-he’s just looking for sympathy
GOVERNMENT sources late yesterday refuted claims in some quarters that Guyanese economist and PNC/R presidential hopeful, Mr. Carl Greenidge has been relieved of his post as Deputy Senior Director within the Office of Trade and Negotiations (OTN) of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The rumour surfaced and gained currency yesterday following a report in the day’s issue of the Stabroek News quoting an unnamed source close to Greenidge, a former finance minister during the PNC regime, as saying that he’d been given the axe because of allegations leveled against him by the present administration about unsavory comments he reportedly made about its handling of the country’s affairs at the late Winston Murray’s funeral service.
According to a government official, however, as far as he knew, Greenidge is still in the employ of CARICOM, with which he has a contractual arrangement until December 31.
This concurs with what outgoing Secretary-General, Mr. Edwin Carrington said just Friday at his annual end-of-year press conference that up until then, Greenidge was still in OTN’s employ.
Said he:  “As of now, Mr. Greenidge is still a member of the OTN, and as far as I know, he has a contract which takes him up to the end of this year. And that is very soon. What happens beyond that depends on if there are resources; if we are able to do anything further. There are a number of people whose contracts are ending at the end of December; his is one. I don’t know that there is any sanctionable action that one will necessarily be taking on a contract which ends in another week, ten days.”
His comment was prompted by a question from the media about the likelihood of Greenidge being sanctioned by CARICOM because of the charges leveled against him by the government, to wit that not only were his remarks “highly unprofessional,” but had caused the administration to lose all confidence in his ability to lobby effectively and impartially on the country’s behalf.   
The question in turn had its origins in remarks made Thursday by Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon at his weekly post-Cabinet briefing, when the issue of Greenidge’s faux pas was raised.
What Dr. Luncheon said in essence was that though Greenidge’s comments were “rather sterile and useless,” the government bore him no grudge for seizing the opportunity to gain political mileage. But he went too far.
“The Government is not advocating the resignation of anyone,” he said, “but only wants respect of protocol. I think there is a lot we can say about many other people who hold office, but if you are representing unity, I think the parallel must be drawn.”
According to our informant, the rumour going the rounds that Greenidge was sacked expressly because of the government’s doing is just a cheap trick to test the waters in this election season, and play on the sympathy of the unsuspecting public.