As the details of the contract signed by her daughter-in-law for a diplomatic posting in Canada went public, former Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Audrey Waddell was yesterday sent on immediate leave until her contract expires in May.
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,” one of the sources told Stabroek News.
Efforts to contact Waddell proved futile as calls to her mobile phone went unanswered.
A three-year contract was signed on the 28th of November 2019 by Waddell and her daughter-in-law, Delesia Tobin, for the post of Commercial Attaché at the Guyana High Commission in Ottawa.
The contract states that Tobin would be paid a fixed rate salary of $146,757 monthly but would also have a US$2,350 station allowance “and such other allowances as may be approved from time to time for the office of High Commissioner for the post to which she was accredited”.
In addition, she would also get free furnished housing and her utility bills paid for by government. She would also get US$50 towards a mobile phone plan.
The contract also stated that government would foot 90% of her medical insurance charges for her spouse and children under 25 years of age along with Tobin and she had 28 days’ vacation annually.
The contract stated that government may terminate the agreement by “paying one month’s salary and station allowance to the person engaged”.
Waddell on Wednesday dismissed reports that she has been terminated from the ministry for creating the position at Guyana’s Ottawa mission for her daughter-in-law. On the allegations of nepotism, Ambassador Waddell said that the woman’s hiring was “not the way it was presented” to the public.
“There is no termination. My contract comes to an end on May 31st”, she had said.
“I haven’t received any termination letter or notice or told anything otherwise,” she added.
Waddell said that she had on Wednesday 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 was still an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and had to be mindful of what she said. However, she noted that the employment matter “is not the way it was presented”.
The career diplomat had been removed by the APNU+AFC government 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 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.
