The number of nominees for the post of Secretary General of the 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom) on Tuesday grew to five, with Suriname’s announcement that that its Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Henry Mac Donald would be joining the race.

Mac Donald,40, is a human rights lawyer.

Secretary General, Sir Edwin Carrington leaves the job on December 31 after an 18-year stint but it is unclear how soon his replacement would be named.

A Caricom official told demerarawaves.com that the nominees are being submitted to Barbados’ Foreign Minister, Maxine Mc Lean who is heading a search-committee. 

Other sources also told demerarawaves.com that the deadline and criteria for selecting and appointing the new Secretary General are not widely known.

Other nominees are Caricom’s Assistant Secretary General for Regional Trade and Economic Integration, Irwin La Rocque of Dominica; former Caricom Deputy Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett of Belize, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Ambassador to Caricom, Elsworth John, and Ambassador Edwin Laurent, a former diplomatic representative of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Trinidad and Tobago is unlikely to field a nominee because Sir Edwin is a national of that twin-island nation.

With three nationals coming from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) being nominees, it is unclear whether the seven full members would vote collectively for one candidate from the sub-region and lobby non-OECS members for support.

No national of an OECS member nation has been Secretary General, except for Sir Alister Mc Intrye of Grenada from 1974 to 1977.