PM stands firm on Caricom dispute: ‘Expel us if you want’
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says Caricom can expel Trinidad and Tobago from the regional body if it wishes to do so, but moving forward, this country will not recognize Dr Carla Barnett as Caricom Secretary-General after her tenure expires in Prime Minister was responding to questions from the Express yesterday, where she made it clear that T&T remains committed to Caricom and is not withdrawing, but it will not stay silent on what she said was the dysfunctional and chaotic state of the body and Barnett’s reappointment.“We have already made that clear. We do not recognise her after August 2026. This is our final position,” she added.
Trinidad and Tobago maintains that Barnett’s reappointment, which was decided on during the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in St Kitts and Nevis in February 2026 without T&T being present when the decision was made, was not formally placed on the agenda for plenary discussion during the conference, and this was in breach of the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.Last Friday, a virtual Regular Meeting of Caricom was held where Montserrat requested that the issue of the controversy surrounding the reappointment of Barnett be discussed.The Express understands that it was a tense meeting where ten leaders from the 15-member Caricom body were present.
Trinidad and Tobago’s representatives from the Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs raised objections, noting that the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Sean Sobers were not present because of the official visit of India’s Minister of External Affairs, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and parliamentary obligations.Asked yesterday whether she received any response to her questions about the Secretary-General authoring the Caricom press release or the text message sent to Sobers disinviting him from the retreat, Persad-Bissessar said she did not.“No, they are still hiding from providing responses. It’s really shameful that the entire group knows that Barnett did disinvite Minister Sobers via WhatsApp, but they still persist in continuing with dishonesty.