BY the time the vendors make their delivery rounds, Mr. Rene van Nes, the EU Ambassador would have departed Guyana (I think he left this morning). Mr. van Nes has been one of the most interesting Western envoys to have been stationed in Guyana.
One of the mysteries of van Nes’s tenure is the inaction of the Government of Guyana in lodging a complaint with Brussels over his overt political activities. Two things need mentioning before we go on to describe the “diplomacy” of Mr. van Nes.
One is a supposed attempt to broker an arrangement with the PNC and AFC for the purpose of the 2025 election.
A meeting was held at his home. If I am wrong, I hope that Mr. Nigel Hughes and Mr. Aubrey Norton would tell the nation that I was wrong; they never met with van Nes at his home. I hope Mr. Mervyn Williams and Mr. David Patterson could confirm for me if they were there.
The second one is the choice for liaison officer to the EU Election Observer Mission. I thought a more neutral person should have been appointed. Someone close to the Embassy had to recommend to the mission, a female social media influencer who lives abroad and does not know anything about political analysis but known for her cuss-down style. What questions the Observer Mission put to her? Why did the mission speak to her in the first place?
Mr. Van Nes has left to return to Holland for retirement. He has reached 67. I have been told that his request for another year was denied by Brussels because of age. He will be replaced by an Italian of 52 years of age. Someone told me Mr. Van Nes was interested in post-retirement business in Guyana in the area of property development, so we may see him again.
Under Mr. van Nes’ term, the EU Embassy poured money into several civil society bodies that without exception were and have always been hostile to the PPP government in the past and at present. I don’t want to get into libel waters since I will not be able to access EU’s records to prove my case.
What I will do is skirt around it so I meet my obligation to the Guyanese people about giving them knowledge about what goes on in their country. One of these groups’ main interests is homosexual rights. Another is headed by someone who purports to have a human rights entity but does not do any human rights work in Guyana. Another is concerned with children. Another of these groups deals with Amerindian rights.
The EU Embassy has dished out billions of Guyanese dollars over a ten-year period to several civil society organisations known for their implacable dislike for the PPP. At the rate of 240 Euros to one Guyana dollar, these entities have enjoyed billions of dollars with no accountability. Without exception all of these groups’ requests are always more than a million Euros.
One lady known for her insane anti-oil rampage got $42 million to do work in the Amerindian villages and never delivered even a one-page report. Recently, the Embassy fell out with the children group over a massive amount that cannot be accounted for. The peoples of Europe and the Guyanese nation will never know who in Guyana got billions because of the opaque line item on donations by the EU.
The line item is for the entire Caribbean without specifics. So, no one knows which group got what. The EU tirelessly lectures the Third World about accountability when their governance has not an ounce of accountability.
Mr. Van Nes’ retirement in the very tiny kingdom of Holland reminds me of one of the themes I have dwelled on. These Western diplomats come to Guyana and live in an ultra-aristocratic fashion.
That is none of my business. What irks me is how the rich and famous in Guyana and the crème de la crème in Guyana seek out these diplomats who return to their homelands and live very obscure lives without even an ounce of the aristocracy they enjoyed in Guyana.
The former UN envoy for refugees was my neighbour in my compound. Her rent was three million monthly in a luxurious structure that now that she has returned to Europe will never see a house like that again.
One of the richest women in Guyana got smitten by a tenth-rate European diplomat and married him. She married him for his ephemeral status in Guyana which is gone from him, both in Europe and Guyana. He married her for her money, of course. Goodbye, Mr. van Nes. Be careful! Holland was carved out of the sea. Hope the sea does not reclaim it.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.