Former diplomat endorses Jamaican for Commonwealth post

Former Barbadian diplomat Guy Hewitt has called on Commonwealth Heads to throw their support behind Jamaica Foreign Minister Senator Kamina Johnson-Smith’s candidacy to be the next Commonwealth Secretary-General.

The other candidate is the Dominica-born British diplomat and incumbent, Baroness Patricia Scotland.

Hewitt was speaking at a May 27 symposium organised by the Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London on the topic, Is the Commonwealth Working? Barbados joined the Commonwealth on attaining independence in 1966.

Hewitt, a former High Commissioner for Barbados to the United Kingdom, worked with four Commonwealth Secretaries-General, first on staff as a social policy adviser and thereafter as a member of the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth of Nations Secretariat.

The Commonwealth of Nations is a unique grouping of 54 developed and developing nations, which comprise 30 per cent of the world’s population spread across a quarter of the world’s land mass on every continent. Composed of permanent members of the UN Security Council, a quarter of the G20, and with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of about 15 per cent of global GDP, it has been a highly influential network of countries.

In his presentation, Hewitt noted that “It is with dismay that I have been forced to reconcile myself to the reality that on the watch of the first female Secretary-General, someone I like personally and who shares West Indian roots, the fundamental values that underpin the Commonwealth have been further trampled upon.”

He underscored the imperative that the Commonwealth Secretary-General “discharges the duties and functions of this high office with vision, efficiency, responsibility, and integrity.”

Speaking on the Jamaica Gleaner-hosted Twitter Spaces discussion on the election of the Secretary-General last Thursday, Hewitt, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, responded to criticisms that Jamaica was splitting CARICOM and seeming to act in bad faith by fielding a candidate.

Hewitt made the point that in most democratic and transparent electoral processes it is usual for there to be more than one candidate. He also noted that secretaries-general were routinely challenged when seeking the post or a second term.

He reminded the online listenership that at the 2016 Commonwealth summit in Malta there were two CARICOM candidates vying for the post when Patricia Scotland eventually prevailed. The other was Antiguan diplomat Sir Ron Sanders. He opined that just as Antigua & Barbuda eventually withdrew its candidate in the interest of consensus, he thought it possible, given the winds of change, that this may happen yet again.

Jamaica has already received crucial support for their candidature from the UK, India, Singapore, Trinidad & Tobago, and Belize, the current chair of CARICOM. Australia is expected to support Jamaica’s bid given that they sided with the UK in withdrawing funding for the Commonwealth Secretariat over concerns about the current leadership.

In 2018, Hewitt was recognised for his use of ‘guerrilla diplomacy’ in his role as high commissioner to encourage the UK government to meet with CARICOM heads to address the Windrush Scandal, which particularly adversely affected Jamaican and Barbadian-born long-term residents in the UK. He advised that when CARICOM sought her [Scotland] support to address the Windrush Scandal in the lead-up to the Commonwealth summit in London, nothing meaningful happened.

“I saw it as a case of no one being able to serve two masters. I think the Secretary-General may have been torn between her Caribbean roots and UK allegiance.”

The current Secretary-General is still a member of the British House of Lords.

At the symposium the former Bajan diplomatic emphasised this “should not be a situation of change for change’s sake.” He called on Commonwealth Heads to create “an enabling environment to ensure that the Commonwealth, coordinated through the Secretary-General, is able to meet and realise the aspirations and expectations of its members.” (WG)