Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses has raised questions about a sitting head of T&T’s mission in Washington who he claimed “separated himself from the employ of the ministry” and became a staff member at the Organisation of the American States.
However, former T&T ambassador to Washington, Neil Parsan, has denied “foraging” for a position with the OAS while in the ministry’s employ.
The issue was among several complaints about the Foreign Affairs Ministry which Moses made in Thursday’s Senate debate of the 2016 budget.
He said the situation regarding the mission head was less than a month before the general election and “the rest of the information on the matter leaves one to wonder.”
Moses added: “We cannot encourage T&T diplomats at the highest levels, including an ambassador of T&T to the US who concurrently was the permanent representative to the OAS, to forage for lucrative posts for his personal benefit in international organisations to which he was entrusted to represent T&T.
"It would be as if you were paying the person to look after your interests and it turned out the person might very well have been looking after his interest perhaps on the detriment of your interest,” he said.
He claimed: “One is tempted to ask: Was an exchange involved in securing such a post? Would future decisions by such an individual be adverse to T&T's interests, given the professional remit of the person and his known social footprint espousing rank partisan political positions even while supposedly representing the people as sitting ambassador?"
Moses said T&T cannot afford the “luxury of underwriting personal job searches” at the expense of national interest.
He alleged: “Instead of trying to attract foreign investment to T&T, heightening T&T's brand and trying to advance its interests, this individual was busy during his tenure at post trying to cut personal deals in order to get a work... compromised that person may well have been from the outset.
“The situation cries out for attention. We intend to heed that appeal to right a wrong."
Parsan, replying to queries on the issue, emphasised: “At no point did I forage, or approach any officials of the OAS for any post.
“I was invited based on my professionalism, my experience and my ability to serve the people.”
Parson noted the footprint he had made in Washington, “both professionally and in terms of the very robust relationships I built over the past five years with my colleagues in the Diplomatic Corps, Department of State and OAS.
“This distinguished service captured the attention of the new political directorate of the OAS and I was invited to join the team (myself coming from an under-represented region of the hemisphere) to serve as secretary for integral development, a position never held by a T&T national.
“My resignation from the post of ambassador of T&T was effective August 2015 (as I had always intentioned) and my confirmation by 34 countries of the hemisphere to this post took place on September 13, 2015. There was no period of overlap between responsibilities.”
Former foreign affairs minister Winston Dookeran said Parsan had received an offer to join the cabinet of the new OAS secretary general, had reflected and made a decision on it after he was approached.
Dookeran said Parsan informed him as well as former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of the situation, tendering his resignation.
“He did everything properly. He didn’t ‘forage’ for any job or lobby, since there had been an election at the OAS and the new OAS secretary general was searching for people and wanted Caribbean representation,” he added.