Dear Editor,
When I joined the Guyana Foreign Service decades ago, I was made to sign a Declaration under the Official Secrets Act of Guyana; I trust that document is still somewhere in my personal file at the Ministry. Regardless, it is something I have respected throughout my days in service to this nation, which incidentally formally ended in 1997 when I became Legal Counsel in the ACP Secretariat in Brussels (18 years before 2015), in much the same way with the Confidentiality arrangements in my other places of employ.
In my letter of November 23, I was acting in a professional manner and commenting on the legal aspects of a proposition which had been brought into the public domain. This I did on the basis of my academic training as an international lawyer and my intimate familiarity with the Guyana-Venezuela territorial controversy, born of decades of involvement with it in the Guyana Foreign Ministry and various theatres in which Guyana’s foreign policy is conducted.
I did not write as a card-carrying member nor apologist of any political party; indeed, I have never carried a card for any such party in Guyana, or any country for that matter. In that regard, I remember vividly (Uncle) Derek Jagan, former Speaker of the House, of blessed memory – who had a tree in his yard in East Street with the sweetest genips in town – saying to me at a party I had for my daughter’s christening in 1993, “Junior sooner or later you will have to choose”. I guess some may say it is a failing of mine that to this day I never made that choice; to me it is indicative of professionalism in the workplace, strength of character and the courage of one’s convictions.
Finally, I am of the view that to most rules there can be exceptions; that the fruit does not fall far from the tree is one such rule. I take note that while decorum and decency are still in vogue in some quarters, in others disagreement can turn to discord, civility is jettisoned and even inserting a title (Mr., Dr.) before a person’s name is apparently a bit of a stretch. And by the way, there is no ICJ Charter; there is a UN Charter, but an ICJ Statute.
Sincerely,
Neville Bissember
