Moses must be held accountable

THE EDITOR: The buck stops with Foreign and Caricom Minister Dennis Moses. He should be held fully accountable for the disgraceful embarrassment involving TT’s vote against a request by Dominica for a waiver of fees at the recent Organization of American States meeting.

We cannot sit idly by and watch public servants being thrown under the bus for this one. Again.

The buck stops with the minister for this deeply injurious action by our ambassador in Washington DC during the Permanent Council meeting of the OAS. It appears the staff of the embassy did not attend a preparatory meeting on March 15 when member States ventilated the request by Dominica for the waiver. Quite frankly, it does not matter if they attended or not. All staff across all missions communicate frequently, sometimes daily, hence an understanding of that meeting’s outcome is likely. We have very competent, professional diplomats representing our country in Washington DC. We are low in staff numbers and generally cannot attend all meetings. It becomes a matter of priority, generally guided by the ambassador.

What is important here is that a memo was dispatched from the embassy to the ministry suggesting a course of action. Having studied the memo it is clear that support from TT for the waiver request should have been forthcoming. The embassy staffer did her job.

It is the responsibility of the minister to act on this memo. If the public servant receiving the memo did not direct this to the attention of the minister, then he does not have control over his ministry. He has failed in executing his responsibility.

Additionally, the ambassador, realising the position that was being suggested by the ministry, should have immediately contacted the minister directly to verify this position and even voice his opposition. The ambassador should have spoken to his colleagues prior to this Permanent Council meeting, getting a general consensus on how this matter was being considered. It appears none of the above was done. Moses is fully responsible for this outcome. He cannot be absolved. He cannot be in the clear. We have been shockingly and sufficiently embarrassed by his incompetence.

DR NEIL PARSAN via e-mail