Commonwealth governments are reportedly against the reappointment of Secretary General Patricia Scotland for a second term of office.

According to a BBC report, a significant number of the 54 heads of government rejected an attempt to have Scotland reappointed for another four years without undergoing a re-election.

Scotland’s existing contract expires on June 27, however, commonwealth governments have until June 22 to decide whether to extend her term by a year.

The BBC reported that in a letter dated June 8, the current chair-in-office, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, expressed hopes for the government heads to agree to temporarily extend Scotland’s contract until an expected meeting in 2023.

A decision surrounding Scotland’s future was anticipated to be made during the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) summit in Rwanda this month. However, the meeting was postponed due to COVID-19 and a new date remains uncertain.

This is not the first time Commonwealth heads of government have been opposed to the automatic reappointment of Scotland whose tenure has been fraught with allegations of corruption and cronyism at the London headquarters of the organisation — which she has denied.

In 2021, some member states had put forward a proposal, but the majority of the governments had rejected the motion.

Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith had been nominated to replace Baroness Patricia Scotland as head of the Commonwealth Secretariat this year, shocking Jamaicans and the Caribbean region.

However, Prime Minister Andrew Holness defended the Government’s decision, noting that his administration would not engage in any public sparring with those who opposed the move.

“If there are disagreements, concerns by our brothers and sisters in Caricom, Jamaica will not engage in any other means of addressing those other than through the established protocols of the meeting of heads. Jamaica will conduct a dignified campaign. Jamaica will not engage in some of what we have already seen emerging,” he insisted.

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Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne had categorised the move as a “monumental error”, and said that he hoped the matter would be resolved amicably.