Dear Editor,
I wish to advise that while it is true that the writer of the article entitled ‘Nothing exists that determines the status of Corentyne River’ (Kaieteur News, October 22, 2008, page 11) spoke with me and I did indicate that since there is no agreement between Guyana and Suriname delimiting where the boundary is in relation to that waterway, I made absolutely no reference to the Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Water Courses.
The writer failed to make a distinction between what I said and his/her own statements on the matter, giving the reader the impression that the entire story is attributable to me. In fact, in today’s (October 23) edition of Kaieteur News, on page 9, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is being accused of invoking the provisions of the Convention of the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Water Courses in relation to the Guyana position on the Corentyne River.
I wish to make it clear that neither myself nor my staff made any such connection since that convention has no relationship to the current issues.
Yours faithfully,
Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett
Minister of Foreign Affairs
I hope this lady knows what she is saying. I however have no confidenec in the fat that she or anyone in Gov’t knows.
This Minister of Foreign Affairs is showing signs of a leader’s lack of LEGITIMACY for the job she was portfolio to perform. Madam Minister your behavior of defending nothing but minutia and shear nonsense in the media is a classic example of your search for legitimacy. Something like putting up a smoke screen at the slightest criticism, it’s a form of bullying to turn-off the spotlight.
The local media is not your villain so quit the ‘fending and proving’ and as we say in Guyanese parlance ‘lil sis your slip is beginning to show’.