Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Director General shoots down ‘rumour’ of exit

Audrey Waddell
Audrey Waddell

Long serving diplomat Audrey Waddell, who is currently Director General of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, yesterday said she knew nothing of reports that government has not renewed her contract.

Two usually reliable sources had informed Sunday Stabroek that government had not renewed Waddell’s contract.

“I am not aware that I am leaving the Foreign Service or that my contract has not been renewed…whatever rumour you see out there, it is a rumour,” Waddell said when contacted by Sunday Stabroek.

Repeated attempts to reach Minister of Foreign Affairs Karen Cummings for a comment on the reports proved futile, while Foreign Secretary Carl Greenidge directed all enquiries to the Ministry of the Presidency. “The contract for the Director General is a matter for the president,” he said.

A member of the Foreign Service since the early 1990s, Waddell, who is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, has had various postings across Latin America.

She has been Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Guyana in Brasilia, Head of Chancery at the Embassy of Guyana in Havana and currently holds the post of Ambassador to the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).