Underdog takes on Scotland, Johnson Smith

With no public pledge of support ahead of the expected Commonwealth secretary general election this week in Kigali, Tuvalu’s candidate Sir Iakoba Italeli is banking on last-minute wooing to corral heads of government in the Rwandan capital.

Italeli is one of two people who have been campaigning for the position to lead the Commonwealth Secretariat, the intergovernmental organisation tasked with supporting the 54-member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith is the other candidate who is seeking to unseat Dominica-born Baroness Patricia Scotland, who has repeatedly stressed that there is no vacancy.

An election is likely to occur at the weeklong Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which begins today, only if leaders fail to reach a consensus on allowing Scotland to conclude her second term.

But Italeli, a former governor general of Tuvalu, is convinced that a vote will take place, noting in a Gleaner interview last Wednesday that there was never an agreement for Scotland to be given a second term.

Although it is customary for office holders to have two terms, Italeli said that there is need for change in leadership at the secretariat.

Scotland, who served an initial four-year term that ended in March 2020, had her tenure extended because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We have quite a number of people who have said that they will look into our request,” Italeli said of his campaign, which, he disclosed, is being funded by the Tuvaluan government, Taiwan, and local donors.

“We have a few support from our Pacific friends in the region, and we have also support from the Caribbean and the African blocs, but again, probably they will confirm that in Kigali. Quite a number have said that they will look into our request,” he added.

Italeli, who also served as attorney general for the small country located in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania and some 3,700km away from Australia, has avoided the Caribbean in his campaign for the position, opting to focus on London, where he has met with several high commissioners.

The 67-year-old attorney-at-law, who is hoping to put the 26km² nine-island archipelago of more than 11,000 people on the map, said that his message to the diplomats has been that he intends to bring years of experience, a strong work ethic, and firm support from the Pacific to the position if given the nod.

He said that while he maintains support for the Commonwealth Secretariat, its current direction is untenable.

Italeli told The Gleaner that the lack of funding support for the organisation has hurt its ability to assist small island states, including Tuvalu, through its programmes.

He said he would be better able to create a “functioning” secretariat by bringing member states together, examining common problems, and looking at feasible solutions.

“The current funding problems the Commonwealth Secretariat faces are indeed troubling,” he said, asserting that if elected, financial support would return to the organisation.

The United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand governments have withheld discretionary funding from the secretariat which, they insist, must reorganise its financial procedures.

Under Scotland’s leadership, the secretariat has been mired in controversy over alleged breaches of tender requirements and several instances in which procurement rules had been waived.

Scotland has denied any wrongdoing.

On Friday, The Telegraph reported that the allegations against Scotland were contrived and amounted to a vendetta being pursued by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The newspaper said external auditors also found that Scotland followed procedures correctly in relation to procurement rules.

The 66-year-old former Labour minister had her automatic re-election blocked after Johnson, leader of the Conservative Party, reported some opposition from a number of Commonwealth heads of government.

Johnson Smith, who said Jamaica announced her candidature after being approached by several countries to do so, has been labelled by backers of Scotland as a proxy candidate, a suggestion she has rejected.

Noting of interest that he, Scotland, and Johnson Smith were all lawyers with distinguished backgrounds in government and leadership, Italeli called the candidacy of both women “strong” and said their credentials were “obviously outstanding”.

“However, I have to assert that a Pacific small developing state has never held the position of Commonwealth secretary general while our Caribbean friends have been in office for quite some time ... ,” the Tuvaluan said.

“In the Pacific and Tuvalu, we have our own perspective on critical issues like climate change and our own consensus-based leadership style,” he added.