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Life as a career diplomat: Governor Gordon Wetherell
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| Published on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 |
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(TCI-GIS): Within three weeks of his arrival in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Gordon Geoffrey Wetherell, the newly sworn in Governor, was immediately thrust in to the thick of it - that being the strikes of two storms back to back in early September. Using training recently received at the University of Bournemouth in the UK, coupled with help from experienced persons on the ground, Governor Wetherell took to the task at hand, and helped the TCI weather the storms.
Having been in the diplomatic service for about 35 years and in ambassadorial capacities the world over, some would say the Ethiopian born Governor has lived a charmed life. "Right now I'm the Governor of the TCI and very glad to be here," said Governor Wetherell, "but I've served in a number of countries, most recently as High Commissioner in Ghana and Ambassador to four other countries in West Africa, the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Niger and Togo; before that I was Ambassador in Luxembourg; and before that Ambassador to Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti."
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TCI Governor,
Gordon Wetherell |
Returning to Ethiopia as an Ambassador was a very proud occasion for the Governor, as with anyone going home. After many accomplishments, it was an honour to serve in the land of his birth in such an esteemed capacity. "I went to boarding school in the UK when I was ten; but my family continued living on in Ethiopia all along; my father still lives in Addis Ababa, the capital." While in the UK, he boarded in Berkshire at Bradfield College, a public school where he spent four years.
Reflecting on his time there, Governor Wetherell said: "the UK was a different experience," entirely different from Ethiopia. However, he relished his visits with family during school holidays. On leaving Bradfield, the Governor attended Oxford University where he studied modern languages. From there, he travelled to America to attend the University of Chicago, reading for a degree in political science.
With such a colourful background, it was important to ask why the Governor decided to join the Foreign Office. "Well, I have always been interested in international politics and, I suppose the combination of languages, living abroad, including with my parents in Ethiopia, and the study of political science with a specific focus on international politics - all suggested to me be the right sort of career," Governor Wetherell said, adding: "I've never regretted it. I have thoroughly enjoyed it."
Initially based in London for a year, the Briton's first foreign posting was in East Berlin from 1974 to '77. Of it, he said it was "an experience that I treasure more with the passage of time; because that whole atmosphere and situation – of Berlin as a divided city and the Cold War was unique. It has all gone and you would not be able to recreate it anywhere now."
From 13 August 1961 until 9 November 1989 East Berlin was separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall. The East German government referred to East Berlin simply as "Berlin" or often "Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR". This doesn't exist anymore of course, and on reflection, he said it was "an experience which was also unique because East Germany had only just been recognised internationally at that time; so, there was something very new about it and being on the other side of the wall certainly added a element to the experience."
From there he went to Geneva in 1977 where he worked as First Secretary in the UK delegation on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Negotiations. Moving on, the career diplomat spent three years in New Delhi India as First Secretary, of which he said it was "a great experience," a culture that was very vibrant and rich and completely different to any that he'd previously known.
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| Governor Wetherell joined by Sgt Hilton Duncan inspects the guard |
It was England again in 1983, then off to Warsaw Poland in 1988 as Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission. His time there, he said, coincided with the change from the communist regime to the Solidarity-led government and "it was one of those rare occasions where you can say that you were present when changes of great historical significance were taking place."
In that respect, Governor Wetherell said: "it was certainly one of those moments, and it was a great privilege to be there and you could see how the nature of the embassy changed almost overnight. It changed from a Cold War situation and what was essentially an adversarial relationship to one which then became very cooperative and eventually led to the situation where Poland is now a member of NATO and the European Union."
When looking at those countries today, and the changes that have been made, the Governor said he was happy to have had the opportunity to make a contribution, however small, in assisting with "forging a new relationship, and with the transfer of know-how between the western countries and the former Warsaw pact countries, to enable them to adapt to a new democratic form of government and market economy after decades of a command economy and a one party state."
He added that going back even further, "memories in those countries were strong enough to remember being part of the single Europe themselves, so there was a kind of yearning to get back into the fold, even if there was some relearning to do in the process."
Asked what was his most challenging posting, HE declared that the change of political systems proved to be one type of challenge, albeit a very productive forward-looking one. However, his native Ethiopia also presented a challenge. Between 1997 and 2000, Governor Wetherell was ambassador to Ethiopia and non-resident ambassador to Eritrea and Djibouti. He said that within seven months of his arrival war broke out between Ethiopia and Eritrea. "Dealing with war is a pretty though experience," said Wetherell, "particularly when you are your government's representative to both sides of the conflict."
"So, we had some pretty tough moments there, including the need to evacuate British nationals from Eritrea at one point; that involved quite delicate negotiations, with the Ethiopian government to ensure that there was no bombing of the airport at Asmara at the time we were evacuating our nationals and of course with the Eritrean authorities too."
The distinguished Briton was then asked how does the Foreign Office go about selecting a governor and if that role was any different from his ambassadorships, to which he said: "I think that many of the skills that one develops as an ambassador are transferable into the job of governor. But there is also a recognition in the Foreign Office that there are differences too; there is a very extensive briefing and training process before you are deployed to ensure you are equipped as best as possible for the job."
Most assume that persons are given governorships at the tail end of a long career, this is not the case said Governor Wetherell, as he went through the rigours of his own experience before being appointed. "I applied for the job in December 2007," said the Governor, "I had to disengage from my previous job, and had a period of intensive briefings on a series of issues of relevance to the Turks and Caicos Islands including for example the Law of the Sea and Maritime Boundaries which are important to the TCI given its archipelagic nature, extensive territorial sea, and exclusive economic zone."
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| Meeting the press during the hurricane situation, L to R: Governor Wetherell, Hon. Galmore Williams, Minister of Public Safety and Premier Dr Michael Misick |
Before being deployed and in applying for the position, Wetherell said he tried to find out as much as possible about the TCI, as "Obviously you want to make sure you know the key issues that will be on your desk when you arrive, and that you are up to speed with the views in London on them; that you get training as necessary - or extensive briefing on the issues confronting the country you are going to."
As Governor of the TCI, Governor Wetherell keeps in close contact with London. "I keep them informed of what I am doing and seek or give advice as the case may be," he noted. "The role of the Governor is to a large extent as described in the Constitution. This reserves certain areas for the Governor, but also provides that the Governor Presides over the cabinet, in which capacity he plays a wider part in the governance of the country."
As Governor, the pattern of his day-to-day life is to a large extent fixed. There are meetings with cabinet ministers, top functionaries within government, the police - along with other adhoc meetings that require a lot preparatory work. "Probably the central point is the meeting of the cabinet which takes place almost every week," said the Governor, "That involves a good deal of preparatory work; the papers get submitted to me, then they get circulated to other members of the cabinet. So I read them, familiarise myself with them, ask any questions I may have, and then they are discussed in cabinet, whose duration can be fairly elastic."
He noted that from these meetings, the minutes are prepared and approved. "So at different points in the week, cabinet business is part of it." Nevertheless, "Since the hurricane, I have been heavily involved in meetings of the Policy Group; that frequency has tailed off as we have moved into a transition phase from response to recovery."
In speaking of his Deputy Governor, Mahala Wynns, Governor Wetherell said their relationship is "a very close one". "Of course the Deputy Governor is my deputy. When I'm away from the territory, she becomes the Acting Governor. In this particular case the Deputy Governor is very experienced in public service matters in the TCI, as well as in disaster management issues. So, naturally, I find her a very valuable source of advice on these issues. But it goes well beyond that. She is a source of wise advice across a range of issues."
In the Turks and Caicos going on four months, the Governor said the hurricane situation coloured his initial experience. "There has not been a dull or idle moment since I've been here." He went to add that these were not easy times for the islands obviously, "because on top of the hurricane comes a severe down turn in the global economy, and the islands' finances are under pressure at the very moment when there is more to do."
"As in every situation, there are lessons to be learned and, there are probably more lessons to be learned here than in other places largely because there hasn't been a hurricane for a long time," said Governor Wetherell. "Even shortly before the hurricane a lot of people did not believe that it would rely happen. Hannah actually proved to be a blessing in disguise by alerting people to the fact that things could happen." He noted that with Ike's impending strike, people thoroughly readied themselves for its inevitability.
"There are all sorts of lessons to be learned on everything from the infrastructure necessary for disaster management to linkages between response agencies, such as the police or fire service," said Governor Wetherell. "Communications was revealed to be a big issue; there was a big problem trying to establish communications between Provo and Grand Turk at the time." Hopefully, he added: "the disaster plan will be reworked in time for next year and future years, taking into account what has been learned and incorporate all the steps from preparation to initial response and recovery."
This being his first hurricane, Wetherell has managed other crisis situations. Between 2004-07, he was the High Commissioner in Ghana, and described a situation in neighbouring Ivory Coast, which bordered on civil war. "During a particularly tense period, we had to evacuate British nationals and bring them across into Ghana."
He noted that a Royal Air Force plane was sent to collect Britons and the embassy had to process them. "I was not as directly involved as when I was in Ethiopia," said Wetherell, "but we had to manage the Ghana end of the evacuation; we had to close our embassy in the Ivory Coast and I ended up taking over as ambassador to the Ivory Coast as well, albeit resident in Ghana."
When asked about the ongoing Commission of Inquiry, he said that it had been appointed by his predecessor, was "doing its work", and would report to him in February. "There is nothing further I can say until I see its report," said the Governor, "because I think it is important to leave the Commission to do its work independently. The only situation where I have become involved is over the question of extending its period; and there I acted on the advice of the Commissioner that he needed more time to complete his work – it is obviously important to the credibility of its report that the Commission should be able to do its work thoroughly."
Governor Wetherell was then asked why was not more visible. He said it had much to do with the disruption in communications, especially in Grand Turk, where he lives and spends most of his time. "That is the seat of Government and, it is also where cabinet now takes place. But we still don't have television, so the opportunities for being visible have been much reduced."
He added that the fact that Grand Turk was one of the islands that was badly hit by the hurricane has given him further reasons for spending more time there; but, "it will certainly be my intention to spend more time visiting other islands, meeting people and attending events on them such as the Conch Festival."
Asked what were the challenges for a governor in a small island nation and were they any different from any of his previous postings, Wetherell stated that the job of governor is different from that of an ambassador, even though you can bring to it some of the same skills. "For example," said HE, "the ambassador is the representative of his government to a foreign government, whereas a governor is part of a government of the territory where he is. That's a crucial difference. You're not actually engaged in foreign relations as much here; you are engaged in the internal government of the country."
With the world's economy as it is, he was then asked how Turks and Caicos Islanders and the Turks and Caicos Islands in general could better prepare for the road ahead. "This is a global crisis that's affecting everyone," he said, "so, you know, we all face the prospect of slower rates of growths; this will have an impact on the sorts of assumptions we can make for the next few years and the projections we can build on them; it will also have an impact on government revenue and so, this territory, like other places, will have to adapt, to reprioritise, to save, to do some belt tightening I'm afraid - all of these things are going to be a part of the scene for the next few months."
Married to Rosemary since 1981, the father of four daughters will not be spending this Christmas in the Turks and Caicos. "I had a prior commitment to be in the UK dating from before I knew that I was coming here," said Governor Wetherell, "My father who lives in Ethiopia will be coming to join us there also. So this year I'll be there and I am looking forward to Christmas here next year already." | | | | Reads : 529 |
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