As Caricom leaders meet, row over CEO’s appointment simmers
While Caribbean Community leaders are meeting in St. Lucia to discuss a number of issues, the row over a February decision to reappoint Carla Barnett as chief executive for the regional secretariat continues to simmer, with Trinidad threatening court action to reverse a second term.
Both Barnett and Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar are in St. Lucia for this week’s summit, but Trinidad is maintaining that she be fired based on an alleged misstep that Barnet had made when Persad Bisssessar was in opposition several years ago. The prime minister returned to office after a decade on the backbench by winning general elections in April of last year.
She had complained to anyone who would listen that she had written to Barnett about a Trinidadian national being abducted by Barbados and had received no reply from Barnett in 2022. Since then, the prime minister appears to have had Barnett in her political cross hairs because of the diplomatic snub and has used her reappointment at a February leaders meeting in St. Kitts to challenge her reappointment because there had allegedly not been a full quorum of country representatives at that’s session.
As some leaders dispute the prime minister’s version of events, Persad Bisssessar says Trinidad and Tobago now wants the issue to be decided on by the Trinidad-based umbrella Caribbean Court of Justice even though Trinidad has not signed on to the court as a member. Countries like Jamaica say court action would be a waste of time. Jamaica will not be one of the 15 member states rooting for Barnett’s departure, stated Prime Minister Andrew Holness in a missive to colleagues. Barnett’s tenure ends in late August.
“I reaffirm, at the outset, that Jamaica is not by this letter seeking to overturn the decision taken in February 2026 to reappoint Dr. Barnett as secretary general of CARICOM. However, I remain concerned that the approach taken has neither resolved the matter nor promoted the spirit and goals of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas,” Holness said. “It has become clear that we were not all on the same page. Therefore, it is important that any concerns be addressed in a meaningful manner to restore cohesion, if not unity, which is indispensable to the effective functioning of CARICOM.”
For its part, Trinidad is insisting that the procedures for Barnett’s appointment were irregular and must be challenged for cohesion.
“Our concern is not directed towards any individual,” Persad Bisssessar wrote in the letter, which was also penned to colleagues. “It is neither personal nor political. Rather, it concerns the legality of the process adopted, the integrity of our institutions, and the faithful observance of the constitutional framework established by the treaty. The government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago does not accept the process by which the secretary-general was purportedly reappointed, and consequently, is unable to recognize the validity of the purported second term of the secretary-general.”
From all appearances, Persad Bissessar stands alone with few, if any, of her colleagues showing public support for her position as they argue that the issue threatens to divide the community and to send the wrong message to regional citizens.
