Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Keith Rowley has announced his support for Jamaica’s Kamina Johnson Smith for the post of Commonwealth secretary general.
Johnson Smith is challenging Dominica-born Baroness Patricia Scotland for the Commonwealth’s top job. The incumbent Scotland is the second secretary general from the Caribbean and the first woman to hold the post.
Rowley indicated his intention to vote for Johnson Smith during a recent press briefing.
“In the wider CARICOM, the situation arrived at is one where we now have two CARICOM candidates and, unfortunately, Trinidad and Tobago only has one vote, so we are required now to support either/or of these two candidates,” he said.
“It is Trinidad and Tobago’s position that we remain consistent and, therefore, our support for one of the CARICOM candidates will be support for Minister Kamina Johnson Smith, the foreign minister of Jamaica, who is representing one of the CARICOM possibilities going forward,” he added.
The Prime Minister said although she was born in the Caribbean, she was raised in the United Kingdom and served that country for all her professional life. Rowley said his preferred candidate is someone that completely represents the interests of CARICOM.
“It was our turn to be afforded the chairmanship, but when that came about in the Malta meeting, CARICOM supported an individual who, while being Caribbean by birth – having spent two years here – in fact, had lived all her useful life in the United Kingdom; had risen to the level of attorney general of the United Kingdom and had, in fact, become a Baroness in the British parliament,” he said.
“It was always the position of Trinidad and Tobago that such a person was not really a representative of CARICOM to represent us when it was our turn to lead,” Rowley added.
Trinidad and Tobago is now the fifth Commonwealth nation to throw its support behind Johnson Smith. The United Kingdom, India, Singapore, and The Maldives have also endorsed her for the position.
Johnson Smith’s candidacy has, however, caused some contention within CARICOM.
Following the announcement of her nomination, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne, criticized the move, describing it as a “monumental error”. He cautioned that the decision to “break the CARICOM consensus” and present Kamina Johnson Smith as a candidate, “will only serve to divide CARICOM”.
The election of the Commonwealth Secretary General will take place during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting June 20-25 in Kigali, Rwanda.
