Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge has been retained at the Ministry.
“I expect that Mr. Greenidge will contribute to the continuity of work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs especially with relation to the territorial controversy with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that is ongoing.
“And he is engaged with the team and as you know, the case is before the ICJ (International Court of Justice),” President David Granger said Wednesday.
Speaking with the media at the sidelines of an event at the Ministry of the Presidency’s Conference Room on Wednesday, the President added that “there are certain aspects of international economic relations of Guyana with other countries” that he will also ask Greenidge to accept responsibility for.
Greenidge as Foreign Minister in March 2018, filed an application asking the ICJ to confirm in a final and binding judgment the full legal validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award that demarcated the land boundary between the two countries.
The Head of State said he has held meetings with Greenidge and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Karen Cummings and is set to have another meeting to inform them of his decisions.
“It is not two Ministries, it is one Ministry and Dr. [Karen] Cummings is the Minister and the functions and everything else which falls in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will come under the Minister of Foreign Affairs,” he sought to assure.
The President further stated that it is Dr Cummings who would have to attend Cabinet, go to the National Assembly to speak for Guyana’s international relations and to defend her Ministry.
Former Minister Greenidge along with former Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, Public Service Dr Rupert Roopnaraine and Business Dominic Gaskin were forced to resign from the National Assembly after the Appeal Court on March 22, 2019, upheld a ruling of the High Court that dual citizens are illegal in the National Assembly.
The President has since appointed new Ministers to those portfolios.
Harmon, who is seeking to renounce his citizenship to the United States, has since been appointed Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency.
Harmon at a press conference last week said his duties involve sitting at Cabinet meetings and reporting on decisions made.
The President last week told the media that it is up to the other former Ministers whether they want to continue working with the Government.
Gaskin said on April 26 that he was eager to get back into the private sector and confirmed that he has not been offered a new position in Government. Before becoming a Minister, Gaskin ran Topaz Jewellery with his wife Han Granger-Gaskin, the daughter of President David Granger.
