Edwin Carrington’s announcement last week that he will declare an end to his innings as Caricom’s longest serving Secretary General is, as we suggested in Wednesday’s editorial (‘Changing of the guard at Caricom’), not altogether surprising. After 18 years of faithful and distinguished service, the physical and psychological toll of managing a broadened remit with diminishing returns in real terms must surely have begun to wear him down. Indeed, as regional frustration has mounted at the slow pace of implementation – stagnation, some would say – of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), at the seeming lack of political leadership and vision at the highest levels and at the need for a new governance system to advance the economic integration process, some fearsome bouncers have been bowled at Mr Carrington. A lesser man might have tucked his bat under his arm and surrendered his wicket a long time ago.
It matters not whether the Secretary General was pushed or not. Caricom is in need of reinvigorated leadership, both at the political level and at the Caricom Secretariat, which surely must be ripe for retooling. And if national electoral cycles do not always throw up the most felicitous grouping of leaders wedded to the regional vision, Mr Carrington has at least offered his political masters a golden opportunity to strengthen the Secretariat and by extension the regional governance architecture, with a view to accelerating the pace of integration and enhancing the region’s viability.
Already there is no shortage of comment and speculation in the regional media regarding the process to select the next Secretary General. It has been suggested that a special meeting of seven Caricom heads, on governance, scheduled for August 17 in Grenada, will, of necessity, focus on the succession issue. Various leaders, including Bruce Golding of Jamaica, Baldwin Spencer of Antigua, Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and Tilman Thomas of Grenada, have weighed in with encouraging utterances about finding the most qualified candidate. But it is early days and there is as yet no official indication as to what the criteria would be and much scepticism about the politics of the process.
The Jamaica Observer, not usually shy about putting forward strident views on Caricom and the Secretariat, attempted to offer some guidance in a recent editorial (‘Job description for a new Caricom Secretary General,’ August 8). Unfortunately, the piece was couched in negativity and sought to restrict the field of candidates to favour “a genuine leader with proven political acumen and experience and… stature which commands respect – ideally, a former minister or prime minister,” concluding that “the new SG must be a non-Jamaican in his or her prime (under 55 years old) who has a track record of leadership, management skills and political savvy. Under no circumstances should the new SG be a former diplomat, bureaucrat in an international organisation, academic (generally out of touch with reality) and current member of staff of the Caricom Secretariat.”
Perhaps the Jamaica Observer already has a candidate in mind, though one would be hard pressed to think of a former minister or prime minister with all of the above attributes including being under 55. Such an approach may be less than helpful but the chance for public debate should be welcomed. Frankly, heads have to be disabused of the notion that only their peers can speak to them and, at this stage, no one should be ruled out, regardless of current position or nationality. There is, however, an unwritten convention that Guyana, as the Secretariat’s host country, ought not to field a candidate and there may be an understandable reluctance to opt for another national of Trinidad and Tobago.
Even as we made the case on Wednesday for the ideal Secretary General to possess a certain diplomatic resilience, strength of purpose and an ability to navigate the corridors of power, we acknowledge that leadership (sometimes so difficult to define), management skills and political acumen are essential. By the same token, so are intellectual depth, energy of body and mind, and the ability to think strategically, as well as laterally or ‘out of the box,’ as they say. The region needs someone who can speak truth to power without causing offence, and someone with a proven track record of getting things done efficiently and with a minimum of fuss. Age considerations are admittedly important but should not be to the exclusion of other critical criteria.
The heads of government should therefore cast their net as far and wide as possible, within the region and in the diaspora, to seek candidates from all sectors, including academia, civil society and the private sector. And the search process should be transparent, with clearly defined criteria to allow for the selection of the best person for the job.
In addition to short-listing three candidates for an audience with heads, as we have proposed, the candidates should be afforded the opportunity to interact with the regional public, something that should not be beyond the scope of modern communications technology. And each should come armed with an action plan for at least the first six months of his or her stewardship, with benchmarks for achieving a restructuring of the Secretariat and for getting Caricom back on track to achieving the primary goals of the CSME and new structures for enhanced governance.
The region’s chief public servant should have the trust and respect of the people as well as that of the heads. Anything less and the next Secretary General will be batting on a very sticky wicket indeed.
