CARICOM nationals short-listed for ACP post

Three candidates from Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica have been short-listed for the post of secretary of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) grouping.

Sources say Guyana’s Brussels-based ambassador to the ACP, Dr. PI Gomes, Jamaica’s Patricia Francis, the former executive director of the International Trade Center (ITC) and Dr. Hamid Ghany, a political scientist and senior lecturer at the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) have shortlisted for the post.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Haiti and Suriname had also named candidates for the top ACP post.

Guyana’s Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett is quoted as saying she is “happy that the process has advanced for selecting the Secretary General of the ACP.”

Suriname’s candidate Rabin Pramessar was also quoted as saying that the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) should have preferred just one candidate named for the post.

“It is time for the Caribbean region to show their teeth. It is our term to appoint a SG for the ACP, and we have been opposed to the idea to name three candidates for the ACP ministerial council to vote on, instead of just presenting one candidate,” he said.

Caribbean leaders are yet to publicly confirm the names of the shortlisted candidates, keeping the matter as a very closely guarded secret.

CARICOM deadline was Sept. 10, 2014 to present three final candidates for the position. CARICOM Secretary General Irwin La Rocque speaking at the end of the summit of regional leaders in Antigua in July noted that a process was being led by the ACP with regards to the selection of a candidate.