POLITICS: Commonwealth Divided Over its Next Secretary-General

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 7 1999 (IPS) - The 54-member Commonwealth of Nations – consisting of Britain and most of its ex-colonies – remains divided over who will be its next next Secretary-General.

The two candidates vying for the job are Don Mckinnon, the foreign minister of New Zealand, and Farooq Sobhan, State Minister of Bangladesh and former chairman of the Group of 77 developing countries.

Of the 54 members, 50 are from the developing world, and four from the developed world, namely Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

All four developed countries are backing Mckinnon while the 50 developing nations are split between the two candidates.

The successful candidate will be voted into office early next month. “It will be a very close fight,” predicts Sobhan, who says there has never been an Asian Secretary-General, although Asia accounts for two-thirds of the population of the Commonwealth.

Of the 50 developing countries in the Commonwealth, the largest number is from Africa (19), followed by the Caribbean (12), Pacific (9), Asia (8), plus Malta and Cyprus.

In terms of population, however, Asia dominates the Commonwealth, since it includes two of the world’s most populous nations – India and Bangladesh.

This is only the second time in the history of the Commonwealth that the Secretary-General’s post is being contested. At the last elections held in early 1990, the current incumbent, Chief Emeka Anyaoku of Nigeria beat former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.

The closed-door elections are scheduled for Nov. 12 during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Durban, South Africa. The Commonwealth Secretary-General is the only international institutional head who is personally voted into office by heads of governments.

At all UN elections, for example, the ballots are cast mostly by ambassadors acting on the instructions of their governments. But heads of state or heads of government don’t cast their votes in UN elections.

Since its creation in 1949 to replace the British Commonwealth of Nations set up in 1931, the present Commonwealth has been headed by Sir Arnold Smith of Canada, Sir Sridath “Sonny” Ramphal of Guyana, and Chief Anyaoku of Nigeria. The London-based Secretariat was established in 1965.

Sobhan points out that the Commonwealth Secretariat – which has an annual budget of about 16 million dollars compared with a 1.3 billion UN budget – has long been dominated by the four Western nations to the exclusion of developing countries.

Two of the three posts of Deputy Secretaries-General (DSG) are traditionally occupied by Britain and Canada.

The current DSG for Development is Nick Hare of Canada while the DSG for Economic Affairs is Dame Veronica Sutherland of Britain. The third DSG is the only one from a developing nation: Kris Srinivasan of India, who is in charge of Political Affairs.

Additionally, says Sobhan, a British national recently was appointed Director of the Commonwealth Foundation, to succeed Humayun Khan of Pakistan.

“It is important to maintain a balance between developed and developing nations,” argues Sobhan, “This is the key to encouraging a sense of belonging and a sense of proportion among developing countries.”

One Asian envoy – whose country is backing Mckinnon – says however that the Commonwealth for a long time has been “one big happy family”and that Sobhan’s candidature has “created a divisive element and split the Commonwealth.”

Moreover, he points out, the current Secretary-General is from a developing nation, as was his predecessor.

“Perhaps it is time for a change,” he argues, “After all the major contributions to developing nations come from the four Western nations.”

Last month, after a prolonged deadlock, Mike Moore, a former Prime Minister of New Zealand was elected to head the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva. If Mckinnon wins, he will be the second New Zealander to hold a high-profile international job.

“Mckinnon is without question a person of outstanding qualities,” admits Sobhan, but he adds that, since New Zealand already has the WTO job, it would be unfair for a New Zealander to be head of the Commonwealth.

Traditionally, the post of Secretary-General is for a five- year term and renewable at the end of each term. But at the Commonwealth Summit in Cyprus in 1993, it was decided to limit the Secretary-General’s job to two four-year terms beginning 2000.

“The Commonwealth is now the cat’s paw of the four Western nations,” says Sobhan, “If you want to promote good governance and democracy, you should not be eroding the credibility of the Organisation.”

Good governance and democracy is on the national agenda of every developing country, he says,

“But how can you preach democratic principles to us when you don’t apply the same principles to international organisations where the majority of nations are from the developing world?”