PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s absence from this week’s 28th annual Caricom Heads of Government meeting in Barbados has been attributed to her participation in the general election campaigning.

Minister of Information and Development Donald Buchanan told yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing that she had been requested by her People’s National Party’s (PNP) national campaign committee, as well as its candidates, to stay home and continue her cross-the-island motorcades.

“The prime minister did not attend the Caricom Heads of Government meeting in Barbados this week, on account of the fact that there is urgent national issues that require her attention,” Buchanan added.

“Secondly, the political atmosphere in the country, at this time, is one that requires her personal attention and, if I might add a third, there was a specific request from the national campaign organisation, and the candidates of the PNP on the ground, for her to continue her road programme throughout the constituencies across Jamaica,” said Buchanan.

Buchanan said, too, that Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Anthony Hylton “took his own decision to remain at home, in the face of certain political challenges that he will face in the near future”.

He said that the Jamaican delegation at the meeting is being led by ambassador Peter Black, who is the representative to Caricom countries in the Eastern Caribbean.

Simpson Miller is among two of the 15 Caricom heads who are absent from the conference, the most important annual meeting of the regional leaders. Jamaica and the Bahamas are being represented by their ambassadors.