CARICOM Agrees to Send Sec. Gen. Reappointment Dispute to CCJ

CARICOM Heads of Government have agreed to ask the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to settle a monthslong dispute over the reappointment of Secretary-General Dr. Carla Natalie Barnett, following a formal objection from Trinidad and Tobago that questioned the legality of the process used to keep her in office.

The decision came out of the Conference’s Retreat held July 6 in St. Kitts and Nevis, according to a statement released July 7 by the Conference of Heads of Government. The Community said it would begin proceedings to secure the advisory opinion under Article 212 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, the treaty provision that gives the CCJ exclusive jurisdiction to interpret and apply the region’s founding legal document.

Until the court rules, the current arrangement stands. The Heads confirmed that Barnett’s status will not change “unless and until the Community considers the said Advisory Opinion from the CCJ,” according to the statement.

CARICOM was careful to frame the dispute as a legal and institutional matter, not a personal one. The Heads said the review does not question the integrity of any member state or individual, and pointed to it as part of a broader push, agreed at an earlier Conference in St. Kitts and Nevis, to strengthen the bloc’s governance.

Trinidad and Tobago’s objection traces back to a July 3 letter from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to fellow CARICOM leaders, including Belize’s Prime Minister John Briceño, laying out in detail why her government does not accept the process used to reappoint Barnett.

According to the letter, the matter never appeared as a distinct item on the official agenda for the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference held in February in St. Kitts and Nevis. Instead, Trinidad and Tobago says the reappointment was folded into a broader agenda item on financing and governance, and was only discussed at a closed “Heads Retreat” that excluded designated ministers, including Trinidad and Tobago’s own Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, Sean Sobers.

Persad-Bissessar’s letter argues that this breached Article 11(2) of the Revised Treaty, which gives every Head of Government the right to send a representative to any Conference meeting. It also contends that the decision skipped a required recommendation from the Community Council, was never confirmed in plenary as the Conference’s rules demand, and fell short of the unanimous or three-quarters majority vote required under Article 28 of the treaty, since only 10 of the bloc’s 15 members took part.

The letter further raises concerns about Secretary-General Barnett’s own involvement in arranging the logistics of the Retreat that decided her reappointment, and about the role of CARICOM’s General Counsel, arguing both should step back from any part of the process now that it is headed to the courts.

Trinidad and Tobago is proposing that if Barnett’s term ends before the CCJ rules, she continue on a month-to-month basis without that arrangement being read as validating the disputed process, and that the Deputy Secretary-General handle any decisions tied directly to the court case in the meantime.