Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General
The Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth assists the Secretary-General in managing the operations of the Commonwealth Secretariat, which is the central institution of the Commonwealth. The current Deputy Secretary-General is Dr Arjoon Suddhoo of Mauritius. Dr Suddhoo’s appointment was announced in February 2019 after an open and competitive process, and he took up the post in April 2019[1].
History
Until 2016, three Commonwealth Deputy Secretaries-General assisted the Secretary-General in running the Commonwealth Secretariat, each assigned an aspect of the Commonwealth's function to address particularly: one to economic affairs, one to political affairs and the other to corporate affairs.
They were elected by the Commonwealth Heads of Government, like the Secretary-General. However, as their terms overlap with those of the Secretary-General, and don't coincide with Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGMs), the Heads of Government are represented through their respective High Commissioners in London.[2] Originally, the Secretariat only engaged two Deputy Secretaries-General, whilst the Corporate Affairs portfolio was overseen by an Assistant Secretary-General. This changed in 2014 with the appointment of Gary Dunn from Australia to the post. However, by the end of March 2017, references to the role and Dunn had been removed from the Secretariat's website, indicating that the role may have been abolished though no announcement had been made to that effect.
Under Baroness Scotland's tenure as Secretary-General, the vacancies left by the departures of Dunn, Deodat Maharaj and Josephine Ojiambo were not filled and the three roles merged into a single post. The current Deputy Secretary-General Dr Arjoon Suddhoo is from Mauritius.
Lists of Deputy Secretaries-General
| Name | Country | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arjoon Suddhoo | Mauritius | 2019 | Incumbent |
Economic Affairs and Development
| Deputy Secretary-General for Economic Affairs and Development of the Commonwealth of Nations | |
|---|---|
Incumbent since 2017Vacant | |
| Style | His Excellency |
| Appointer | Commonwealth Heads of Government |
| Term length | 3 years, renewable once |
| Inaugural holder | Tilak E. Gooneratne |
| Formation | 1965 |
| Final holder | Deodat Maharaj |
| Abolished | Possibly June 2017 |
| Website | www.thecommonwealth.org |
| Name | Country | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tilak E. Gooneratne |  Sri Lanka
|
1965 | 1970 |
| Geoffrey Wilson |  United Kingdom
|
1971 | 1971 |
| Hunter Wade |  New Zealand
|
1972 | 1974[3] |
| Incomplete | |||
| C. John Small |  Canada
|
1979 | 1983 |
| Peter Marshall | United Kingdom
|
1983 | 1988 |
| Peter Unwin | 1989 | 1993 | |
| Humphrey Maud | 1993 | 1999 | |
| Veronica Sutherland | 1999 | 2001 | |
| Winston Cox |  Barbados
|
2001 | 2006 |
| Ransford Smith |  Jamaica
|
2006 | 2013 |
| Deodat Maharaj |  Trinidad and Tobago
|
2014 | 2017 |
 |
Political Affairs
| Deputy Secretary-General for Political Affairs of the Commonwealth of Nations | |
|---|---|
Incumbent since 2018Vacant (Appointments Suspended) | |
| Style | His/Her Excellency |
| Appointer | Commonwealth Heads of Government |
| Term length | 3 years, renewable once |
| Inaugural holder | A.L. Adu |
| Formation | 1966 |
| Website | www.thecommonwealth.org |
| Name | Country | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. L. Adu |  Ghana
|
1966 | 1970 |
| M. A. Husain |  India
|
1970 | 1977 |
| Emeka Anyaoku |  Nigeria
|
1977 | 19901 |
| Anthony Siaguru |  Papua New Guinea
|
1990 | 1995 |
| Krishnan Srinivasan | India
|
1995 | 2002 |
| Florence Mugasha |  Uganda
|
2002 | 2008 |
| Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba |  Botswana
|
2008 | 2014 |
| Josephine Ojiambo |  Kenya
|
2015 | 2018 |
1 Initially served from 1977 to 1983, leaving his??[who?] post for a few months to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Nigeria. He was re-instated later that year.
Corporate Affairs
| Deputy Secretary-General for Corporate Affairs of the Commonwealth of Nations | |
|---|---|
Incumbent since 2016Vacant | |
| Style | His Excellency |
| Appointer | Commonwealth Heads of Government |
| Term length | 3 years, renewable once |
| Inaugural holder | Gary Dunn |
| Formation | 2014 - previously titled 'Assistant Secretary-General' |
| Abolished | Unclear - possibly 2017 |
| Website | www.thecommonwealth.org |
| Name | Country | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Dunn |  Australia
|
2014 | 2016 [4] |
Footnotes
- ^ "New Deputy Secretary-General appointed | The Commonwealth". thecommonwealth.org. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
- ^ Doxey, Margaret (January 1979). "The Commonwealth Secretary-General: Limits of Leadership". International Affairs. 55 (1): 67–83. doi:10.2307/2617133.
- ^ McIntyre, W. David (November 2001). "'Viewing the Iceberg from Down Under': A New Zealand Perspective". Commonwealth & Comparative Politics. 39 (3): 95–112. doi:10.1080/713999565.
- ^ https://au.linkedin.com/in/gary-dunn-80689213a[permanent dead link]
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