In November 2015 the Commonwealth will have to choose a new Secretary General. The position, once occupied by high-profile globally known figures, has in recent years lost much of its lustre because the organisation has become less central as its office holders have failed to rise to the vital international role the body could play. It seems too that the organisation has lost its moral compass, and as a consequence its importance, and with it, its relevance to many heads of government, as evidenced by their declining attendance at biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM).
In this context, for some, the Commonwealth reach-ed a low point in 2013 when, despite widespread protests, the present Secretary General decided to proceed with holding CHOGM in Sri Lanka despite extensive Com-monwealth and international criticism of that country’s human rights record against its minority Tamil population.
There is now the opportunity for the Common-wealth to change direction and for the Caribbean, if it is so minded, to play a central role in that process. That is if the region is able to come together behind one