…to remain on the job as investigations continue
Guyana’s Ambassador to Kuwait, Dr Shamir Ally remains on the job even as the Foreign Affairs Ministry continues its investigations into financial crimes in the United States for which he was fined, but substantive Minister, Carl Greenidge believes that “there is not a danger in him being on the job at the moment”.
Greenidge made this disclosure on Wednesday evening during an impromptu interaction with members of the media at the Georgetown Club.
According to Greenidge, the Foreign Affairs Ministry continues to have dialogue with Dr Ally, since “we are looking into the matter; we need from him answers on some things and then we will take a decision.”
The Minister, in seeking to explain Government’s hesitancy in sending Dr Ally off the job pending an investigation, said it was taking into account the nature of the infraction which in this particular case was a civil action dating back almost two decades.
“As far as I am concerned, there is not a danger in him being on the job at the moment,” Greenidge said, even as he confirmed that Government was still awaiting a formal report from the Ambassador, as he explained that “the process is not finished”.
Asked about the fact Dr Ally did in fact suppress the information, the Minister confirmed that during the vetting of Dr Ally for the position of Ambassador, reports were not flagged in the US which essentially point to the fact that he was accused of financial crimes by the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to Greenidge, “We had in this case in checking on his background gone through the process twice and these matters didn’t arise.”
Selective information
He did seek to point out that generally, when persons present themselves for vetting for a job, they are essentially selling themselves for the position and forthcoming information could be selective and “of course, one has to ask for an explanation as to why”.
The Minister did concede too that the entire affair has proven to be a learning experience and Government would in the future have to do many things differently.
Minister Greenidge also used the opportunity to defend Dr Ally’s acumen, saying that the appointment was based on his skills and not the fact that he was a key financer of the Alliance For Change (AFC) –the second largest party in the coalition Government.
The Foreign Affairs Minister used the occasion to explain that some of the appointees to diplomatic posts are invariably political types, “in the sense that some of them are required to work with public… they have to be politically attuned.”
Background/skills
Speaking directly to the embattled Ambassador to Kuwait, Greenidge said while he was not seeking to offer a defence, he would make an observation that Dr Ally “does have a background; he does have some skills and those skills are relevant to the job”.
