Dear Editor,
The recent outburst by the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Priya Manickchand directed at the outgoing US ambassador at the 238th independence anniversary celebration of the United States is vulgarity of the highest order and totally unacceptable. I believe her action should be condemned by every right-thinking Guyanese in no uncertain terms. Remarks at those occasions are in keeping with diplomatic norms. Those occasions are not to be used for personal attacks or ‘cuss down.’ Any responsible minister would have adhered to those principles, but unfortunately, it does not seem as though the Minister knows better. If the Minister had issues with the US Ambassador she should have been intelligent enough to know that that was not the place to vent her feelings. She could have sought an audience with the Ambassador to discuss her concerns.
While I was very disappointed by the Minister’s behaviour, I was not surprised. I can recall a workshop earlier this year where she launched a similar attack at me. As soon as I attempted to raise a matter with the Minister of Local Government Minister Manaickchand started heckling, “Chairman, why you went into the dorms?” As she continued heckling I gave the microphone to her to hear what was bothering her, and at that she mentioned that a team from the AFC had paid a visit to the Mahdia school dorms and that was wrong. She even mentioned that a councillor placed a couple of students to pose with some firewood on their shoulders in order, she said, that it could become a subject of news reports in the media. She went on and said much more. Here again the Minister did not seem to get it; a workshop is not a forum to address those issues. I believe that the time has come for some of these PPP ministers to undergo some training in public ethics whereby they will stop embarrassing the Guyanese people.
In conclusion I am calling on President Donald Ramotar to make an open apology to the US Ambassador for the Minister’s behaviour.
Yours faithfully,
Mark Crawford
RegionalChairman
Region Eight
