In late August, the term of the current secretary general of the 15-nation Caribbean Community, Dr. Carla Natalie Barnett, 68, would have come to an end and although leaders recently reappointed her to a second and final five-year term, it does not appear that she will survive a full second employment period.
Speculation about whether she might even work a day after August 26 is rife and growing because of a relentless campaign by Trinidad’s government to see the back of her due to a row, dating back nearly four years, between Barnett and Kamla Persad-Bissessar, prime minister of the Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) federation.
The escalating public row about her tenure and the process used to reappoint has become so divisive that at the weekend, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness called for an emergency meeting of leaders to look at the issue all over again.
The T&T PM is gunning for the Belizean economist turned regional chief executive largely because of what she has basically said was a hurtful diplomatic snub that Barnett had allegedly inflicted on her while she was the country’s opposition leader back in 2022.
The PM complained that she had written to Barnett because a Trinidadian national had allegedly been abducted from his hotel by local police while he was in neighboring Barbados during a joint operation with Barbadian officers. She said Barnett never had the decency to reply, but now that she is PM after winning general elections a year ago this month, the time to get rid of Barnett is now.
The vitriol emanating from Port of Spain against Barnett has been so loud and has become so embarrassing that it appears that the issue of her reappointment might well trigger a second emergency meeting of heads of governments as early as this week, after one held earlier in April.
“I think the solution really lies in assembling another heads meeting to have the matter addressed,” Holness told the local Guardian Media during a visit to New York over the weekend. “That’s something that I have been pushing for quietly behind the scenes. I think it is distressing for a lot of people within the region regarding what is being said in the public domain, but I know that all the heads are working behind the scenes to have this matter resolved.”
Trinidad is contending that the process to reappoint Barnett at the late February meeting of leaders was highly flawed and suspicious because the local delegation and at least two countries were excluded from attending a closed-door caucus in sister isle Nevis.
Leaders including Terrance Drew, prime minister of St. Kitts and the current regional chair have accused Foreign Minister Sean Sobers of not attending the session because of his fear of seasickness on the short boat ride to Nevis. Sobers had been the acting Trinidad delegation head to the meeting and would have been the one to attend after his PM had left the summit. He denies ever suggesting his fear of the sea but later admitted that he was simply joking.
As preparations proceed for the second emergency meeting in weeks, a leading regional diplomat is suggesting that it is better for Barnett to walk away rather than stick around and stoke division in the bloc. Sir Ronald Sanders, Antigua’s ambassador to the U.S., has argued that this will be the best solution to a contentious and divisive issue.
“If I were the secretary general of CARICOM, and I’m being quite serious here, and this had occurred, I would have resigned, and I would have resigned because I would have said I must not stand in the way of Caribbean integration and the movement forward,” he said on the state-owned ABS Television, apparently signaling the position of the government. “Why am I still there? Because it is clear that I will never enjoy her support and why, therefore, would I put myself in a situation in which I am now the cause of the rift? If I were Carla Barnett, I would resign now on principle because … Kamla Persad will not attend the meeting if Carla Barnett is at that meeting; neither will her foreign minister,” he noted.