Four months after the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) ignored Trinidad and Tobago’s strident call to revoke the reappointment of Secretary-General Dr Carla Barnett, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar left no stone unturned and covered every angle of the issue as she argued for the matter to be resolved by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

In a rigorously detailed 22-page submission, which was circulated among her CARICOM counterparts today, the first working day of the 51st Summit at Gros Islet in St Lucia, Persad-Bissessar also proposed extending Barnett’s contract on a month-to-month basis until a formal ruling is issued.

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“The framers of the Revised Treaty wisely recognised that disagreements concerning the interpretation of our constitutional instruments should be resolved by law, rather than by competing political interpretations,” she wrote.

“Therefore, resorting to the CCJ is not an act of confrontation. It is an affirmation of the very constitutional architecture that Member States created to safeguard the integrity of the Community,” she added.

“Regional integration depends upon trust, predictability, fidelity to agreed legal principles, and the rule of law,” the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister said in her formal submission, in which she called on the Conference of the CARICOM Heads to agree for the matter to be referred to the CCJ for determination in “the shortest possible time.”

While she declared her letter was not confrontational, Persad-Bissessar did not compromise on her strong objections to the reappointment of Barnett, citing legal non-compliance with the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.

The standoff, which began in February, escalated to the point where Trinidad and Tobago threatened to withhold its 22 percent financial contribution to the CARICOM budget.

In what amounted to a legal memorandum to regional leaders, Persad-Bissessar insisted that she “does not accept the process by which the Secretary General was purportedly reappointed and, consequently, is unable to recognise the validity of the purported second term of the Secretary General.”

“I wish to be very clear: our position is not held to create division within the Community, but to preserve the constitutional order upon which the legitimacy and credibility of CARICOM ultimately depend,” she asserted.

Barnett’s appointment for a new term was announced by former CARICOM Chairman Dr Terrance Drew following the 50th CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting in February.

Drew said she was reappointed by a “required majority” during a leaders’ summit, which was not attended by Trinidad and Tobago because the Prime Minister of the twin-island state was already back in her country, and Foreign Affairs Minister Sean Sobers subsequently claimed he was “disinvited.”

Lest she be misunderstood, the T&T PM declared the objections are neither political nor personal but attend to “the legality of the process adopted, the integrity of our institutions and the faithful observance of the constitutional framework established by the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.”

She carefully recounted the train of events which unfolded between January 16 and June 9 in four pages (pp. 3–6).

The core issue, she contends, is “whether the gathering described as a ‘Heads Retreat’ held on 26th February 2026 on the island of Nevis constituted a meeting of the Conference having the power to appoint or reappoint a Secretary-General,” the T&T PM stated.

And she answered the question: “Article 24 of the Revised Treaty expressly gives the power to appoint and reappoint the Secretary General to the Conference, not to a Retreat, caucus or informal gathering of Heads of Government. While a Retreat may lawfully facilitate confidential discussion, it cannot replace the constitutional institution designated by the Revised Treaty to exercise the power of appointment.”

Even worse, Persad-Bissessar noted Barnett’s role in organising the retreat, which she also attended, saying, “the Secretary-General’s conflict of interest by her said participation in the administration of the reappointment process is inconsistent with the principles of institutional impartiality, procedural fairness and good administration that govern appointments to the highest offices of the Community.”

The extensive letter points to the other core legal issues being: absence of an express agenda item, failure to engage the Community Council, exclusion of designated representatives, flawed voting procedure, lack of unanimity, failure of plenary approval, ending with an explanation of how the “subsequent conduct of the Conference demonstrates that no binding consensus existed.”

An Urgent Hearing Needed

The Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister suggested that the matter should be referred to the CCJ for an expedited advisory opinion pursuant to Article 212 of the treaty.

“The framers of the Revised Treaty wisely recognised that disagreements concerning the interpretation of our constitutional instruments should be resolved by law, rather than by competing political interpretations.

“Given the constitutional significance of the issues and their implications for the governance of the Community, the Court should be requested to hear and determine the reference on an urgent basis,” Persad-Bissessar told her peers.

“An advisory opinion from the CCJ pursuant to Article 212 of the Revised Treaty would provide an authoritative and impartial interpretation of the relevant Treaty provisions, preserve institutional continuity, and furnish the certainty and legitimacy necessary for the Community to move forward together, with confidence and mutual respect,” she declared.

“Regional unity cannot rest upon expediency and irregular practices masquerading as precedent. It must rest upon adherence to the rules which every Member State has freely accepted and undertaken to uphold,” she declared.

“Experience teaches that institutions are preserved not by political convenience, but by steadfast adherence to constitutional principle. Governments change, oppositions change, and office holders come and go. What must endure is the commitment to legality that gives public institutions their legitimacy.

“If adherence to the rule of law is sacrificed for political expediency, the damage extends beyond any single administration or political party. It weakens public confidence, diminishes regional institutions, and ultimately undermines the interests of all the peoples of the Caribbean,” Persad-Bissessar warned.

Postscript (FYI): Dr Carla Natalie Barnett, a native of Belize, is the first woman to hold the post of Secretary-General of CARICOM, having been appointed on August 15, 2021, by the unanimous decision of CARICOM leaders. Her reappointment in February, six months before her contract expired, was declared a majority decision.