Former Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Audrey Waddell was this morning sent on immediate leave until her contract comes to an end in May and it is not likely that her contract will be renewed, according to well-placed sources.
“She was instructed to immediately proceed on leave. No reason was given, until her contract comes to an end,” the source told the Stabroek News.
Efforts this morning to contact Waddell proved futile as calls to her mobile number went unanswered.
Waddell yesterday dismissed reports that she has been terminated from the ministry for creating a position at Guyana’s Ottawa mission for her daughter-in-law, saying that her contract comes to an end in May.
On the allegations of nepotism, Ambassador Waddell said that the woman’s hiring “is not the way it was presented” to the public.
There is no termination. My contract comes to an end on May 31st”, Waddell told Stabroek News yesterday contacted.
“I haven’t received any termination letter or notice or told anything otherwise,” she added.
Asked if her contract will be renewed she had replied, “I do not know”.
Waddell said that she had yesterday learned that reports had been circulating publicly that she was terminated and that she had created a position and contract for her daughter-in-law to be employed at the Ottawa mission on Canada, although the woman is not qualified.
“This is a strange thing also because I do not know that,” she said, while adding that as she is still an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and have to be mindful of what she says. However, she noted that that the employment matter “is not the way it was presented”.
The career diplomat had been removed by the APNU+AFC in December 2019 from her Permanent Secretary posting which it had created for her, and which was followed by a restructuring of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was during that restructuring process that the position of Foreign Secretary was created for then former Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenindge, after he had to resign from the Parliament, having held dual citizenship. At that time, President David Granger said that Waddell had been earmarked for a foreign posting.
Waddell remained employed at the MoFA and is Guyana’s Co-Agent in the border controversy case before the International Court of Justice.
