Points to ponder
The incumbent Secretary-General Don McKinnon no doubt defeated a late challenge for his job from Sri Lanka's former foreign minister's adventurous candidature at the on-going Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), but the fact that 11 nations voted against him - one fifth of the total membership - must cause concern.

Only Nigerian host Olusegun Obasanjo will know who voted against him, but it is an open secret that several African countries simply detest him. Taken another way, it is a vote of no-confidence on his stewardship by the Afro-Asian segment of the grouping of the former British Empire, a matter Mr. McKinnon will need to consider very seriously on his continuing to hold the post. The Commonwealth has survived worste times, but once again there is this nagging irritant of the Whites vs. the Blacks, and clearly, Africa sees the British-led crusade against Zimbabwe and its President Robert Mugabe as an exercise in personal vendetta coated in political morality.

Not that some of these Commonwealth countries, Sri Lanka included, always play by Queensbury rules. Take for instance, the issue of Britain picking on one of the Commonwealth's oldest members - Sri Lanka - to finger-print its citizens applying for visas to that country.

It seems it is some countries that set the agenda for these summits. Good governance and democracy is the theme for these summits, but the guidelines are those standards of the old colonial masters. If Freedom of Movement is a solemn guarantee under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which all Commonwealth countries are signatories, why is the issue of unhindered travel between at least Commonwealth countries not an issue at these summits. Why is such degrading, virtually criminal treatment meted out to consular sections of some Commonwealth countries towards citizens of another Commonwealth country not an issue?

Pakistan remains expelled from the Commonwealth after President Musharraf's military take-over, but some member-states, including Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada did business with him when they waged war in Afghanistan.

International relations no doubt are full of double-standards, and the Commonwealth is not immune to such hypocrisy, but there is no doubt good side of the same coin as well.
The Commonwealth has indeed set some overall benchmark for democracy and good governance which set some parameters for despot rulers, but when some heads of government begin to interpret good governance as if it is their God given right while blissfully ignoring some of the rules they themselves break - that is what gets one's goat up. The African states resent this the most, and Asia, including Sri Lanka must take a more pro-active stand at these international summits than just drift with the trend, set by some.

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