Diplomacy Not At Work

THE media in this country will always be called out by politicians and other public officials for one thing or another. Most times, however, what many politicians and public officials fail to do is acknowledge when they do falter.

Take, for example, the case of the appointment of Saint Lucia’s Ambassador to Taiwan. While back in June the Minister for External Affairs, Alva Baptiste, told the media at a press conference that “there was no mystery” as to who would fill the diplomatic post, it turns out that the minister’s pronouncement might have been misplaced.

“I do not want it to be a situation where people speculate for weeks as to what is happening. This will never be my intention because there is no big secret about sending an ambassador to Taiwan,” Baptiste told the press back in then.

Over the past four months since Saint Lucia opened its embassy in Taiwan, speculation has grown increasingly as to who would fill the diplomatic post. Not only were Saint Lucians interested, but others as well, forcing an official from Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs to tell the press that the Saint Lucian ambassador had indeed been chosen and should take up his post by the end of September.

Repeated attempts by The VOICE to get the Ministry of External Affairs to confirm or deny the new ambassador’s appointment were met with bureaucratic red tape. However, any semblance of doubt – or suspicion – was quelled when the newly-appointed Taiwanese Ambassador to Saint Lucia, Ray Mou, confirmed last Tuesday that Permanent Secretary, Hubert Emmanuel, has been named the Saint Lucian envoy to his country.

Clearly, there seems to be a breakdown somewhere in the citizen’s right to know how the government is conducting their affairs. For an administration that espouses accountability and transparency, these kinds of diplomatic slip-ups do seem out of tune.

Ambassador Mou’s letting the cat out of the bag – inadvertently or otherwise – might well stem from his understanding that Emmanuel’s appointment had been made official to Saint Lucians as it has to Taiwanese officials. Not unlike the scenario where Taiwanese would already know that Ambassador Chang was replaced by Ambassador Mou within the past three weeks.

If Saint Lucia is really serious about pushing its diplomacy with a high level of respect and timeliness, it might well want to take a page out of its number one ally’s book. Until then, the media will have no choice but to do its work and hold politicians and other public officials accountable.