Annual Review 2007-2008 - The Royal Commonwealth Society

Another important development was
the election of Kamalesh Sharma as the
new Commonwealth Secretary-General. It
took determined lobbying by Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on
behalf of his candidate to push back a
spirited challenge from Michael Frendo,
Malta’s Foreign Minister. In the end,
Sharma’s victory was a decisive one and
sets the Commonwealth on a new course,
with India expected to play a much
greater role in driving the organisation.
That aside, Uganda has a spruced-up
Kampala, with new infrastructure, while its
business leaders will have a clutch of new
investments, and its political leaders the
pride of an international meeting run
without incident. The Commonwealth as
a whole has set itself milestones to reach
before the Trinidad and Tobago CHOGM
of 2009 and the RCS itself can look back
with much satisfaction. In its role at the
Commonwealth People’s Forum and
People’s Space, attended by around 1,300
foreign and 10,000 local delegates, it
made a strong case for its projects. It
organised a major workshop on
communication for development, smaller
youth writers’ workshops, screened films
from the 2007 Vision Awards, campaigned
– despite constraints from both the
official Commonwealth and the host
government – for Commonwealth reengagement
with Zimbabwe and lobbied
delegates on leadership and citizenship
education issues.
Extensive preparatory work was
required, with submission of RCS reports
on Respect and Understanding, on
Commonwealth Membership, on
Zimbabwe and on Communicating the
Commonwealth. Numerous conferences
were conducted on faith and society,
leadership education in Africa and
citizenship education. The process of
reporting to the Committee of the Whole,
which is an integral part of the
communiqué drafting process, was also
addressed.
The RCS’s initiatives at CHOGM
resulted in a strong Commonwealth civil
society and governmental focus on
improving media freedom and
communications to ensure good
democratic processes. It ignited
Commonwealth interest in Zimbabwe and
renewed the pressure to engage with the
Zimbabwean regime, re-forging links
between the People’s Commonwealth
and the people of Zimbabwe. Yet, in all
this, there remains an unfinished agenda
for the RCS – and the Commonwealth –
as Trinidad and Tobago beckons in 2009.
Devapriyo Das, former RCS Public Affairs Officer, invites questions from participants at the
open-mike debate on Zimbabwe held at the “People’s Space”, Kampala
Stuart Mole helps in the construction of a girls’ hostel at Nserester
HE Joan K. Rwabyomere, High Commissioner of Uganda speaking at the RCS ‘Preparing
for the Kampala CHOGM’ debate held in October 2007
www.rcsint.org
11