(Barbados Nation) The much anticipated announcement of a new Secretary General of the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is to be made this week.
This follows a series of interviews in Barbados over the weekend to finalize the issue by the Bureau of CARICOM Heads of Government, hosted by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart and also involving his regional counterparts Tillman Thomas of Grenada (outgoing CARICOM Chairman), Dr Denzil Douglas of St Kitts and Nevis (current Chairman) and Desi Bouterse of Suriname (incoming Chairman).
The five candidates are former Deputy Secretary General Carla Barnett of Belize, Irwin LaRocque of Dominica, Bernadine Lewis of Trinidad and Tobago, Ellsworth John of St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Henry MacDonald of Suriname.
They are seeking to fill the shoes of 72-year-old Edwin Carrington, whose departure from the Georgetown-based Secretariat last December after 18 years at the helm occurred without the naming of a successor. This only served to fuel concerns that the regional integration movement was stagnating.
