Dear Editor,
AS A citizen and well-wisher, I am indeed happy that Guyana’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and former Foreign Minister, Mr. Rashleigh Jackson, escaped serious physical injury from the recent fire at his home.

Those of a matured age will remember this distinguished former diplomat, and internationally-renowned statesman, Sir Shridath Ramphal, also a former foreign minister who went on to become Commonwealth Secretary-General, as having laid the foundation for Guyana’s post-Independence diplomatic corps that included many a distinguished diplomat who were renowned for the role they played at the United Nations, and in other critical areas of international affairs.

Indeed, Guyana’s was a respected voice at international fora. Our representatives were simply savvy, and it had been due to the building blocks laid down primarily by Jackson when he joined what was then the Department of External Affairs in pre-Independence Guyana, saw it transition to a ministry at Independence, becoming its permanent secretary in the process. Indeed, this son of the soil has been well-deserving of the Order of Roraima awarded to him in 1991.

It cannot be any ordinary diplomat that would have been president of the UN Security Council in 1975 and 1976, in addition to serving as foreign minister from 1978 -1990.
His highpoint of diplomacy should have been ascending to the Presidency of the General Assembly in 1992. Instead, his nomination was not supported by the then newly-elected president of Guyana, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, who said that Jackson had been part of an ‘undemocratic government’. It was a bitter blow to one of the doyens and highly-regarded of the UN-based corps of diplomatic representatives, and did carry a clear hint of discrimination, since there was another diplomat who, during the Burnham government, had been accredited to some key European capitals, had not been withdrawn.

But patriot and statesman that he is, Jackson answered the call of the very PPP/C government when the country was confronted by the Suriname–Guyana crises, when the Suriname navy chased the CGX vessels from the Corentyne waters. Not only did Jackson serve as a member of the Guyana delegation in talks between the CARICOM member states, but also as adviser and consultant to successive PPP/C administrations, as he may still be with regards the APNU+AFC coalition.

Such is the measure of the man who was able to demonstrate to the vindictive PPP/C regime that duty and its call had been above the narrow-minded, parochial, pettiness, and spite that it had displayed against him, a proven patriot. We must all wish him well.

Regards,
Earl Hamilton