Rodwell Ferguson Addresses Courtenay’s Departure

Eamon Courtenay

Foreign Minister Eamon Courtenay will demit office at the end of this month, and will be replaced in that capacity by Francis Fonseca. Prime Minister John Briceño has confirmed Courtenay’s departure after three years of public service. Courtenay, a senior counsel, will return to his private practice as an attorney. There have been many speculations about Courtenay’s resignation as the result of an internal rift in the People’s United Party. But today, fellow Cabinet colleague and Minister of Transport, Rodwell Ferguson said nothing could be further from the truth.

Rodwell Ferguson

Rodwell Ferguson, Cabinet Minister

“You might look at us and say we are getting a very big pay as a minister of government.  Minister Courtenay is a learned attorney,  and he can make maybe ten times what he’s making with government, but at the same time he wants to contribute it to the economy, and so he asks the Prime Minister, okay, I will give you three years. I’ve had three years of going to my private practice, and I will still maintain as a senator, and still make sure I can help you negotiate with the police in Guatemala issue.”

Marion Ali

“Word on the street is that, that is not the case. There was, there’s a big rift going on in, in the PUP, that’s the word on the street.”

Rodwell Ferguson

“I don’t know, but people, people will always make assumptions. But in reality, they need to be there to know exactly what is going on.  So I’m quite, quite, quite comfortable, even Courtenay was a very good foreign affairs minister. I like when the minister of foreign trade, but I know he’s going to quote his successor.”