The candidates for the post of Commonwealth Secretary General include Baroness Scotland who was born in Dominica of an Antiguan father and a Dominican mother in August 1955 and who left that country when she was two years old.

She has lived and worked in England and has had a very distinguished career. Baroness Scotland of Asthal, PC, QC, is a barrister who has served in many ministerial positions within the British Government, most notably as the attorney general of England and Wales. She has vast experience in international affairs at the highest diplomatic levels.

Baroness Scotland is, in our view, the best qualified candidate, given the withdrawal of Sir Roland Sanders and the lack of international stature and pertinent diplomatic experience of Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie, the 70-year-old minister of planning of Trinidad and Tobago.

Detractors claim that Baroness Scotland is not Dominican because she left there when she was two years old and that she is not Antiguan in spite of her father, but that she is really British. On this basis, some are saying she should not be supported by the Caribbean countries, whose turn it is to have the secretary general post. All of this raises two issues.

First, if she is even a British candidate, what is wrong with that? After all, she is not only the better candidate but is the only one to date (other candidates may appear) with pertinent qualifications and experience. Furthermore, Britain is largest financial contributor to the Commonwealth Secretariat and her assumption of the post may forestall a reduction in that contribution and stir more British attention to the declining institution.

The more troubling issue is the question of the nationality of Baroness Scotland. Should she be classified in only one of her multiple nationalities: British, Dominican and Antiguan or be allowed the coexistence of all three nationalities? In today’s world many people have dual citizenship and multiple nationalities, based on place of birth, residence and country or countries of origin of one parent or both parents. Multiple citizenship and nationality is an increasingly common phenomenon throughout the world.

Mr Lynford Christie left Jamaica at five and ran for England; Mr Donavon Bailey left Jamaica at 13 and ran for Canada; Ms Sanya Richards-Ross was born in Jamaica and ran for the USA. We claim all of them as Jamaicans and they acknowledge their Jamaican heritage.

Where would the Reggae Boyz be without players who were born here but grew up in England, and players born and grown in England with one Jamaican parent? In the 1998 World Cup campaign, Jamaicans were happy to accept Messrs Deon Burton, Paul Hall, Fitzroy Simpson and Robbie Earle, all of whom were born and bred in England.

Who, therefore, is Dominican and who can represent the Caribbean? It did not seem to be an issue when the West Indies cricket team needed Mr Brendan Nash, whose father is Jamaican and who was born and grew up in Australia and never lived in the Caribbean until he decided to offer himself for selection to the Jamaica cricket team.

The questioning of nationality in this campaign is disingenuous, and should it succeed, would amount to a triumph of insularity and xenophobia over an evaluation based on the qualifications and experience of the candidates.