BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FORMER Deputy Prime Minister and current Deputy Leader of the People’s Labour Party (PLP), the Hon. Sam Condor was caught ‘sleeping’ again! This time, however, it was not in Cabinet but with the recent revocation of his diplomatic passport.
A news item carried by WINN FM today (Dec. 11) indicated that Condor was seeking to enter the United States of America from Canada with the use of the diplomatic passport with which he was issued during his tenure as Deputy Prime Minister.
According to the report, Condor said he believed his passport was deactivated because when he attempted to leave Canada by using it he was unable to do so. And because he did not have a US Visa attached to his personal passport, he could not have completed his intended trip.
One wonders how Condor could have been caught in such an embarrassing situation when he admitted to media houses that he believed his diplomatic passport would have been eventually revoked.
To put things into context, the Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris was embarrassed at the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport when he discovered that he had been stripped of the diplomatic passport issued to him while he served as a Senior Minister of Government.
Harris obviously wasn’t too pleased with the way the situation was handled by the government and felt that an official letter signalling its deactivation should have been sent to him.
Condor told this media house and others that he would not be surprised if he were next to be stripped of the diplomatic passport. And yet he seemed to have ejected this from his thoughts and still attempted to use the passport to travel into the USA.
The former minister told WINN FM that he thought he would have experienced no difficulty using the passport, as he did and expected that returning to St. Kitts would not have proven difficult.
Condor also said he felt that if he had used it to exit the Federation he would have encountered difficulty.
Shortly after Timothy Harris’ awkward moment at the RLB Int’l Airport, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security issued a press release, which suggested that Dr. Harris maintained possession of the passport that he used to facilitate his “personal travels” even when he was aware that it was to have been returned.
And even after all of that, Condor still managed to be caught off guard.
Harris’ point of view that as a matter of courtesy an official communiqué could and should have been sent to him is clearly seen and understood.
It can be argued that the way in which the diplomatic passports were revoked leaves something to be desired and smacks of revenge by the government which, as can be expected, is not too pleased with “Moghadam/SKN diplomatic passport issue” being ventilated as it was.
The timing of the revocations and the break in the Moghadam news might be classified as a simple coincidence. But is it?
The government could have been more tactful in its dealings with Harris and Condor and their diplomatic passports. But, on the other hand, if Condor and Harris knew it was required of them to return their passports after they vacated their government positions, then they should have done the right thing.
And if the argument is that these passports were issued while they were Ministers of Government and the corresponding documentation reflects such, is it at all possible for Harris and Condor to be reissued diplomatic passports with the corresponding documentation reflective of their new status? And even if it were possible, would it happen?
The bigger picture remains fuzzy though, because the nation still waits to hear from those in whose bosoms the answers lie, the missing pieces of the Moghadam scenario. The nation is still unaware of whether or not Moghadam still possesses diplomatic status for St. Kitts and Nevis and the “$1 million question” remains unanswered.
