– likely to vie for PNC top post
Former senior health minister during the PNC administration, Dr Richard Van West-Charles is returning to Guyana at the end of the month, where he is expected to challenge for the leadership of the main opposition party.
Van West-Charles, who is taking an early retirement from PAHO/WHO, where he has been working for the past 19 years, will return to strengthen the role of the main opposition PNCR in creating a cohesive nation with equal opportunity for all its citizens regardless of race, colour or creed, according to a statement issued by “Diaspora Campaign Co-Chairs” Halim Majeed and Edmon Braithwaite. Van West-Charles, a son-in-law of the late PNC founder leader Forbes Burnham, would be accompanied by his wife Roxanne on his return, the statement said.
Van West-Charles had previously indicated his intention to proceed on pre-retirement leave in preparation for a return to an active community and political life within the country. He is expected to challenge for the leadership of the PNCR, at the party’s Biennial Congress later this year.
He has been a special advisor on partnerships with financial institutions based in Washington DC, but wants to participate in the country’s developmental process. He has established a non-governmental organisation, called Partnering and Nurturing for Development in Guyana (PNDG), which has as its focus, networking to look at community-based development, poverty alleviation and capacity building.
According to the statement, in his capacity as President of the PNDG, Dr Van West-Charles has established a network of concerned Guyanese, at home and abroad, and together they are working to bring relief to many families and a number of Guyanese communities. The organization, under its capacity building programme, has donated computers to churches and schools.
During his tenure at PAHO/WHO, the statement said, he was the representative to Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos. He was also responsible for the technical cooperation for the Eastern Caribbean. He was appointed as area manager for Information and Knowledge Management and acted as the deputy director of PAHO/WHO. During his tenure, he travelled extensively and met top government officials of Latin America and the Caribbean, participated in many global and regional conferences which have shaped his vision and strengthened his capacity to make a significant contribution to the development of the Guyana, the statement added. He was also immersed, in addition to health matters, in public administration, project management and implementation, politics, international affairs and diplomacy.
In an interview with Stabroek News last year, Van West-Charles had said even though he was overseas, he always maintained his membership of the party. He was present at the party’s last biennial congress and had said, “I am going to be engaged in a more direct way in the role of party in the country in the future. I will be working with others to strengthen the institution.” Asked whether he was satisfied with party leader Robert Corbin’s performance, he said, “I think we need to have a more effective performance from the leader of the party. The leadership is all of the governance bodies of the party. However, there is room for improvement in a number of areas and one of these areas, is how we connect in a more effective way with the communities.”
The party at this stage, he said, needed to have a more dynamic system of relating to community issues, “a language that speaks directly to the community and addresses in a very direct way the issues of poverty and some of the social exclusion issues.”
