7 hours ago
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Senior Political Reporter
Caricom leaders had a five-hour discussion last Friday regarding T&T’s concerns on the reappointment Caricom Secretary General Dr Carla Barnett, but leaders did not agree to redo their February process and decision on Barnett’s appointment.
And there was no vote on the issue. There was no T&T ministerial presence at the meeting. However, Government officials said the United National Congress (UNC) administration maintains its ground against the reappointment.
Government officials last Saturday confirmed that Caricom leaders discussed the reappointment issue last Friday, as part of Caricom’s regular virtual meeting that day.
Confirming there was no prime ministerial or ministerial representation of T&T, they pointed out that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Sean Sobers were in Parliament from 1.30 pm last Friday and also hosted visiting India External Affairs Minister, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
T&T was represented at Caricom’s meeting by a Foreign and Caricom Affairs Ministry team, including Caricom Ambassador Ralph Maraj.
Sobers and Maraj didn’t reply to WhatsApped queries on the meeting yesterday.
The issue of Barnett’s reappointment has lingered since Caricom’s February conference in St Kitts and Nevis. At the leaders’ retreat, they agreed on Barnett’s reappointment for a second five-year term. Her first term ends in August.
T&T’s Persad-Bissessar had attended the conference’s opening but left before the Nevis retreat. She later slammed the reappointment process as being ultra vires Caricom’s Revised Treaty, querying aspects. Sobers meanwhile took issue with being “disinvited” to the Nevis retreat. Persad-Bissessar hasn’t attended Caricom meetings since the issue arose.
Regional leaders held a virtual meeting on April 10th to which Caricom chairman Terrence Drew invited Persad-Bissessar. Deeming public statements “unfortunate,” Drew gave a detailed timeline of communication to member states on items for February’s conference, including the retreat – and that all states, including T&T, acknowledged it. Drew said Sobers declined the Nevis retreat, fearing seasickness.
Persad-Bissessar didn’t attend the meeting. Caricom’s subsequent statement noted T&T’s absence, cited communication to all member states on the conference matters and clarified the Sobers’ issue.
Persad-Bissessar, however, raised further concerns, including seeking documentation itemised in Sobers’ April 9th letter on the issue. Maraj said T&T wouldn’t attend Caricom meetings until the PM received this and won’t recognise Barnett after her term expires in August.
Guyana, Barnett’s home state, Belize, and Dominica are among the territories supporting her reappointment. Supporting T&T’s concerns, calls for another meeting or redoing the process were Antigua’s Ambassador to the US, Sir Ronald Sanders, Nevis Premier Mark Brantley, former St Kitts’ PM Timothy Harris and former Caricom assistant SG Joseph Cox. Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness said he’d also been pushing for a meeting to discuss the issue again.
10 leaders participate
After last Friday’s meeting, officials confirmed that Montserrat had asked for the reappointment issue to be put on the meeting’s agenda and Caricom chairman Drew did so.
The lengthy discussion involved 10 leaders from the 15-member body: Grenada, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts, St Lucia and St Vincent, it was confirmed.
T&T, minus a ministerial presence, was represented by Foreign and Caricom Affairs Ministry officials, but not Maraj. He was part of the T&T delegation to the regular meeting. But in the leadership talks on the Barnett impasse, he was not involved..
One country attempted to find a “face saving” avenue for T&T, it’s understood. But there was no agreement to redo the reappointment process and the original decision, which sources said was “properly taken,” as all except T&T acknowledge.
Documents circulated to inform discussion included a detailed note of meetings held on the appointment of secretary general officials since Carifta days and during Caricom’s existence up to 2021. It showed that reappointment was never on Caricom agendas and performance appraisals (PA) were not listed – contradicting Persad-Bissessar’s claim that the reappointment was ultra vires the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas because it wasn’t on Caricom’s agenda and PAs were needed. Sources said since all present except T&T didn’t agree to redo the appointment, Barnett’s expected to assume her second term from August.
Drew didn’t reply to text and calls yesterday.
Yesterday, Government sources said the PM’s held a principled approach on the issue, plus maintained that T&T wouldn’t leave Caricom. They couldn’t say if T&T would take the matter to the Caribbean Court of Justice, as is being speculated.
Drew didn’t reply to text and calls yesterday. Last Wednesday, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit told media that Barnett continued holding Dominica’s support.
Yesterday, Government sources said the PM’s held a principled approach on the issue, plus maintained that T&T wouldn’t leave Caricom. They couldn’t say if T&T would take the matter to the Caribbean Court of Justice, as is being speculated.
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