CARICOM needs to “clean up its act.”
That assessment comes from Political Scientist Professor Hamid Ghany, ahead of CARICOM’s upcoming Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in St Lucia later this month.
He says the regional body must address longstanding inefficiencies and strengthen its response to key issues if it is to remain relevant and effectively serve its member states.
Pointing to the February reappointment of Dr Carla Barnett to a second five-year term as CARICOM Secretary-General, Professor Ghany described the vote as problematic.
He referenced a 48-page constitutional opinion by UWI law professor Rajendra Ramlogan, which concludes that there may be strong legal grounds to challenge the validity of the reappointment before the Caribbean Court of Justice.
“The governance issues, how the organisation governs itself, is something that, I think, the whole Carla Barnett episode has forced CARICOM to look at itself and how it governs itself. And you know, do you do something as prominent as reappointing a Secretary General without some kind of formal agenda item and a confession that the matter was never on the agenda but you still went ahead and had a little meeting in Nevis, and you reappointed a Secretary General.”
T&T’s delegation was absent for the vote at the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in St Kitts and Nevis in February, leaving the country unrepresented during a key decision.
Professor Ghany questioned CARICOM’s level of engagement.
“Is that the way that we, as Caribbean people, want our premier regional organisation, CARICOM, to conduct its affairs? I mean, the Organization of American States, United Nations, NATO, none of these large organisations, the European Union, whatever, whichever organisation you want to take, they do not appoint their premier leadership in this kind of off-handed manner and behind closed doors.”
He maintained that CARICOM must adopt a more professional and transparent approach to governance.
“I think it’s murky. It’s not a good look and it doesn’t augur well if that’s how we are going to run our governance affairs in CARICOM. We need to operate in a very professional, upfront and straightforward manner, not in the manner in which this was done back in February. And February really was a very awkward situation, and it created a lot, a lot of disenchantment on all sides. And I think that CARICOM needs to clean up its act where that is concerned at this meeting.”
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar SC has since indicated that Trinidad and Tobago will not recognise Dr Barnett as Secretary-General after August 2026.