Invalid, breach of process

THE reappointment of Caricom Secretary-General Dr Carla Barnett may be legally invalid because the process used to renew her term breached key provisions of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, according to an independent legal opinion by Trinidad and Tobago academic Prof Rajendra Ramlogan.

The opinion, released this week, argued that the decision to grant Barnett a second five-year term was “constitutionally defective and potentially void” because it was taken during a closed-door retreat of regional leaders in Nevis that lacked the authority to exercise the conference’s appointment powers.

Ramlogan, a professor of commercial and environmental law at The University of the West Indies (The UWI), St Augustine, stressed that his opinion was not directed at Barnett personally.