CABINET Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon yesterday said Acting Foreign Affairs Minister Priya Manickchand, in relying on Article 37 of Guyana’s Constitution, “delivered a legitimate blast, a feral blast,” in response to United States (US) Ambassador Brent Hardt. 

Luncheon was speaking in context of the reported showdown between Hardt and the Government of Guyana last Wednesday evening at the commemoration of the 238th Independence Anniversary of the U.S., held at his Cummingslodge residence.
Speaking at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President, in Georgetown, Luncheon observed that Hardt, who is slated to leave Guyana on July 6, elected to go out in a “blaze of contention.”

Apart from disregarding the issues of timing and that of a captive audience, Luncheon said Hardt launched a broadside against President Donald Ramotar, the Government of Guyana, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).
“His (Hardt) remarks came perilously close to the ranting of the current Opposition parties,” Luncheon said, and he saw it fit to accuse the President of duplicity regarding constitutional rectitude and to have the intellect of PPP General Secretary Rohee belittled.
“Amazingly, the outgoing US Ambassador felt it necessary to remind the Blue Cappers about the comparable grounds for insurrection between the 1776 issues that faced King George, the time of the birth of the nation, and that which is facing President Ramotar in his 2011-2016 term in office, with regards to local government elections and other political issues. He went on in a tirade exploiting the occasion, the young minds of the captive Blue Cap Audience,” Luncheon remarked.
“Article 37 of the Constitution of Guyana says the state supports the legitimate aspirations of other people for freedom and independence and will establish relations with all states on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual respect, in viability of frontiers, territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of dispute, non-intervention in internal affairs, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the state will cooperate among other states,” Dr Luncheon asserted.
He pointed out that Article 37 was an imperative that guided Cabinet and the Government in the content of its response to the American Ambassador.
Meanwhile, at the event Wednesday, Manickchand accused Hardt of creating tensions between Guyana and the U.S., and for the position he took on many local issues, positions she deemed hypocritical.
Manickchand said there is a red line in diplomatic relations, and Hardt has crossed that line. She made no bones about the fact that diplomatic relations demand a commitment to accuracy, referring to misconceptions peddled on the hosting of local government elections.

(By Telesha Ramnarine)