Minister discusses Ambassadorial Appointments

Cordel Hyde

When he was interviewed this morning, the minister was asked if it is not customary to discuss the appointments before they are made public. Elrington also disclosed that an ambassadorial appointment for Taiwan had been declined.

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington, Minister of Foreign Fairs

“It’s basically in consequence of his statement that he did not know.”

Marleni Cuellar

“Is it typically discussed with the appointee before the appointments are made?”

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington

“My own practice has always been to communicate with them; always, invariably. I always communicate with persons who are going to be appointed to these high posts. I can tell you that in fact only last week I had communication with one person who we were proposing to appoint as the ambassador to Taiwan and that person has indicated that due to personal reasons, it may not be convenient at this time. So we don’t normally take matters forward unless we have good reasons to believe.”

Marleni Cuellar

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington

“Minister Elrington, this was a very interesting move from onlookers especially who looked at how the elections played out to see Cordel Hyde rise through the ranks within the U.D.P. with a diplomatic posting or even having it suggested, what is your—why did you decide that he was the best candidate?”

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington

“I look at people’s capabilities and their disposition and if I think that they have the ability intellectually and they have the moral character, I will put their names forward. To me the politics of it has never mattered. Historically, when governments change, the first people who go are the people who are diplomats and the like because it is seen as a political football. I personally believe that Belize is much too small and the corpus of competent people is much too small for us to be behaving that way. So I have always been disposed to dealing with people based on competence and capacity as opposed to based on their political affiliations and that has been my creed all along.”

The other former senior deputy leader of the P.U.P., Mark Espat has also been bestowed with the rank of Ambassador for Economic Affairs. Elrington says the Ambassadorial status for Espat should enhance his status internationally and ease travel during negotiations.