Get over recall of Ambassador

It makes me cringe that so many authoritative voices in Trinidad and Tobago seem not to understand the most basic rules governing a Foreign Service and the Officers who serve therein.

Does anyone believe that when Mr. Trump becomes the President of the United States that another country or group would dare to tell him and the United States that Samantha Power should remain as Permanent Representative of the US to the United Nations, regardless of how brilliant she is? Or even the current US Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago? Or Caroline Kennedy, who is the current US Ambassador to Japan? They will all be recalled and that will be that. I hope those who have commented on Trinidad and Tobago’s decision, not to be swayed by foreign importuning, have taken note of the UK’s prompt dismissal of Mr.Trump’s ill-advised suggestion that the UK name Nigel Farage its Ambassador to the US. I hope that they have also noted that Mr.

Trump, who will not be President until 2017, has already identified a new US Ambassador to the United Nations to replace Ambassador Power, who was appointed by President Obama.

Similarly, the PM of this country, having the responsibility to uphold its sovereignty, should not have had to remind civil servants that indeed they serve their country and not their own personal interests.

The Prime Minister has the prerogative to appoint or recall any diplomat, to or from any diplomatic post of Trinidad and Tobago about the world.

The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is a sovereign country, not to be governed or instructed by outside powers and that point is worth stressing and underlining further, 12 years at the UN, in New York City, contrary to Mr. Andy Johnson’s contention in his article entitled “Rowley lynches Eden”, is a gift and a prime, luxurious posting. I fear that to seek a longer term is to look a gift horse in the mouth. The Prime Minister’s anger is justifiable.

At the United Nations we, international civil servants, serve at the “disposal of the Secretary- General.” Similarly, diplomats are posted at the discretion of their Head of Government, be it the Prime Minister, the President, or the Sultan.

I would suggest, therefore, that instead of prolonging this unnecessary debate, we simply check the accuracy of our remarks before making any more misleading comments.

And, as a former Senior UN staff member, I can assure you that the Group of Latin America and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) would not have approached the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago without having been asked to do so.

By whom? I would not know.

Cheryl H. STOUTE Bayside Towers