HOW SERIOUSLY committed Caribbean Community leaders are to fostering a spirit of consensus in pursuit of foreign policy objectives will be put the test at their two-day meeting in The Bahamas that begins tomorrow under the chairmanship of host Prime Minister Perry Christie.
At stake, this time around, is a requirement for some flexibility on the part of a few CARICOM leaders – no more than three at last count – to achieve consensus for a citizen of our Community to go forward as this region’s candidate for election as new secretary general of the 53-member Commonwealth in November in for Malta.
Currently, three CARICOM citizens are seeking this high-profile international post in which the eminent CARICOM personality, Sir Shridath Ramphal, had distinguished himself and created history as the first Commonwealth national to serve three successive five-year terms – as elegantly recorded in Glimpses Of A Global Life released in London last year.
In addition to the Dominican-born British citizen, Baroness Scotland, there are three candidates within CARICOM who are looking forward to securing the honour of being elected as the new Commonwealth secretary general.
First to officially enter the race last year was Baroness Scotland. A former attorney general of Britain and member of its House of Lords, she was originally proposed by Dominica and subsequently supported by Barbados.
Then there was the candidature of Trinidad and Tobago’s Dr Bhoe Tewarie, previously better known in the world of academia and currently Minister of Planning and Sustainable Development in the government of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
While they waged their respective campaigns, Antigua and Barbuda’s long-serving diplomat Sir Ronald Sanders, previously well recognised for his involvement in regional media and communications development, decided to pursue the more personal path of direct engagement with heads of government and/or foreign ministers to solicit their official support for the Commonwealth office.
It was a brave initiative by Sanders, based more on personal, professional and political contacts, especially within the Eastern Caribbean and also Guyana and Jamaica. He is possessed with a self-confidence, buttressed by knighthoods from Britain and Antigua, and more recently academic honours from universities in the United Kingdom, Canada and the University of the West Indies.
However, when the final count revealed that although Sanders had acquired an overwhelming nine of the 12 votes required for collective endorsement by CARICOM – (Haiti and Suriname are not Commonwealth states) – the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, felt he had more than a moral obligation to quickly intervene on behalf of his fellow national and ambassador at large.
He did so in a letter to fellow CARICOM heads of government seeking support for Sanders to be given the endorsement he needs and deserves as this region’s choice to be the next Commonwealth secretary general.
Trinidad and Tobago’s retired head of the public service and former high commissioner to Barbados, Reginald Dumas – currently a well-known social commentator – made known in the Trinidad Express that Ronald Sanders was most deserving of CARICOM’s endorsement to contest the election for a new secretary general.
Having previously been favoured by nine of the 12 eligible CARICOM states, it’s now for this week’s Inter-Sessional Meeting of Community leaders to do the right thing – in the interest of consensus in foreign policy initiatives to achieve the unanimity as appealed for by Prime Minister Browne.
Among suggestions being advanced is that representatives of the three CARICOM governments known to favour Baroness Scotland could exercise their option to abstain from voting. We shall soon find out.
Rickey Singh is a noted Caribbean journalist.