News Source Guyana Reports : Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General Dr. Carla Barnett this morning declined to address the growing controversy surrounding her reappointment, walking away without comment when approached by the media at a public event.
The controversy stems from Dr. Barnett’s reappointment in February during the 50th Regular Meeting of the CARICOM Conference of Heads of Government in St. Kitts and Nevis. Since then, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has strongly contested the process, claiming her country was locked out of the decision-making, and has dubbed the reappointment as “surreptitious, corrupted and flawed,” while describing the CARICOM Secretariat under its current leadership as “dysfunctional, dishonest and incompetent.”
CARICOM Chairman and St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew has pushed back against those claims, maintaining that established protocols were followed. He explained that Persad-Bissessar departed St. Kitts and Nevis on the first day of the conference, ahead of the retreat during which the reappointment decision was taken under Article 24 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. An invitation was extended to Trinidad and Tobago’s Foreign Minister Sean Sobers to attend in her absence, but was effectively declined. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago, however, has countered that Sobers was told the retreat was restricted to Heads of Government only and was therefore blocked from participating.
Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali has backed the reappointment, stating that the proper process was followed. The Prime Minister of Jamaica has also floated the idea of convening a CARICOM meeting to discuss the matter.
Despite the regional pressure, Persad-Bissessar has made clear that while Trinidad and Tobago remains committed to CARICOM, her government will not recognise Dr. Barnett as Secretary General once her first term officially ends in August.
