By R M Austin,Stabroek News

Copyright stabroeknews

By R M Austin

In recent times, Elisabeth Harper had become a very impressive figure. At the conferences of the Guyana delegation at The Hague she was the great organizer, seeing that meetings started punctually. In the Advisory Committee on Borders she was knowledgeable, precise and concise. I learnt too that her administration of the ministry was humane and empathetic. The alchemy of a good education, civilized manners, accumulated experience in diplomacy, and an understanding of the psychology of men and women had produced a finished and impressive diplomat.

As I looked at this evolution, I had an inward epiphany: my good friend of many years was destined for the canon of great Guyanese public servants and outstanding diplomats. Given the evolving and difficult geopolitics of the region, the pressing problems of the environment, the careful positioning of Guyana as a petro-state in the international system, the ongoing border controversy to the west and the border dispute to the east, and the imperative for expanded relations with different states, Elisabeth Harper was the ideal candidate for the highest position at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In a decade or less no government could have resisted the temptation to make her the chief diplomat of our nation. But the grim reaper had other ideas. He cut her down in the prime of her professional life.