Elisabeth Harper yesterday confirmed to Stabroek News that she has resigned from her post as Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since she was named on Saturday as the Prime Ministerial candidate for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic for the May 11 general elections.
The party’s PM candidate did not disclose any further information and didn’t say anything on Saturday when she was presented to the public.
At a PPP press briefing yesterday, General Secre-tary Clement Rohee denied that the party was “sheltering” Harper from the private media with Rohee saying that she will “meet the press at a time that the situation so requires”. He continued that the party’s timeline differed from that of the media.
Rohee said that on Saturday it was not awkward to have both himself and President Donald Ramotar announce Harper as the PM candidate while she said nothing.
On Monday, Harper was slated to speak on the National Communications Network in a pre-recorded interview which never aired. Sources say that NCN has cited audio-related issues with the interview. The party’s General Secretary also said yesterday that Harper was the only person nominated for the position and that the civic component of the party had no actual participation in the selection process. He said that no names were contributed by the civic component and while Rohee had previously spoken about a list of potential candidates he backtracked yesterday, stating that there was nothing official prior to Harper’s nominations.
For several weeks, Ramotar had said the leadership of the PPP was deliberating on the selection of a potential candidate and many “well-deserving” people had received attention for the post.
“Today, the PPP is proud to announce that we have nominated a Guy-anese as our prime ministerial candidate, who has served our nation with distinction, not a partisan but a patriot, who for her entire career as an outstanding diplomat has dedicated her service to ensuring our great land remains united and prosperous,” Ramotar said on Saturday.
Harper, a career diplomat, had not been mentioned before as a prospective candidate for the post. In fact, it was her boss, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett who had been tipped for the position.
Observers had said that the PPP/C was looking for gender and ethnic balance in replacing Samuel Hinds. Relatively unknown outside diplomatic circles and not previously associated with the political platform, the choice of Harper will be seen as a huge gamble for the PPP/C.
Harper has spent her entire working life in the Foreign Ministry, where she started out in the Registry. After rising through the ranks, she was sent on a one-year course to Oxford University, England, from which she graduated with a Diploma in Diplomacy.
Thereafter, she worked at a senior level in what was then Political Department One, which had responsibility for the Western hemisphere and Guyana’s frontiers. From there, she was posted to Guyana’s High Commis-sion in London. Following her return, she was eventually promoted to Director-General of the ministry in 2001.
