The main opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has accused the Jamaica government of wanting to divide the regional integration grouping, CARICOM, following its failed bid to have Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Kamina Johnson Smith replace the incumbent Baroness Patricia Scotland as Commonwealth Secretary General.
“The government decided to divide CARICOM to push up a candidate for Jamaica to contest the Caribbean candidate… How strange,” PNP leader Mark Golding said, adding that Scotland is a Caribbean representative who did not complete the conventional two terms and who was supported in 2015 by the then ruling PNP government.
The Dominica-born Scotland had faced a challenge from Johnson Smith but won in a secret ballot by a 27-24 margin during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that ended in Rwanda over the last weekend.
But Prime Minister Andrew Holness, while congratulating Scotland on her re-election as Secretary General of the 54-member Commonwealth, extended his “heartfelt congratulations and commendations” to his cabinet minister, saying she ran “a distinguished and exemplary campaign.
Dominica had nominated Scotland for the post, and the nomination of Johnson Smith had divided the 15-member CARICOM with former CARICOM chairman and Belize Prime Minister, John Briceño, saying that regional leaders would vote for “a candidate of their choice”.
Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne had regarded Johnson Smith’s entry into the race as a “monumental error.”
Golding, addressing a PNP divisional conference in St Andrew, over the weekend, said the government had spent a “bag of money” on Johnson Smith’s campaign and called on the government to provide an account of the total expenditure.
He said the Jamaican government should have ensured that Johnson Smith would be successful in the race for Commonwealth secretary general before contesting it.
He said he told himself that if Johnson Smith was in the race, then “you have to have the thing lock down” instead of wasting taxpayers’ money.
The PNP leader maintained that the move by the government to place a candidate against Scotland was a “misguided mistake” and a “messy one,” adding “they have egg on their faces again.”
“…to tell you the truth it is an embarrassment,” Golding said, adding that the government’s foreign policy behavior side-lined traditional allies in CARICOM and Africa and injured Johnson Smith’s quest to garner enough votes.
Information Minister Robert Morgan says the government will publish details on the cost of Johnson Smith’s campaign.
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