Dear Editor,

I firmly believe that the highly respected and soundly run Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is heading into serious leadership trouble. What I’ve heard is very troubling.

I am a very seasoned banker who has worked across our region. I know a thing or two about banking in the region. I’ve tried to get information directly from CDB but they have not been forthcoming at all, so please publish this letter as I have a few questions to ask.

Is it true that with the generous helping hand from our Prime Minister Keith Rowley and other regional prime ministers, the newly appointed CDB chairman, Prime Minister Mia Mottley from Barbados, has instructed that the bank appoint their advisor, a self-declared British national, as the new president of CDB? Wouldn’t this selection and appointment stink of blatant nepotism and cronyism and taint Barbados? Can a chairman select the president of CDB from his/her pool of advisers?

Isn’t that advisor more qualified than any other Caribbean professional? Does he have a record of successful projects in the Caribbean?

Why has Rowley failed to nominate any experienced banker, economist, or academic from Trinidad and Tobago? Trinidad and Tobago has majority stocks and votes in the bank.

Will our Caribbean leaders find the good sense and fortitude to avoid the stench of cronyism and do the right thing to keep the Caribbean in the leadership of the CDB and to maintain its development focus? We deserve to know.

Concerned resident

Trinidad & Tobago