JAMAICA’S nominee for the post of Commonwealth secretary general Kamina Johnson Smith is determined to get the country’s name in the international headlines by being elected to lead the group of 54 member states.

During an exclusive interview with the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday, Johnson Smith noted that no Jamaican has ever been elected to lead an organisation as high as the Commonwealth Secretariat, and declared her confidence in shattering that proverbial ceiling.

According to Johnson Smith, if a Jamaican is elected to head the Commonwealth Secretariat it would bring visibility to the country while underscoring the role that Jamaica has always played on the international scene.

“But we have not led an international organisation. We have served as deputy secretary general, assistant secretary general, we have been part of the machinery that has taken things forward but this would be a first for Jamaica and it would be in our 60th year of Independence — which is a great landmark for many accomplishments,” said Johnson Smith, who is Jamaica’s foreign affairs and foreign trade minister.

“The Commonwealth is also very important in terms of the comparative advantage that it has in several areas — parliamentary reform, electoral reform, anti-corruption efforts — although we are well down the path in that regard. But they have a strong Commonwealth Youth Programme, which is an area on which I intend to focus if I am successful,” added Johnson Smith.

She noted that next year is the 50th anniversary of the Commonwealth Youth Programme, which has afforded higher education to many scholars across the group of countries, including people in Jamaica.

“There is a huge youth dividend in the Commonwealth that is there to be harnessed if we have the right programmes, if we have the right energy, if we have the right connectivity that I believe my leadership can bring,” declared Johnson Smith who is also the Leader of Government Business in the Senate.

Johnson Smith said her desire to serve was ignited by her late father, Ambassador Anthony Johnson, who was a minister of Government, Member of Parliament, and later a diplomat.

“The most fundamental element that ran through daddy’s blood was service, and he taught us, ‘If you are asked to serve, you serve, and you must always serve Jamaica because she has given us everything so we must give her everything.’ So I view this new path as another type of service to Jamaica. It is a Jamaica candidature and it is an opportunity for Jamaica to play a role within a body of which we have been a member for so very many years that has shared values, shared principles, that has an institutional strength on which we can build,” said Johnson Smith.

She told the Observer that if elected Commonwealth secretary general, it would be a wonderful way to continue the path her father had already trod.