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COMMONWEALTH: Heads Missing at Government Heads Meet

Sanjay Suri

VALLETTA, Malta, Nov 26 2005 (IPS) - The heads of some of the biggest countries in the Commonwealth have failed to turn up for the Commonwealth heads of government meet under way here.

The Commonwealth claims a population of 1.8 billion among its 53 member countries. Less than a fifth of its people are represented by their heads of government.

The member countries with a population of at least 20 million whose heads of government are attending the summit include Britain, Australia, Ghana, Malaysia, South Africa, Uganda, Mozambique and Nigeria. That makes only nine of the 53 countries, with a total population of less than 350 million.

The countries whose heads of government did not turn up include India, by far the largest country in the Commonwealth with a population of 1.1 billion. Other large countries whose heads gave Malta a miss are Bangladesh, Canada, Sri Lanka and Kenya.

The case of Pakistan is dubious. Its parliament head, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has been listed as head of government, though clearly it is General Pervaiz Musharraf who calls the shots in his capacity as president.

The broad trend for participation has been that the smaller the country, the more likely its leader will attend. So the Commonwealth has drawn for example the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda which has a population of 68,000, and the governor-general of Tuvalu which has a population of 11,000, or the prime minister of St. Kitts and Nevis with a population of 39,000.

Before several countries like this that are members of the Commonwealth, host country Malta with a population of 400,000 appears as a quite large country.

The common strand that has tied all these countries into the Commonwealth is that they include Britain and countries that were once a part of the British Empire. It used to be called the British Commonwealth, but ‘British’ was dropped from the name later to reduce suggestions of a colonial hangover.

The Commonwealth remains, however, a grouping with considerable backing from Britain, largely following the desire of the Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, who is passionate about the Commonwealth.

”But over the years we are seeing less and less interest in these Chogms (Commonwealth heads of government meetings),” a senior official with a government delegation told IPS. ”Frankly, I don’t know why we are here.”

”Even the British government is not really interested, and it shows,” he added. ”The (British) government is doing this to keep their queen happy.”

Heads of government meetings, held every two years, used to draw a great deal more participation from the top leadership of member countries than they do now. The meeting of heads has also been cut this year from the customary five days to three days; most visiting heads had refused to stay the five-day course anyway.

The Commonwealth is being described by several officials as a platform where bilateral meetings can take place. At a sunny resort on a picturesque island, meetings like this could yield to the most significant outcome, with the Commonwealth only an incidental facilitator for such meetings.

Some of the more significant of these meetings have taken place between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and between President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and the leaders of other African countries. Museveni has launched a move to unite East African countries, and that makes the Commonwealth summit a good place to talk to the other leaders.

Zambian President Patrick Mwanawasa has come accompanied by his wife and an entourage of 34. But he is bucking the trend; fewer leaders now turn up, and with fewer officials. They have had a hard time explaining in recent years what they came back from a Commonwealth summit with.