By Francis Quamina Farrier

TWO Guyanese Diplomats who are serving in two major countries are scheduled to be in their native Guyana shortly. They will be here to receive the National Award of the Cacique’s Crown of Honour (CCH), which will be bestowed on them for their sterling service to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana in Business and the Diplomatic Service. The two diplomats are, His Excellency Mr. Hamley Case, CCH and His Excellency, Dr. Riyad Insanally, CCH, both former students of Queen’s College.

Mr Hamley Case was appointed Guyana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, as well as Non-Resident Ambassador to a number of other Eastern European countries. They are Russia, Iceland, Estonia, France and Latvia. Dr. Riyad Insanally is Guyana’s Ambassador to the United States of America and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS).

Born in January 1945 in Georgetown, British Guiana, High Commissioner Hamley Case received his first formal education in Antigua in 1948. Back in British Guiana, he continued his education at the Broad Street Primary School (now the Dolphin Primary). That was followed at the Johanna Cecelia Primary on the Essequibo Coast and the Kitty Methodist Primary (now the J.E. Burnham Primary), all before his teen years. He then entered Queens College in Georgetown where he was a student from 1954 to 1959. So it is safe to say that Hamley Case was unwittingly being groomed to be an important and competent functionary in Guyana’s Foreign Service from a very young age.

Ambassador Dr. Riyad Insanally also attended Queen’s College in Guyana. He later pursued studies in Modern Languages and Latin American Studies and holds an MA and MPhil from Cambridge University in England. He also pursued studies and gained a PhD from Harvard University in the USA. A career diplomat, Dr. Riyad Insanally joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990 and was later appointed the Senior Trade Advisor at the Guyana High Commission in London, England. Dr. Insanally also served as the OAS Representative in Trinidad and Tobago from 2008 to 2016. He was then posted to the United States in 2016 and represents Guyana in Washington, D.C. The career diplomat is also Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS). He presented his Letter of Credence to President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington, D.C., on September 16, 2016.

Hamley Case is the son of one of Guyana’s most celebrated Educationists, Frederick Case, whose career in the Public Service includes being a Principal of the Teachers Training College, (now the Cyril Potter College), and Chief Education Officer. He has had a long career in businesses in Guyana, Africa and Asia. They include being Managing Director of Case Timbers Limited and UNAMCO, also Atlantic Services Limited among others.

Since his arrival in Washington, D.C., Ambassador Insanally has built on the work of his predecessor by upgrading the physical structure of the Embassy building and the relationship with Guyanese living in the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia area. They include Mr Aubrey Stephenson, AA, President and CEO of Federal Management Systems, Inc., who has sponsored many of the projects of the Embassy over the years. This year, Ambassador Insanally has also included Guyana in the Annual DC Passport Cultural Tourism Event for the first time. It is an event at which Embassies in the USA Capital open their doors to the public and showcase their countryf’s arts and culture.

Guyana has had diplomats stationed in both London and Washington, DC, ever since becoming an Independent Nation on May 26, 1966, and has been host to both British and American diplomats during the same period. High Commissioner Hamley Case, CCH and Ambassador, His Excellency Dr Riyad Insanally, are continuing to serve their native Guyana with distinction as their Tours of Duty in two important countries, continue.