Stunning - but where are the Heads?
17 Nov 2009
The Commonwealth summit got off to a visually stunning start today (see left) which has not hidden the gaps in the ranks of Heads of Government present. Whether from embarrassment or not, neither the Commonwealth Secretariat nor the host government had figures to hand out five hours after the curtain had come down on the Opening Ceremony.
Canny counting as the delegations were announced on stage, revealed there were as few as 32 Heads of Government - though there were whispers that a couple of 'latecomers' would be jetting in later in the day. This has to be one of the lowest numbers on record.
Worse, of 19 African member countries, only 7 had Heads of Government leading their delegations. Host Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago used his opening speech to make a joke of 'threatening' the Tanzanian President with 'dire consequences' if he did not turn up, but it was clear that many Heads of Government stayed away.
This might be down to straitened economic circumstances, considering the times, but the summit billed as crucial for a grouping struggling out of a recession year and meeting on the eve of the a critical climate change global summit in Copenhagen, seems to have been sadly overlooked. Yet no less than the UN Secretary-General, French President and Danish Prime Minister are here to 'dialogue' with Heads today and urge on them the need for the world to come together on this issue.
For the three of them to turn up here shows the urgency of the situation.
The Heads present (in no particular order): Pakistan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Grenada, Belize, Australia, Britain, Tonga, Jamaica, Barbados, Cyprus, Maldives, Ghana, South Africa, Vanuatu. India, Bangladesh, Swaziland, Mauritius, Samoa, St Kitts and Nevis, Papua New Guinea, The Bahamas, Guyana, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Kenya. Antigua and Barbuda, Singapore, Tanzania, Canada, Uganda, and Trinidad and Tobago.
This list will be updated.