New Delhi: India has laid its cards on the table on the forthcoming election to the post of the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, which has divided the Caribbean nations just ahead of the long-delayed head of states summit next month.
In a tweet, Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar said on Monday, May 9, that he had had a conversation with the Jamaican foreign minister Kamina J. Smith. “Was apprised of her candidature for Commonwealth Secretary-General. Her strong credentials and vision bode well for the future of the Commonwealth,” he posted on his official Twitter account.
Good to speak to FM @kaminajsmith of Jamaica.
AdvertisementDiscussed preparations for the historic visit of President of India to Jamaica.
Was apprised of her candidature for Commonwealth Secretary-General. Her strong credentials and vision bode well for the future of the Commonwealth.
Advertisement— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) May 9, 2022
While not an explicit endorsement, Jaishankar’s reference to Smith’s “strong credentials” is a definite signal that India would likely be backing her candidature against the incumbent, Baroness Patricia Scotland, standing for re-election.
Smith announced her candidature on April 21, just two months before the Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at Kigali in June. Besides the very short lead time, the declaration also came as a surprise as the Caribbean Community (Caricom) had already endorsed Scotland’s re-election bid in March.
What heightened the surprise, to some observers, was the fact that Jamaica had publicly mused about severing ties with Queen Elizabeth II and no longer recognising her as head of state.
The former Governor-General of Tuvalu Iakoba Italeli also announced that he would contest for the Commonwealth’s top executive post as it was “time for a Pacific Islander to guide the organisation”. However, his candidature has not gathered much momentum.
Monica Juma. Photo: Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 4.0
According to informed sources, India already planned to fully support Kenya against Scotland after Kenyan energy minister Monica Juma had thrown her hat into the ring last year. This February, Juma was also endorsed by the African Union, which has a substantial 19 member states in the 54-member Commonwealth.
But two weeks later, she quit the race, with the Kenyan foreign ministry claiming that it was due to “some member states of the Commonwealth are uncomfortable and/or unwilling to provide their support for our candidate”. While the Kenyan foreign ministry publicly claimed a lack of consensus as to the reason for the withdrawal, diplomatic sources felt that the actual motivation was domestic politics.
With Kenya falling by the wayside, it seemed that Scotland would be re-elected unopposed.
This was an unacceptable situation for several major countries, especially the three biggest funders of the Commonwealth, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, collectively known as ‘ABC’, who are strongly opposed to Scotland.
In 2020, both the UK and Australia pulled funding from the Commonwealth, after an investigation shed light on instances of mis-governance inside the Secretariat. That year, Scotland was also up for a second four-year term. However, the UK, ‘chair-in-government’ of the Commonwealth, announced that many countries were opposed to giving her automatic re-appointment, as had been the norm till now. Instead, there was going to be an election at the 2020 summit in Rwanda.
Commonwealth secretary-general Baroness Patricia Scotland. Photo: Reuters
But, Scotland got an additional two years in her term as the CHOGM summit could not be held for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Wire had reported in as early as 2016 that India had serious apprehensions about the allegations of financial irregularities dogging Scotland, as well as the general direction of the multilateral body in its development and political agenda.
She has also travelled at least twice to India, but both times, she did not get an audience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Her persona non grata status, however, did not trickle down to all ministries, which meant that the MEA had to send letters to other departments in the Indian government to stop engaging her, it is learnt.
Meanwhile, Caricom chair, Antigua and Barbuda prime minister Gaston Browne had issued a communique in March that the regional organisation would back Dominican-born Scotland.
However, within a month, Jamaica announced its intention to field Smith. The Antiguan prime minister accused Jamaica of committing a “monumental error” by violating the consensus of the regional group. “I think Jamaica’s proposed candidature for Commonwealth secretary-general is a monumental error, which could only serve to divide the Caribbean,” he said. He claimed that Scotland was being hounded away from the post.
Meanwhile, Maldives and Singapore have already announced support for Smith. Last Friday, May 6, the Jamaican foreign minister also began a multi-city campaign stop in African countries to shore support for her candidature.
As Minister @kaminajsmith continues her campaign in a bid to become SG of the Commonwealth, she is
currently in Africa, where she’ll be engaging with Heads of State & FM of Commonwealth countries. Let us take a look back at when she visited Nigeria earlier this year. #KJSforCSG pic.twitter.com/0AQOThKUo4— Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade GOJ (@mfaftja) May 8, 2022
Amidst her country hopping, she spoke with the external affairs minister of India, the most populous nation in the Commonwealth.
“I welcomed his compliment that my qualifications and vision bode well for the grouping,” she tweeted.
Sources said that the external affairs minister’s tweet was a definite positive sign that India was leaning towards the Jamaican candidate but added that an endorsement was not made explicit as the race was still unclear.
