Former Caricom economist Carl Greenidge has accused the PPP/C government of bedeviling his professional career from the time it entered office in 1992 to last month’s dispute which resulted in him not being rehired by the regional body.
In press statement dated January 5, Greenidge said the harassment by the Guyana government has been “a constant and relentless feature” of his life since 1992. The former senior director in Caricom’s Office of Trade Negotiations’ contract was not renewed when it expired last month end , just days after the government wrote to Caricom complaining about a statement he made at the funeral of PNCR parliamentarian Winston Murray.
The letter by then acting Foreign Affairs Minister Manzoor Nadir stated that the government had lost confidence in Greenidge’s ability to represent its interests and that of Guyana at the regional and bilateral levels. But in his release this week, Greenidge said doubts about his professionalism never surfaced before when the government was seeking his assistance. According to him, in 1996 he was asked by then president the late Dr Cheddi Jagan to assist the publicity firm Paul Richler Esq, which the government had retained to lobby Washington and fight a case brought by Green Construction against the bauxite companies. Greenidge said he advised the firm and the government subsequently won the case and he was commended by the judges for being a “candid and impressive witness” upon whose testimony they had relied.
“That candidness has been continually used by representatives of the government up to recently to demonstrate the validity of their criticisms of the previous regimes. In the process I am even misquoted or have fictitious statements attributed to me. It has never been seen by the government as inimical to their interests,” Greenidge stated.
He added that it is local “political folklore” that Dr Jagan at the 1995 Heads of Government Inter-Sessional sought to have him replaced as Deputy Secretary General of the Asia, [sic] Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Secretariat for reasons that had nothing to do with his performance.
“The Caricom Heads rightly rejected the request. Few of the current crop of Heads would be aware of this saga. As recently as 2007, my first assignment at the Caricom Secretariat, had to be cleared with Mr Jagdeo himself. Nothing in Caricom’s rules and regulations require such prior clearance or allow for such special powers to the Head of any one state,” Greenidge said. He continued that those unfamiliar with “this government’s practices” may think it is it being sensitive but according to him there is much more at stake. He said the denial of the right to work “is part of an increasingly widespread exercise in the abuse of power in and by the government of Guyana.”
“Faced by similar demands multilateral institutions, including the World Bank, have refused to be intimidated into facilitating these acts of abuse by the government of Guyana. However, with the assistance of those charged with managing our regional institutions the abuse is now being casually perpetrated on Guyanese citizens in regional bodies,” Greenidge charged.
He also recalled the 2009 folding of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) into Caricom to be rebranded the OTN. It was a change that the Guyana government had strenuously pushed for after blaming the CRNM for the deal that the region got in negotiations with the European Union on the Economic Partnership Agreements. Greenidge said the lack of due process then troubled the CRNM and regional staffers and should have been of concern to the Heads themselves and the public.
“Today, little over a year later, I stand accused by the representatives of the government of Guyana of the political and nebulous crime of disparaging or insulting the President. This is a device that has gained some notoriety in Stalinist Russia and latterly Saddam’s Iraq,” Greenidge declared.
In his tribute to Murray, Greenidge stated: “I share Winston’s belief that notwithstanding the trauma of the last few decades Guyana can, with visionary leadership, be lifted from this nightmare in which it finds itself. And I want to offer the same comment, I dare say, he would have proffered to those who are left traumatized by this turn of events.”
In his release he defended his comment as he had done earlier in the week during a meting with reporters. He said some commentators are confusing his statements with his responsibilities at Caricom, adding that while the staff must refrain from political activities they are not required to give up their rights as citizens of the region.
“What is especially unacceptable is the claim that not mentioning Mr Jagdeo as a visionary leader constitutes a political or personal attack on him or his office. This is absurd and I will not apologise for an omission of this kind,” he added.
Greenidge had written to then Caricom Secretary General Edwin Carrington before he demitted office at the end of last month seeking an explanation for the non-renewal of his contract and the non-conformity to due process.
At his end-of-year news briefing on December 17 Carrington had said Greenidge’s rehiring would be based upon the availability of resources.
“As of now Mr Greenidge is a member of the OTN and as far as I know he has a contract which takes him up to the end of this year and that is very soon. What happens beyond that depends on if there are resources, if we are able to do anything further.”
To date there has been no comment from the Secretariat now headed by former Deputy Secretary General Lolita Applewaithe who is acting in the top position.
