service paints the picture of one stuck very much in the past. This means being stuck in Guyana’s darkest period which was under the PNC dictatorship.
Before proceeding further, it becomes imperative to provide a brief contextual analysis of the issue thus laying the catalyst solidifying my position.
Under the PNC dictatorship up to 1992, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the flagship Ministry of the despotic regime. Many within the opposition are erudite enough to point out that during that time Guyana’s Foreign Service was the envy of the CARICOM countries. In fact a lot of prestige was given to those who were employed in the Foreign Service. During that period, only those sympathetic to the regime were employed in the Foreign Service, in fact many of the staff who were at clerical level at that time have now become policy makers and are part of a selected cabal who are influential in the decision making apparatus of the Ministry. This fact is reiterated when one visits the Foreign Service today on South Road you would hear about the “Golden Years of Guyana’s Foreign Service” reverberating along the stairs and corridors.
What Kissoon wouldn’t want to include in his “Research” is the fact that while Guyana’s Foreign Service reached its epitome at that time, the PNC’s capacity to deliver essential services has virtually collapsed. Infrastructure remains severely dilapidated. The supply of potable water was limited to a small proportion of the population, drainage and irrigation systems had deteriorated to the point that they were no longer useful, and health and education services had become so inadequate that social indicators for the country had fallen to among the lowest in the Caribbean. The Monies that were pumped into the Foreign Service by the despotic PNC regime at that time was used on two levels, first to ensure that Guyana’s image on the International stage remain one of exaltation and secondly to ensure that the economic and social reality in Guyana remained concealed from the international limelight.
Kissoon ventured venturing into unchartered territory where ensuring an ethnic balance in the Foreign Service ought to be discussed. One certainly had to be of a specific ethnicity to gain employment in Guyana’s Foreign Ministry at that time, more so once you had a PNC card, then a career in the Foreign Service with all its perks of travelling and per diem would be yours for the taking. The Public therefore must understand that while Guyana’s Foreign Service was its peak during the dictatorship, every other sector suffered as pointed out in the preceding paragraphs.
When the nation placed their trust in the PPP/C on October 5th 1992, they did so confident in the belief that the national economic and social development of Guyana would be a priority. It is therefore understood that the tenure diplomats who served under a previous regime would no longer be tenable under a new administration as a result of completely different political and social agenda. It becomes a no-brainer when diplomats from other countries tender their resignation upon a new party assuming office.
Minister Rohee did the right thing; no longer could those who supported the dictatorship and advocated views that were diametrically opposed to those of the new Government be representing Guyana on the International stage. Hypothetically speaking, why would the Honorable Clement Rohee employ someone into the Foreign Service who was vehemently opposed to the LCDS or the New Global Human Order? That would be asinine and tantamount to voodoo Foreign Policy/Diplomacy.
On the issue of rotation of overseas based diplomats, e.g Kissoon’s research would not disclose that under the PNC many of the staff who were at the overseas missions were there for an indefinite period in fact he should know that many of them have even refused to return home after being there for decades and continue to be paid under the PPP/C administration. This was the PNC’s way of rewarding Party lackeys.
Kisssoon ought to divulge to that nation, what is a competent, highly skilled and experienced diplomat? What makes him suddenly an authority on Guyana’s Foreign Ministry? Kissoon has to understand that in order for him and others who serve the Opposition’s racist agenda, the Foreign Ministry is no longer the flagship of the PNC, Guyana has moved on from that dark period. We have moved on to such an extent that Kissoon and many of his Comrades in the Opposition can now enjoy a high standard of living, they have access to potable water, they and their children have benefited from an efficient education sector. This would have been inconceivable for Kissoon and others had the PNC been allowed to continue to send Guyana into the bottomless pit.
On this note I challenge Kissoon to publish the names of the 15 Afro-Guyanese who administrators were removed and replaced with Indo-Guyanese workers. I would assume 15 Indo Guyanese Administrators. Such an exercise would prove the dishonesty in Kissoon’s research.
Additionally Kissoon would know very well that a highly placed individual in the Foreign Service was being touted as the AFC’s Foreign Minister should they win the 2011 elections. This information was posted by an AFC activist. Mind you this individual continues to hold a critical position in the Foreign Ministry. Again I ask where is the discrimination Fredrick Kissoon?
