COMMENTARY: BY OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 13, 2019 – Having previously lived in Washington, D.C. for 21 years before I returned to The Bahamas permanently in 1996, I decided to remain in D.C. after my diplomatic appointment as Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at the Embassy of The Bahamas for more than four years was rescinded following the change of government in The Bahamas in May of 2017.
During my tenure at the Embassy, I had the pleasure of working with some extremely smart and talented young Bahamian diplomats, under the leadership of His Excellency Dr. Eugene Newry, the then Bahamas Ambassador to the United States.
Deputy Chief of Mission Chet Neymour was in charge of the day-to-day operations at the Embassy, and among the young diplomats under his supervision were Krissy Hanna, Tracee Dorestant, Mikhail Bullard and Jade Williams, who was not with the Embassy when I was appointed as Press Attaché in May of 2013, but joined the staff as Third Secretary a couple years later.
They were, and still are, top-rate professionals in the diplomatic arena, although both Mr. Nemour and Mr. Bullard apparently are now on the staff of the Organization of American States (OAS) and Ms. Hanna is Assistant Secretary and Head of the Foreign Service Training Division at the Bahamas Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nassau, as noted in a report on 12 new recruits who graduated from the Ministry’s 2019 Induction Training Programme earlier this year.
I knew that Mr. Neymour’s tenure at the Embassy ended about a year or so after my diplomatic status was revoked, but I was unaware that he is now with the OAS until recently when he accompanied OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro on an official visit to The Bahamas in October to view the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian to Grand Bahama and Abaco.
In the case of Mr. Bullard, it came as a total surprise to me when I saw a “LinkedIn” post on Facebook today (December 13) on “A snapshot of the work that the Organization of American States (OAS) does across the Americas in the areas of: development, democracy, human rights and security” and Mr. Bullard is described as a “Specialist at the OAS” whose current position is “Executive Secretariat for Integral Development at Organization of American States.”
I knew that Mr. Bullard was still in D.C. in some capacity because he remains very active in promoting events organized by the Bahamian-American Association of the Washington Metropolitan Area (BAAWMAR) and various other Bahamian groups in the D.C. area, but the fact that he is no longer attached to the Embassy came as a total surprise.
Given the fact that there are Diplomatic Missions from virtually every country in the world in Washington, D.C., which is generally considered to be the diplomatic capital of the world, clearly someone as well-schooled in diplomacy as Mr. Bullard was a tremendous asset to The Bahamas, and I certainly hope that his departure from the foreign service of The Bahamas was amicable, if indeed he is no longer associated with the country in that capacity.
During my tenure at the Embassy, I worked very closely with Mr. Bullard and the other young diplomats, especially regarding press releases on events they organized or attended. For the most part, they made my job easy by submitting reports that generally needed very little editing before being released.
One of the projects that Mr. Bullard introduced at the Embassy was “The Young Bahamians Conversation Series,” which I hope at some point in the future will be revived by the Embassy.
With strong support from Ambassador Dr. Newry, The Young Bahamians Conversation Series was aimed at providing a forum for young Bahamians in the diaspora in the Washington, D.C. area “to present and dialogue on their research or work and cultivate ideas for the betterment of The Bahamas.”
This past summer, Mr. Bullard graduated with a Master’s of Science degree in Finance from Georgetown University, further evidence that a very bright future lies ahead for this young Bahamian.
