In­ter­na­tion­al re­la­tions ex­pert Mwale Hen­ry is cau­tion­ing the Gov­ern­ment against es­ca­lat­ing ten­sions with­in the Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty (Cari­com), even as he ac­knowl­edges that con­cerns raised over the re­cent reap­point­ment of Dr Car­la Bar­nett are le­git­i­mate.

Hen­ry was speak­ing on CNC3’s The Morn­ing Brew pro­gramme yes­ter­day, fol­low­ing the Gov­ern­ment’s push for a spe­cial meet­ing of Cari­com Heads of Gov­ern­ment to chal­lenge Bar­nett’s reap­point­ment and the rev­e­la­tion that Trinidad and To­ba­go was al­leged­ly “dis­in­vit­ed” from the vot­ing process.

On Mon­day, Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar de­clared she would “ruth­less­ly” pur­sue the mat­ter, while For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Sean Sobers con­firmed this coun­try will for­mal­ly re­quest a meet­ing of Cari­com’s Com­mu­ni­ty Coun­cil.