PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says the country will not recognise Dr Carla Barnett as the Caribbean Community (Caricom) secretary general (SG) after August, when her first five-year term ends, even as regional countries maintained that she had been reappointed to the position for another five years.

“Trinidad and Tobago only recognises Barnett as SG until the end of her term this August 2026. All Caricom leaders could do as they please, but Trinidad and Tobago will not recognise her as SG for a next term. That’s not going to change,” Persad-Bissessar told the Trinidad Express newspaper.

“We have already made that clear. We do not recognise her after August 2026. This is our final position,” she added.