Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Commonwealth rift in Caribbean as re-election of Lady Scotland challenged

Commonwealth rift in Caribbean as re-election of Lady Scotland challenged

Jamaican minister’s entry to race for secretary general called ‘monumental error’ by Antigua
Patricia Scotland’s hopes of being re-elected Commonwealth secretary general are under threat, after Jamaica’s foreign minister, Kamina Johnson-Smith, announced that she was challenging Scotland for the post.

The decision has sparked controversy in the Caribbean, which had previously met to back Scotland’s bid for a second term. The Antiguan prime minister, Gaston Browne, has described Jamaica’s decision to break ranks as a “monumental error”.

“Jamaica was party to a recent Caribbean Community (Caricom) consensus endorsing the re-election of Baroness Scotland,” he said.

“I think Jamaica’s proposed candidature for Commonwealth secretary general is a monumental error, which could only serve to divide the Caribbean.”

He said the Dominican-born Scotland was being hounded out of office by a group that “have now skilfully engineered a plan to divide Caricom and to stain the performance of the region”.

He said that Jamaica’s tactics might only serve “as a gateway for a non-Caricom secretary general to succeed”.

In a bid to heal the rift, it has now been agreed that a Caricom sub-group will interview the two candidates in a bid to reach a consensus, according to St Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister, Ralph Gonsalves. The sub-group consists of the Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Jamaica.

It has been the convention that a secretary general is not contested if he or she seeks a second four-year term.

The 15-member Caricom had given overwhelming support for Scotland when they met in Belize in March, but that phrasing may have disguised the objections of a minority. Either way, the Jamaican decision on 1 April to announce Johnson-Smith’s candidacy caught most observers by surprise.

One former Jamaican foreign minister, Delano Franklyn, noted his country’s surprise move came after the visit to Jamaica by Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, and that visit may have been used as a backchannel to lobby the Jamaican government.

He said: “As chairman of the Commonwealth, prime minister Boris Johnson is doing everything to ensure that he has a secretary general of the Commonwealth who will fall in line with the thinking of British conservative politics.”

The UK, however, insists it is staying neutral, but supporters of Scotland believe Foreign Office officials have been manoeuvring for years to remove her on the basis it believed she has awarded contracts improperly and proved a poor administrator.

A previous potential challenger, Monica Juma, the Kenyan energy minister and a former diplomat, had announced in August 2021 that she was to stand against Scotland, received Britain’s endorsement and started campaigning. However, she then mysteriously pulled out, leaving Scotland’s opponents without a challenger.

Juma had been endorsed for the top job by President Uhuru Kenyatta last year, who called her “an exemplar of what we in the Commonwealth hold”. The 19 African members of the Commonwealth had only recently, through the African Union, endorsed Juma’s bid, but she clearly could not gain traction in the Caribbean.

In a brochure she released in September, Juma said she wanted to change the perception of the Commonwealth as an organisation of the past. It appears Juma was not receiving sufficient support across the 54-member Commonwealth and it was agreed that she stand down to find a candidate more likely to defeat Scotland.

The Commonwealth summit is supposed to reach a decision by consensus and the royal family will not want an unedifying row at what may be one of the Queen’s last summits. Judging by her recent public appearances, she is unlikely to attend in person.

Jamaica’s decision to put up a candidate has its ironies since the country had previously hinted that it was considering quitting the Commonwealth or removing the Queen as head of state. However, its prime minister, Andrew Holness, in announcing Johnson-Smith’s candidacy, praised her qualifications for the post of secretary general, including her high moral character, diplomatic and political acumen, proven competence and commitment to the work of the Commonwealth.

“She will bring a wealth of experience to the position and is committed to international public service,” he said.

Johnson-Smith, foreign minister since 2020 and a former barrister, said on Twitter: “It would be an absolute privilege to serve this great family of nations.”

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda was due in Jamaica this week, where the post of secretary general is bound to be discussed. The delayed Commonwealth heads of government meeting was initially due to be held in 2020, but that has twice been postponed due to Covid, meaning Scotland’s term has already been extended.

Scotland, a former Labour frontbench politician and member of the House of Lords, has been dogged by stories in the UK accusing her of a misuse of funds, including an internal auditor’s report that suggested normal procedures had not been followed in the award of a management consultancy contract to a fellow Labour peer. She has always denied any wrongdoing.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×