Fight to oust head of Commonwealth

A diplomatic battle to oust Patricia Scotland as head of the Commonwealth is under way with a ‘stalking horse’ candidate for an unprecedented election campaign.

Commonwealth secretary-general Patricia Scotland with Prince Harry. Picture: Getty Images

A diplomatic battle to oust Patricia Scotland as head of the Commonwealth is under way with a “stalking horse” candidate for an unprecedented election campaign.

The British Labour peer’s reign as secretary-general has been marred by allegations of corruption and cronyism at the London headquarters of the 54-nation organisation. She denies the claims.

Downing Street has headed a campaign to ensure the former attorney-general is the first holder of the post not to serve a second term automatically.

Kenya has announced it is putting forward a rival: the country’s Defence Secretary, Monica Juma, 56, weeks after she was in London to sign a defence deal. Friends of Baroness Scotland, 66, claim the announcement is part of a “dark arts” diplomatic deal with Kenya that will start a feud in the Commonwealth.

They claim Juma is a “stalking horse” who has no chance of winning but who, it is hoped, will lead to more viable candidates standing for election.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta announced on Monday that the Oxford-educated Ms Juma would challenge Baroness Scotland at the Commonwealth heads of government conference, expected to be held in Rwanda next year.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the present “chair-in-office” of the Commonwealth, wrote to fellow leaders last year saying that a “significant and diverse number” of heads of government had opposed Baroness Scotland being reappointed for another four years without re-election. Her term was extended because of Covid-19.

Commonwealth sources questioned why Kenya had publicly announced its candidate before the heads of government conference had voted on whether Baroness Scotland should be automatically reappointed. Baroness Scotland’s supporters say Mr Kenyatta had assured Caribbean leaders this year that Kenya would not challenge her remaining in the post.

Baroness Scotland’s leadership has been embroiled by controversy. The Commonwealth’s audit committee accused her of “circumventing” competitive tendering rules by awarding a £250,000 ($468,000) commission to a company owned by a fellow Labour peer, Kamlesh Patel. Scotland’s lawyers said the decision to award the contract was fully justified and complied with procurement procedures at the time.

Two secretariat staff members have won employment tribunals after allegations about the peer’s conduct. In 2016 it was revealed that £338,000 had been spent refurbishing her grace-and-favour apartment in Mayfair, central London, most of which, she has said, was agreed by her predecessor.

Supporters have claimed that the opposition is an attempt to prevent the re-election of the first black woman head of the organisation. The Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Secretariat declined to comment.

The Times