Dear Editor,

The recent defeat of Kamina Johnson Smith for the job of commonwealth secretary general comes amidst allegations that she was being used as a pawn in a ploy by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who was recently cited by the London Metropolitan Police for breaking the law during the COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK.

Boris Johnson, a conservative, has been accused of wanting to remove Baroness Patricia Scotland, a Labour peer, who also happens to be a black woman, and apparently supported Jamaica’s Foreign Minister Johnson Smith in his bid to so do.

Scotland, however, retained her position with a 27-24 majority during the Friday session of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, this month.

Indeed, there was mudslinging, with allegations being made that Baroness Scotland was involved in nepotism and dereliction of duty.

For Johnson Smith’s part, if she had won, she would have garnered a job that pays over £150,000 per year plus a mansion as part of her salary package. What I want to know is if Jamaican taxpayers money was involved in her campaign?

Indeed, he concession message via Twitter suggests that she would love nothing better than to leave Jamaica for, as she putit: “As I said to many of you — if I didn’t pull through, God wasn’t ready for me to leave Jamaica yet!”

The recent debacle involving Jamaican students being stranded in Ukraine during a war that was predicted months before and the AJ Nicholson e-mail issue eroded my confidence in Johnson Smith as an effective leader.

It also seems to me that Prime Minister Andrew Holness was willing to go down this ‘soddy’ road with Johnson Smith, and having lost, is now claiming that this was an above-board campaign and candidature, which begs the question: Why does he have to keep defending this decision?

All of the above suggests that our Government could very well still be a pawn of the British despite the prime minister telling The Queen’s grandson, during his recent visit, that Jamaica is moving on.

As usual, we see the public Jekyl and private Hyde face from our leadership.

Mark Trought

www.schoolmanagerhub.com