How many Barbadians are cued to the fact Trinidad, or should we say Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has vehemently opposed the reappointment of Secretary General of CARICOM Carla Bennett?
As the story goes: the reappointment of CARICOM Secretary General Dr. Carla Barnett stems from a dispute over whether the February 2026 decision to extend her term followed the rules of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTOC). At that meeting of the Heads of Government of CARICOM (HOGs) in St. Kitts and Nevis in 2022, the HOGs announced that Barnett had been unanimously reappointed. A few months later, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad‑Bissessar publicly rejected the legitimacy of that decision, arguing that the process was procedurally flawed. She claimed that the required formal vote never occurred, that key ministers were excluded, and that decisions were circulated informally rather than through established treaty mechanisms.
Fast forward to the just concluded 51st HOGs held in St. Lucia where the dispute of Bennett’s appointment was addressed. St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Philip Pierre, who is the current rotating Chairman of CARICOM updated that the issue will be deflected to the Caribbean Court of Appeal (CCJ) to secure an advisory opinion. Pierre’s view is that CARICOM’s credibility required clarity on whether the reappointment complied with the RTOC.
It is an open secret that Persad-Bissessar has an ongoing concern with Bennet going back to 2022. At that time she claimed Bennett failed to respond to a diplomatic concern about a Trinidad national raised by Trinidad. Although Persad- Bissessar did not mention details about the national, it is know that there continues to be tension related to the ‘abduction’ of a Trinidadian businessman in Barbados with the support of the Barbados Police Force (BPF). Some speculate if this is why former Attorney General Dale Marshall had to demit office prematurely, a request from Trinidad made in a smoked filled backroom..
It is embarrassing that a few islands making up CARICOM would have to refer a simple matter of a routine reappointment of the Secretary General to the CCJ. These are HOGs charged by regional citizens to manage complex affairs of states, When the HOGs can become so publicly divided over a basic procedural matter, it suggests there is an institutional fault line. How are CARICOM citizens expected to be confident to deal with Haiti’s failed state concerns, food and energy insecurity, equitably sharing regional resources, regional crime that has been declared a public health crisis and always there is the mother of all challenges, external geopolitical issues.
The ongoing dispute erodes trust, reinforcing public perception that CARICOM is slow, divided, distracted and INCOMPETENT. That it is an institution mired in insularity and small mindedness. Most critically, it highlights that if routine governance tasks become contentious, then future decisions risk a similar ending, threatening CARICOM’s capacity to act collectively on threats to the region when cohesion would be most needed.
The blogmaster has always opined that our small islands, now more than ever, need to commit to a framework that promotes practical cooperation. However, as we have seen with the abduction of Maduro and the meek reaction by CARICOM HOGs, we have a long way to go to represent a One Caribbean policy on the issues.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.