Last week I wrote an introductory commentary on matters relating to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and promised to expound a bit more this week on issues pertaining to diplomats posted abroad.
Our embassies and missions abroad generally ought to report directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ought to take instructions only through that Ministry. By that I mean that the head of the mission ought to do this, and every member of staff within the mission reports, first and foremost, to the head of the mission. This is how things ought to work, but, it doesn’t always work out that way.
Every member of the diplomatic staff (as opposed to support staff – drivers, secretaries, janitors) must first be accepted by the host countries’ ministry of foreign affairs. In the USA, they call their MFA The State Department or The Department of State. Diplomatic staff are usually nationals of the countries they represent, but there have been deviations at times.
As well, there have been times when Belize has proposed diplomatic staff that the host country has found unacceptable and, to put it harshly, has rejected. No name calling. Host countries also have been known to place restrictions/conditionalities on ambassadors our MFA has tried to accredit in foreign capitals. Oftentimes, they are very prominent people in Belize.
Our diplomats abroad are fairly adequately compensated and looked after, in line with the generally accepted practice regionally. I emphasize the “looked after” part because when one looks at Government estimates, the sums of monies allotted for a posting may seem outrageous.
In fact, the ministry is obligated to pick up the cost of living expenses for our diplomats. Items like utilities, health care, and travel are oftentimes bundled in the one-line item for a single posting. Most diplomats also get a salary paid at home, apart from the allowances and per diems.
And while I would not want to be the one to present the argument that some heads of missions are given close to US$200 per day, in addition, as a per diem, that is the practice as I knew it four years ago when I parted company with the Musa government from my post in Washington. The main point is that diplomats are costly, but I daresay, worth their weight in gold when functioning in sync with the mission/ministry/headquarters.
I don’t know what the policy is or has been, but the level of formal training of our diplomatic staff has been quite high. Most of our diplomats abroad possess a master’s degree or higher, and where this is lacking, the ministry has been known to invest tremendous resources to groom the more promising and committed staff. There are quite a number of our foreign-service personnel who have received most of their training at great cost to the ministry while they are working there. It’s an expensive practice worth keeping, as the service matures.
Ambassadors, on the other hand, generally are politically appointed people, so the formal educational criteria are usually not a major factor.
On the matter of support staff, I strongly believe MFA should make it a matter of urgency to hire Belizean nationals in our missions abroad, first and foremost. When locally recruited nationals are not available, then and only then, should they hire non-nationals. Much sensitive information passes through our missions abroad, and it’s foolhardy to assume that the more subservient, non-national staff would be more loyal to this country than to their own, whether they are first generation citizens of that country or not. Our missions abroad have quite a few non-nationals on staff.
Next issue, I will delve a little into foreign policy issues.
Footnote: My experiences with the ministry are being twice posted to the Washington DC mission, The Embassy of Belize to the USA (1993-1996; 2000-2004). That mission doubles as the Permanent Mission to the Organization of American States and the High Commission (same thing as an embassy) to Canada. I have never worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Belmopan itself, other than spending time there for briefings.