The Tribune

“AS the Foreign Minister of this country, I was bound to support who I thought would have provided for the best interests of The Bahamas. That in my view was Baroness Scotland. She in my view has the ability to increase the complement of Bahamian and Caribbean persons at the Commonwealth in London and to ensure that the ABCs – Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand — re-engage.”

This was a part of the report presented to the House of Assembly on December 9 last year by Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta on November 27. It was at that meeting that Baroness Scotland became the first British citizen in the Commonwealth’s 66-year history to be voted its secretary general.

The wording of Mr Mitchell’s statement was rather interesting. We thought this should have been the decision of Mr Christie as prime minister of The Bahamas, but apparently, according to Mr Mitchell, it was Mr Mitchell who had made the decision for The Bahamas. Does it now become a question of who accompanied whom to the meeting — was it Mr Mitchell who accompanied the Prime Minister, or was it Prime Minister Christie who accompanied Mr Mitchell? We would have thought that from a heads of government meeting it was the Prime Minister’s duty to report back to the nation.

However, what is of even greater interest is Mr Mitchell’s statement that “given the eminent background of Baroness Scotland,” he had pledged his personal support “some two years ago and indicated” that he would do his best to “convince the Prime Minister and the government” to support her. However, he made it clear to the House that the final decision was not his, but that of the government, which had agreed to “seek a consensus candidate.” The consensus was to be made in Malta, not in The Bahamas, he said.

It is true a consensus opinion had to be determined by the Caribbean if it wanted to take its turn to win the Commonwealth Secretary General’s position. Commonwealth members could not be seen to be fighting among themselves as to who would represent them. If they did they would open the way for Africa and Australia to step in with a candidate of their own and snatch the prize from the Caribbean.

We wonder if Mr Christie was fully aware that The Bahamas had agreed that its final decision would be made on arrival in Malta. Also, was he aware that for two years Mr Mitchell had been campaigning for the Baroness? If so, why would he have pledged his support to Sir Ronald Sanders when the two met in Nassau only 16 days before the Malta meeting?

On the morning of November 11, our chief reporter interviewed Mr Mitchell when he assured her that “the Bahamas government has reserved its position until the meeting (in Malta) at which point the prime minister will seek to establish whether there can be a Caribbean consensus before the vote takes place”.

By then two contenders had already dropped from the race, their governments supporting Sir Ronald Sanders, Antigua and Barbuda’s candidate. The remaining candidate was Baroness Scotland, Dominica’s choice. From the beginning, her position was controversial with the majority of Commonwealth members questioning her authenticity as truly Caribbean. Although born in Dominica, at two years old her parents had taken her to England, where she grew up, was educated, married and became a part of the British government. However, this was Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit’s candidate and he was not going to withdraw her, nor was she going to step down, as did Sir Ronald much earlier in the contest for the sake of Commonwealth unity.

The following day – November 12 – The Tribune learned that the final decision would no longer wait for arrival in Malta. We were told that Sir Ronald Sanders, who had made a fleeting visit to Nassau, had met with Prime Minister Christie who had “assured him of The Bahamas’ support”. The Tribune published that report.

However, the very next day, a denial came from Bahamas Information Services.

It said: “The Cabinet of The Bahamas decided that the position of The Bahamas to the matter is reserved until the conference takes place in Malta on 27th November with a view to striking a Caricom consensus on a single candidate. No decision was taken with regard to support for any specific candidate.

“That position has been communicated to all candidates who have asked for this country’s support.”

The Tribune refused to publish this government release because we were satisfied that our report the previous day that Mr Christie had personally assured Sir Ronald of The Bahamas’ support was correct.

However, the same information released by the Ministry of Information to the local press was e-mailed to Antigua and Barbuda’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Charles “Max” Fernandez by no other than Mr Mitchell himself.

The campaigning continued in Malta where suddenly a “monkey wrench” was thrown into the mix, false information was spread about Sir Ronald — from which there will probably be legal repercussions — and the whole scene shifted. To save the position for the Commonwealth, Sir Ronald was ditched and the Baroness was in.

However, a few weeks later, Sir Ronald was appointed Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS). His first assignment was to head a special mission to Haiti, requested by the outgoing president Michel Martelly, during the turbulent transfer of power to an elected successor.

The mission was so successful that OAS Secretary General Luis Amagro commended Sir Ronald. Wrote Secretary General Amagro:

“Dear Ambassador,

“We are very proud of your work and your commitment with the OAS and its principles and values. It was great that you could stay till the aimed goals were achieved. You have written (with others) a fine page for the OAS, maybe it’s also one of your finest hours. You know that fighting for democracy in the continent it is not an easy task but you proved to be the right person for the mission. You also proved to have extraordinary diplomatic skills to make instructions and goals adapt to a difficult situation. As you saw I felt the need to push and strengthen a couple of goals that we considered extremely relevant to make them clear during the mission.”

At the invitation of Prime Minister Skerrit, Countess Scotland also had a mission. She returned to Dominica to attend the dedication of a primary school in her honour. In the course of her address, speaking in English and French creole, she told Skerrit’s detractors that they could go and “suck salt.” In English the expression means “go to hell.” Opposition leader Lennox Linton not only took exception to her ungracious remark, but wrote her a letter of protest, pointing out that her statement violated the Commonwealth Charter signed by Queen Elizabeth II. His letter was copied to HM the Queen, the Commonwealth secretary general, the Commonwealth heads of government and the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.

Does Mr Mitchell still believe that he backed the best candidate in this important commonwealth race? And can he explain in what way he thinks she can represent the best interests of The Bahamas?

However, she has now announced her first mission in her new post — she has promised to spend the next two years persuading the Commonwealth’s 40-member states to decriminalise homosexuality.