Elisabeth Harper could be appointed Ambassador

Last Updated on Monday, 20 July 2015, 19:27 by GxMedia

Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge was Monday tight-lipped about whether former Prime Ministerial candidate for the main opposition People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC), Elisabeth Harper was being considered for an ambassadorial post.

Greenidge acknowledged that he recently had discussions with Harper. “I, myself, spoke to Ambassador Harper a few weeks ago on a variety of matters including Venezuela,” he told reporters.

Pressed on whether she was being considered for the post of Guyana’s Ambassador to Venezuela, the Foreign Minister would only say “I am neither denying nor concurring.” He then declined to “say more than” everybody was being considered.

If approved, she would replace Geoffrey Da Silva at the Guyana Embassy in Venezuela at a time when the two countries are in a bitter border row over the Essequibo Region and the coastal waters off that area that has been the subject of a decades-old controversy.

Prior to demitting office to join the election campaign trail, the career diplomat was Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Guyana’s Ambassador to the 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom).

Repeated efforts to contact Harper by telephone were unsuccessful. 

While campaigning, Harper had never attacked the A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition directly or indirectly in her speeches, but instead stuck broadly to her desires to improve the lot of women and Guyana in general.