Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Wednesday expressed disappointment that “not a single member” of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) foreign ministers has defended Foreign Affairs Minister Sean Sobers in the controversy surrounding the reappointment of Dr Carla Barnett as CARICOM Secretary-General.
In a statement posted on her Facebook page, Persad-Bissessar said: “CARICOM cannot continue to hide a corrupt backroom operation that rots the organization to the detriment of Caribbean people.”
She said that on April 11, the day after CARICOM leaders met virtually to discuss the issue — a meeting she did not attend — the regional body posted a statement on Facebook from Prime Minister Dr Terrance Drew, the current CARICOM chairman, “seeking to dismiss the issues raised by Trinidad and Tobago regarding the surreptitious, corrupted and flawed reappointment of GS Carla Barnett.”
“Nowhere in the statement crafted by GS Barnett did she address the WhatsApp message sent on the COFCOR (Council for Foreign and Community Relations) WhatsApp group (of which she is a member …) to ALL CARICOM Foreign Ministers at 8:55 am (seen at 8:56 am by Minister Sobers) on Thursday 26th February 2026, the morning of the Retreat,” Persad-Bissessar said.
She added that the message can still be found in the COFCOR WhatsApp group.
“Nowhere did GS Barnett also address that the TT CARICOM director confirmed the contents of the said message with the Chef de Cabinet Janice Miller.
“Yet to date, not a single member of the CARICOM Secretariat or CARICOM Foreign Minister who is a participant of that WhatsApp group show the decency, honesty or courage to acknowledge that Minister Sobers is being truthful. Instead they have all contributed to the dishonesty and malignment by their deliberate and disgraceful silence to smearing the reputation of Minister Sean Sobers.”
Persad-Bissessar also criticised the leadership of the regional body, describing it as “dysfunctional, dishonest and incompetent.”
“This is what happens when instead of appointing competent technocrats to run the organization, friends, party hacks, relatives of politicians and affiliates of regional sister parties are dumped into managerial positions to maintain the old boys club order,” she said.
She added that CARICOM’s ideals of integration, integrity and inclusion “are just a smoke screen masking a backroom operation to maintain the decades old business elite status quo and dominance of ‘sister’ political parties with the region.”
“Far from being an inclusive body, CARICOM’s operations are frequently hijacked to promote and assist aligned sister political parties to remain in office while excluding those that are unaligned or historically not part of the entrenched political class,” she added.
Persad-Bissessar, who was not present at the CARICOM retreat in St Kitts and Nevis in February where Barnett’s reappointment was decided, said she continues “to await the documentation that I have requested in my letter to the chairman.”
“Surely there must be timestamped minutes, performance appraisals etc. Even village councils and sports clubs document their meetings far less an organization over half a century old,” she said.
She also reaffirmed Trinidad and Tobago’s commitment to the regional body.
“Trinidad and Tobago has invested billions of dollars over the past 52 years into CARICOM and will not be exiting the organisation. We helped build this organization and will be a part of fixing it to benefit ALL the people of CARICOM,” she said.
Persad-Bissessar said the country’s future remains tied to the regional grouping.
“The economic, security, integration and development future of Trinidad and Tobago will not be compromised because of backroom machinations within CARICOM.
“This is not a game, the future of my citizens lives and livelihoods are directly connected to CARICOM.”
She warned that the matter will continue to be pursued publicly.
“Therefore this matter will continue to be ruthlessly and relentlessly publicly escalated and prosecuted until persons are held accountable for their odious actions and proper reforms are made to the organization to ensure fairness, accountability, effective management and non interference in the domestic politics of CARICOM members.”
Persad-Bissessar ended her statement by repeating remarks she made last December, saying “CARICOM cannot continue to operate in this dysfunctional and self-destructive manner as it is a grave disservice to the people of the Caribbean.
“The Caribbean community must face the rot within the organisation with transparency and honesty. Hiding behind the glibness of diplomacy, fake sophistication and false narratives is self-defeating.”
caribbeannationalweekly.com
