COMMONWEALTH Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, currently in Guyana on a three-day official visit, would undoubtedly learn more about this country’s firm commitment to supporting policies and programmes of the 53-member nation organisation as he prepares to complete his two-term engagement as Head of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.

Although the visit is to bid formal farewell, Mr. Sharma could well expect to learn of divergent views on the coming Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference in Malta as well as Guyana’s continuing support for Sir Ronald Sanders’ candidature as a new Secretary General at the coming November summit in Malta.
Guyanese by birth and a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda, Sir Ronald has long distinguished himself as a professional practitioner of, and advocate for, the Region’s media development and programmes. He is also recognised regionally and internationally in the field of diplomacy, largely during the years he served in London as Antigua and Barbuda’s High Commissioner.
His candidature competes with those of the Dominica-born former Attorney General of Britain, Baroness Scotland; Botswana’s former Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba; and Trinidad and Tobago’s well known academic and current Minister of Planning and Development, Dr. Bhoendradatt Tewarie.
However, so far as the Caribbean Community Governments are concerned, Sanders’ candidature has enjoyed overwhelming support from last year when the contest started in this Region with Baroness Scotland’s nomination by the Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit.
Sanders had secured a dozen of the votes cast at a meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government in comparison to two that went to Baroness Scotland. Subsequently, at a Cuba/CARICOM Conference in Havana, support was reaffirmed for Sir Ronald Sanders but by then he had announced his withdrawal from the contest without first alerting the regional leaders.
He was subsequently reassured of overwhelming CARICOM support which included that of the previous Guyana Government.
CARICOM Foreign Ministers are expected to informally discuss this issue before it reaches the official agenda. We should know the outcome this coming weekend, if not earlier.