Former Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Elisabeth Harper admitted that she hesitated when she was first offered the position of Prime Ministerial Candidate for the People’s Progressive Party Civic.
In an interview conducted by former Miss Guyana World, Olive Gopaul and aired on the state owned National Communications Network on Saturday, Harper said when she was first offered the position she hesitated and prayed about it before consulting her family. She said her family offered her their support and she moved ahead with accepting the nomination. She did not state when the position was offered to her.
Up until last Saturday, Harper was a behind the scenes diplomat who headed the foreign service and served as Ambassador to CARICOM and a number of Caribbean states.
During the interview, she said her number one priority would be to ensure Guyana’s territorial integrity is maintained. She said that would be followed by education and the crime situation in the country.
Asked if she believes she is ready to serve as the country’s Prime Minister should the PPP Civic win the next elections, Ms. Harper said she believes she is “ready for the challenge”. She said her decision to accept the nomination “is just not about Elisabeth Harper” but it is about something she wanted to do for all of Guyana.
With her arms folded throughout most of the interview and dressed in an orange work dress, Harper spoke about her two marriages saying that her current marriage is far different from her first marriage.
She said her first marriage was of an abusive nature and she claimed that she walked away from that “abusive” first marriage because her then husband did not want to see her progress with her studies and development in the workplace. During the interview, she was also prompted about becoming a mother at the age of 17 and said that her mother was very disappointed in her. She would go on to care for that disappointed mother who lived until she was 91-years-old.
The interview which was done in Ms. Harper’s Georgetown home, touched briefly on her preparedness for the election campaign. She would only say that she is ready for the campaign trail and what it has to offer, admitting that she is well aware that her family and her life will be thrown into the spotlight.
The PPP Prime Ministerial Candidate said she was honored to have been selected by the President to serve in a higher capacity if elected.
The interview appeared part of a well orchestrated attempt by the governing party to carefully unveil Ms. Harper to the Guyanese people as someone they could connect with. During the announcement of her candidacy at the PPP headquarters last Saturday, the national press corps were not allowed any questions and Ms. Harper offered no comments.
She spent over two decades serving the Foreign Ministry of Guyana and is considered a well respected and smart person on foreign affairs matters.
Filed: 28th February, 2015
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