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CARIB | Apr 2, 2022

Battle lines drawn? Gaston Browne leading questions against Johnson Smith’s Commonwealth candidacy

Gavin Riley

Gavin Riley / Our Today

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Prime Minister Gaston Browne during his tenure as CARICOM chairman in August 2021. (Photo: caricom.org)

Hours after the Jamaican Government announced its nomination of Senator Kamina Johnson Smith for a claim as the next Commonwealth Secretary-General, Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne is eyeing the apparent ‘power play’ and questioning why the country has seemingly reneged on its commitment to support the re-election of Baroness Patricia Scotland.

Browne, speaking on Saturday (April 2) in a report published by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), called Johnson Smith’s candidacy a divisive, “monumental error”.

“Jamaica was party to a recent Caribbean Community (CARICOM) consensus endorsing the re-election of Baroness (Patricia) Scotland,” Browne told CMC.

“I think Jamaica’s proposed candidature for Commonwealth Secretary-General, is a monumental error, which could only serve to divide the Caribbean,” he added.

The consensus Browne, immediate past chairman of the regional bloc, referred to was agreed on during the 33rd Inter-Sessional Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government in Belize earlier in March.

There, under the leadership of current CARICOM chair and Prime Minister of Belize, John Briceño, a communiqué stated that, “Heads of Government expressed their overwhelming support for the re-election of Baroness Patricia Scotland as Secretary-General of The Commonwealth.”

Johnson Smith also served as Jamaica’s in-person representative at the Belize CARICOM summit, while Prime Minister Andrew Holness attended virtually.

(Photo: CARICOM.org)

There was no prior indication from the CARICOM communiqué that Jamaica had objected to Scotland’s re-election, thereby confirming the Holness administration had agreed to the regional accord.

Scotland, 66, a Dominican diplomat, is the second-ever Caribbean national and the first woman to be appointed Commonwealth Secretary-General—a position she has held since 2016.

Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland. (Photo: flickr.com/comsec)

With Jamaica’s endorsement of Johnson Smith, however, the two will undoubtedly face off in June when the 2022 staging of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) gets under way in Kigali, Rwanda.

The ‘power play’ by Jamaica also coincides with the impending visit of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) confirmed would be making his first visit to the island next week.

After Africa, CARICOM nations boast the second-largest regional pool of votes at the CHOGM.

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