AT some time or another, every human comes face-to-face with their mortality; but while some persons resign themselves to the fact that their time on earth has come to an end, there are others who leave tasks undone, and are mourned because those tasks are programmed to enhance the lives of their fellow humans.Faith Harding served her political party, the PNC, well and faithfully for decades. But when she recognised that the Party to which she gave utmost loyalty for most of her adult life was diverting from her concepts of leadership, she opted to disengage from the fray and render service to her fellow humans on her own terms. And in so doing, she displayed what leadership was.
Faith Harding is no more alive, but forever will be the record in the corridors of our history of a woman of substance who excelled in everything she endeavoured.
An outstanding academic, prominent child psychiatrist, and former Minister and Member of Parliament in the Peoples National Congress Government, Dr. Faith Harding not only talked the talk, but walked the walk, working with anybody or individual that could enhance and develop her empowerment and educational programmes. The PNC was much poorer for her loss.
Dr. Harding passed away at the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Georgetown where she succumbed to an illness that she endured for an approximate three weeks.
Her Impact Programme, which she launched in 2012 targeting several women’s groups and underprivileged communities, could continue and grow because she laid solid foundations.
Dr. Harding lived in Queenstown with her husband, and of recent times, tended her patients at her homed-based office. She worked with the PNC government from 1989 to 1992 as the Minister of Public Service, where she is reported to have performed well, and was one of the few PNC ministers who left a positive mark, having used her office and power to thrust drives for changes in the legislation that empowered women and protected their rights and that of their children.
After the PNC lost the elections in 1992, Dr. Harding did not rest on her laurels, but went on to serve in whatever capacity she was appointed to continue to enhance the lives of her fellow humans in underdeveloped societies, through the auspices of the United Nations, during a three-year rotation with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) Peacekeeping, and other international organisations.
While serving with the UN, Dr. Harding was reported to have been “instrumental in initiating several programmes of change which aided significantly and helped in revolutionising the economy of Liberia. As a result, it helped in pushing the country to the forefront of social and economic development in the African continent.”
A blurb on her formidable achievements in international affairs states, inter alia: “In East Timor also, she held several positions with the United Nations Transitional Administration. In the office of the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Governance and Public Administration (GPA), she drove the initiation of a Gender Affairs Bureau, developed the structure of GPA, and planned relevant policies and strategies for governing East Timor. As the senior advisor on social affairs policy and management, she created national teacher performance standards and national content standards for kindergarten through secondary educational institutions. In addition, she designed the policy framework for the education sector, comprising nursery through university levels. In a previous role as the Director of Capacity Building in the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (OSRSG), she prepared strategy papers for the SRSG and
Cabinet members on the capacity building programme; liaised with the donor support group, multilateral agencies, UN bodies, international and local non-governmental agencies.”
But Guyana was the home of her heart, and she returned to re-join the PNC, in the hope of steering that Party in the direction of providing real and effective leadership to its constituency, only to be sidelined, as all PNC stalwarts have been, and relegated to the sidelines.
So she took her leadership skills to the next level, and achieved wonders. Today, the seeds she planted, literally and figuratively, are bearing fruit, and Guyana is the richer for her efforts and her commitment to the national good.
RIP Dr. Harding.