While the world suffers, Bahamians fiddle
tribune242 editorial
WE SWITCHED the television on. Saudi tanks were rolling into Bahrain to prevent that country's social unrest spilling over Saudi borders. Libyans were rushing in mad confusion to avoid tear gas hoses as the Arab League considered asking the UN to impose a no fly zone to stop Col. Muammar Gaddafi strafing his people from the air - a reporter described Libya's turmoil of cruelty as a "problem from hell." Egypt was still in confusion. In short the Middle East was on fire.
Suddenly, television cameras focused on Japan. There one saw a scene of absolute horror. Viewers were told that Japan had just suffered an 8.9 earthquake, the largest in its history, and the fifth largest recorded in this past century. Then as though an invisible giant had drawn in his breath, taking the ocean with it and leaving behind a denuded coastline, there was a powerful outward roar as a mountain of water rushed back across the land. Out of the earthquake, a giant tsunami had been born and in a twinkling of an eye an ancient town had disappeared from the face of the earth. Houses crumbled under its mighty weight, thousands of men, women and children disappeared before they had time to consider what they could do to save themselves.
What we were witnessing would affect the whole world and an already crippled international economy was pushed back just as it was starting to slowly move forward. As a result of the confusion in one section of the world every man, woman and child on the rest of the globe was caught up in the turmoil. If never before, that short sequence of events was proof that we are all one family caught up in each other's destiny on this one big ship called Mother Earth. As gas prices started to climb -- as a result of the Mid-East crisis --and goods, already too expensive, soared, one wondered if indeed Armageddon was near. At least that was what our maid thought.
"Oh, dear God," she moaned, "the world is in confusion!"
Suddenly she turned angry. "We Bahamians," she said, "are an ungrateful people. See how the world is suffering and we have the nerve to complain about a little inconvenience." Yes, when one compares Bahamians' problems against the suffering of other humans on the same planet, they are indeed "little inconveniences" and we should all hang our heads in shame for trying to make the mole hill into the mountain.
Here we have politicians busy trying to score brownie points against their opponents, not for the betterment of the body politic, but to gain a seat in parliament and to win an election.
While Japanese dug through rubble looking for loved ones, occasionally picking up an empty shoe and weeping for the loss of the human who once walked this Earth in it, Bahamians were squabbling over the sale of a telecommunications company that ill performed at the best of times and should have been put on the auction block a long time ago.
"Bahamians are just too selfish and too greedy, always with their hands out instead of trying to do the best they can with what they have until things get better!" she sniffed, with the toss of her head and the suck on the teeth. "They have gold by comparison and they don't appreciate it!"
While others suffer untold damage, some Bahamians are busy trying to organise their own "small Egypt" -- like the monkey wanting to follow fashion no matter how destructive that fashion.
Today Bahamians are busy trying to figure out how many FNM MPs would have to vote in the House against its government's sale of BTC to send the people back to the polls. As Mr Ingraham told them in today's Tribune, a majority vote against the sale of BTC to Cable & Wireless would be a parliamentary show of no confidence in his government. He would then turn the government back to the people; there would be an early general election, and Bahamians could then vote in a new government. However, he pointed out, the sale of BTC was one of the planks in the FNM's platform, one on which the FNM had won the government.
However, with 24 FNM members in the House to the PLP's 17, Brad McCartney is the only likely FNM to break ranks. This will in no way put the FNM's government in jeopardy. However, Mr McCartney has kept everyone guessing about his final decision of whether it will be an "aye" or "nay" for the BTC vote. The fact that, although he attends House meetings, he has avoided party meetings for many weeks, gives a pretty good indication as to how his mind is set.
Anyway, instead of losing precious time over such matters, Bahamians should thank God that they have a job. It is now up to them to give it their best until they can start climbing the ladder upward again.
March 17, 2011
tribune242 editorial
An International Caribbean Online Log about the news and opinions in the Americas and World. This Caribbean Blog of global reach and appeal is maintained by Bahamian Blogger - Dennis Dames with all readers and subscribers in mind.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Venezuela's deadly pact with Latin American and Caribbean states
By Rebecca Theodore
Beware! The manipulative game of bartering oil for social welfare and aid to solve the economic woes of many Latin American and Caribbean states by Venezuela’s despot Hugo Chavez lingers.
Despite original predictions of its unsustainability, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) is quickly spreading throughout the region like wildfire, leaving in its wake a voice that cries out loud against reason and a political movement that tears the commercial veil of the Caribbean, Latin America, and the US asunder, being pulled and tossed in directions unknown by ideologically contrasting powers.
As games rely on the technical representation of an idea that either player can manipulate to victory, the allure for cheap oil for many Latin American and Caribbean countries now see them turning their backs on the US, choosing instead to associate themselves with governments overtly committed to building socialism. Faced with serious balance-of-payment problems, the bait entangled in a form of economic integration is appealing.
Thus, in their bold attempts for economic recovery and in choosing to align with Chavez, Latin American and Caribbean states are also lamenting the fact that Washington only supports democracy if and only if it contributes to their strategic and economic interests.
While assenting factors advocate that ALBA focuses on social cooperation and the use of economic growth to solve the people's problems, including unemployment and illiteracy, opponents on the other hand argue that this leftist trade bloc, funded by Venezuelan oil money and Cuban and Bolivarian ideology is nothing but a front for a broader socialist and anti-American agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Deemed a destabilizing effect on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) by Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding from its infancy, the socialist movement (ALBA) is spreading across the region like a deadly epidemic, with countries such as Nicaragua, Ecuador, Honduras, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Haiti, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, and the Dominican Republic signing up as innocent lambs to the slaughter.
There is no doubt that this move yields ominous concerns, as dependence on foreign direct investment and tourism as a major propellant of development is curtailed. Concerns that the old order of power in Latin America and the Caribbean may also be permanently threatened.
As a lion disguised in sheep’s clothing, it must be seen that ALBA’s repute as an economic alliance for Latin American and Caribbean solidarity is only based on Chavez’s ideological hallucination -- an ideology that is not only masked in vengeance and hatred against the US to undermine the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) but also one that transgresses the practice of international law and bestows on Chavez the attention which he no doubt desperately craves in world politics.
Proposal for a joint ALBA military force by Venezuela and Nicaragua to replace the Inter-American Defense Board joint military aid, as well as intelligence and counterintelligence cooperation to combat the illusive terrorism and permanent aggression threat by the United States continues to be the theme of Chavez’s inflated rhetoric.
As more and more Latin American and Caribbean countries are depositing agreed amounts of their respective national currencies into a special SUCRE (Single Regional Compensation System) fund, it seems the SUCRE is rapidly replacing the US dollar as a medium of exchange with a Regional Monetary Council, and a Central Clearing House, hence decreasing US control of Latin American and Caribbean economies and fortifying Chavez’s long time insane ambition of the SUCRE becoming an international reserve currency much like the euro.
While the US sits idly by, choosing instead to label it an ‘oil conspiracy’, ignoring the Monroe Doctrine approach, which regarded the Caribbean as its backyard, emboldening its neighbours and internal groups to challenge its sovereignty, a new form of 21st century socialism now governs the economic and political policies of Latin America and the Caribbean.
It is a dramatic development, a difficult encounter and a concern of gigantic historical and commercial proportions.
March 17, 2011
caribbeannewsnow
Beware! The manipulative game of bartering oil for social welfare and aid to solve the economic woes of many Latin American and Caribbean states by Venezuela’s despot Hugo Chavez lingers.
Despite original predictions of its unsustainability, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) is quickly spreading throughout the region like wildfire, leaving in its wake a voice that cries out loud against reason and a political movement that tears the commercial veil of the Caribbean, Latin America, and the US asunder, being pulled and tossed in directions unknown by ideologically contrasting powers.
As games rely on the technical representation of an idea that either player can manipulate to victory, the allure for cheap oil for many Latin American and Caribbean countries now see them turning their backs on the US, choosing instead to associate themselves with governments overtly committed to building socialism. Faced with serious balance-of-payment problems, the bait entangled in a form of economic integration is appealing. Thus, in their bold attempts for economic recovery and in choosing to align with Chavez, Latin American and Caribbean states are also lamenting the fact that Washington only supports democracy if and only if it contributes to their strategic and economic interests.
While assenting factors advocate that ALBA focuses on social cooperation and the use of economic growth to solve the people's problems, including unemployment and illiteracy, opponents on the other hand argue that this leftist trade bloc, funded by Venezuelan oil money and Cuban and Bolivarian ideology is nothing but a front for a broader socialist and anti-American agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Deemed a destabilizing effect on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) by Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding from its infancy, the socialist movement (ALBA) is spreading across the region like a deadly epidemic, with countries such as Nicaragua, Ecuador, Honduras, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Haiti, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, and the Dominican Republic signing up as innocent lambs to the slaughter.
There is no doubt that this move yields ominous concerns, as dependence on foreign direct investment and tourism as a major propellant of development is curtailed. Concerns that the old order of power in Latin America and the Caribbean may also be permanently threatened.
As a lion disguised in sheep’s clothing, it must be seen that ALBA’s repute as an economic alliance for Latin American and Caribbean solidarity is only based on Chavez’s ideological hallucination -- an ideology that is not only masked in vengeance and hatred against the US to undermine the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) but also one that transgresses the practice of international law and bestows on Chavez the attention which he no doubt desperately craves in world politics.
Proposal for a joint ALBA military force by Venezuela and Nicaragua to replace the Inter-American Defense Board joint military aid, as well as intelligence and counterintelligence cooperation to combat the illusive terrorism and permanent aggression threat by the United States continues to be the theme of Chavez’s inflated rhetoric.
As more and more Latin American and Caribbean countries are depositing agreed amounts of their respective national currencies into a special SUCRE (Single Regional Compensation System) fund, it seems the SUCRE is rapidly replacing the US dollar as a medium of exchange with a Regional Monetary Council, and a Central Clearing House, hence decreasing US control of Latin American and Caribbean economies and fortifying Chavez’s long time insane ambition of the SUCRE becoming an international reserve currency much like the euro.
While the US sits idly by, choosing instead to label it an ‘oil conspiracy’, ignoring the Monroe Doctrine approach, which regarded the Caribbean as its backyard, emboldening its neighbours and internal groups to challenge its sovereignty, a new form of 21st century socialism now governs the economic and political policies of Latin America and the Caribbean.
It is a dramatic development, a difficult encounter and a concern of gigantic historical and commercial proportions.
March 17, 2011
caribbeannewsnow
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Turks and Caicos politics in a Caribbean context
By Oliver Mills
Local historians in the Turks and Caicos contend that these islands were the first to be discovered in the Caribbean region, although this is contested by others. However, Caribbean historians have maintained that the real value to Europeans of the West Indies was their mineral wealth, agricultural products, employment for Europeans, and as a training ground for their navies. Nothing is mentioned about the value of the islands to their own people, the local inhabitants.
Indeed, the local inhabitants were highly civilised, particularly the Mayans and Aztecs, while the Caribs and Arawaks on the other hand, who lived communally under a system of governance that suited their needs and circumstances at the time, were regarded by the Europeans as primitive. The latter sought to use the tribal chiefs against each other to maintain a divide and rule policy. This meant that, instead of confronting a common threat, the local inhabitants fought against themselves, urged on by outsiders, who benefitted from this local rivalry which they initiated.
The Turks and Caicos were important for their salt product, cotton, as a training area for sailors and their warships and, initially because of our many islands and cays, as a hide out for pirates, buccaneers, and smugglers. Later in this century we became military bases to maintain surveillance of Castro’s Cuba, and to listen to and track Russian submarines.
A prominent historian of Caribbean affairs describes the background to the contemporary challenges the Caribbean faces today. He states that the society was based on masters and slaves, and this made impossible any spirit of mutual trust between the two sides. The phrase that emerged from this situation was, ‘the worse you behave to a Negro, the better he behaves to you.’ Even now, we still say this about each other.
This perception of these two categories of master and slave later translated into divisions between those with money and resources, and those who had only their labour to offer. From here, developed the antagonistic relationship between labour and capital. And although later, as Caribbean society became more sophisticated through the development of science and technology, a managerial versus a technologically skilled class developed, with knowledge replacing capital as the important factor in workplace relationships.
This historian further states that a further characteristic of Caribbean society was the parochialism of its governing climate of opinion. Any opinions that differed from, or contested the way things were being done, were discouraged. The idea behind this was to maintain the political and social dominance of one group of persons who differed from the local inhabitants in social status, colour and interest.
The type of governance that existed, particularly in those islands with British influence, was Crown Colony government, or direct rule, where a governor and officials from the metropole were the main players, assisted by selected locals regarded as prominent members of the community. This same type of governance exists in the Turks and Caicos today. In the early colonial period, it was based on the contrived assumption that people who were culturally different had no real conception of how to govern themselves, or conduct their affairs in a civilised way. They therefore needed persons of a different and superior cultural orientation to ‘help’ them to become more civilised. To hold their hand and gently lead them, until they were deemed ready and fit to govern themselves.`
This historian rounds out his description of Caribbean society’s background by noting that the European mind failed to apply the idea of equality to subject Caribbean people. The fact is that, in many instances, this perception still remains of people of other races. In the Caribbean, we have absorbed these prejudices, and use them against our own to determine class and social status. People with a fair complexion are still preferred to those with darker skins, and the many races we have still discriminate against each other in various subtle and open ways. We have not as yet, in our Caribbean, despite chatter at various conferences, come to accept each other, trust each other, or see each other in an open-minded way, without race, class, island of origin, or even religion, playing a significant part with respect to how we perceive each other.
In the Caribbean’s quest for ever increasing control over its political affairs, leading to independence for some islands, again, the dominant power insisted that certain steps or stages be gone through, as if locals had to take examinations at different levels of difficulty. Crown Colony government was followed by more political representation through the extension of the vote. Through agitation, internal self-government came about with either a Chief Minister or Premier, based on the intensity of the agitation. This was then followed by independence. But at each stage, it was the colonial power that responded to challenges made on it. It was the local leaders who formed political organisations that over time contested the existing system, and got it to be changed to a more democratic system, representative of the majority.
This is where the Turks and Caicos is today, with demands for the reinstatement of the 2006 constitution, that many insist has nothing wrong with it. Some feel the newly considered constitution is meant to restrict the power of the elected representatives, and the newly proposed electoral system is designed to emasculate the political parties, and give further authority to the function of Governor as an institution.
What is often forgotten, or not realised, is the fact that the 2006 constitution can in many ways be regarded as really an independence constitution. The office of Premier had enormous power, and many international missions were undertaken by the elected government, although it was the UK government that was responsible for foreign affairs. The then Premier gave audience to many heads of state, and a minister of government had some responsibilities for national security. The UK government on a whole, allowed the Turks and Caicos to exercise authority in many areas, which could only be seen in an independent territory. Under the 2006 constitution, therefore, the islands could be described as really being independent where governance in the strict sense is concerned. Ministers exercised certain levels of authority to negotiate abroad on behalf of the country, met with their counterparts abroad, and entered into agreements after the proposals had gone through the cabinet process.
The independent Caribbean territories basically followed this same process. It appears, though, that the Turks and Caicos, although coming a little late on the scene, caught up quickly with these countries, even surpassing them in economic development, and becoming their equal in the level of political awareness and consciousness. As a matter of fact, our first Premier was even invited to an economic event in Jamaica to share ideas on how his country was able to achieve the level of economic growth it did. One of our Chief Ministers under the PDM government even attended important functions abroad, on an equal footing with other heads of state. Although not formally an independent country, the Turks and Caicos enjoyed equality of status with the other independent Caribbean countries. No other Caribbean country received this recognition when they were at the political stage the Turks and Caicos was at.
We all know the political story of what happened to the Turks and Caicos political system, and the accompanying economic challenges we now face. Many feel that the introduction of current revenue measures, and those impending, will result in further economic decline, and a further lowering of the standard of living in the islands, as well as discouraging foreign investment. Some feel that our economic progress began with the introduction of political parties that took various initiatives that secured agreements for growth and development to take place. Others feel that jealousy is responsible for the state the country is in now, and that there is no independent objective means of knowing what the real state of the economy is.
There is a segment of the population that also feels that whatever resources we have are not being used in a way significantly beneficial to the inhabitants, and that a new class of ‘others’ is calling the shots, and enjoying a certain lifestyle, while local people are mere spectators in their own country. If this is so, is this moral? Others feel that it is the Turks and Caicos political class and their associates that are responsible for the developments that led to where we currently are.
But there is also a view which is convinced that the profile of the Turks and Caicos as a country with people of colour who developed and managed a successful economy, and brought advantages not previously enjoyed to almost every island and its inhabitants, went against the previously held view of people of colour being unable to manage their political and economic institutions successfully, being always dependent on handouts from others, because they were lazy, carefree, and a bunch of freeloaders, incapable of anything serious or worthy of note. Certain activities therefore had to be initiated to restore the islands to the status it was felt they should really have, as a territory with people of colour as its majority, with a selected few of ‘others’ who feel themselves entitled, by virtue of their alleged cultural sophistication, to lead these people of colour into the light.
In the context of the wider Caribbean, then, it can be seen, that basically, the Turks and Caicos followed the same political and economic course, had the same historical elites that exercised power and authority over their destiny, and experienced the same condescending attitudes exhibited by these elites. The demonstrations for the restoration of democracy here were also carried out by other Caribbean territories in their quest for autonomy, and our politicians, although living in a more enlightened age, still behave in a way reminiscent of those Caribbean politicians at our stage of political development.
The independent countries got their way. Will the Turks and Caicos, through its party system, and other political groups achieve its objectives and soon join these territories as a fully sovereign and independent country?
March 16, 2011
caribbeannewsnow
Local historians in the Turks and Caicos contend that these islands were the first to be discovered in the Caribbean region, although this is contested by others. However, Caribbean historians have maintained that the real value to Europeans of the West Indies was their mineral wealth, agricultural products, employment for Europeans, and as a training ground for their navies. Nothing is mentioned about the value of the islands to their own people, the local inhabitants.
Indeed, the local inhabitants were highly civilised, particularly the Mayans and Aztecs, while the Caribs and Arawaks on the other hand, who lived communally under a system of governance that suited their needs and circumstances at the time, were regarded by the Europeans as primitive. The latter sought to use the tribal chiefs against each other to maintain a divide and rule policy. This meant that, instead of confronting a common threat, the local inhabitants fought against themselves, urged on by outsiders, who benefitted from this local rivalry which they initiated.The Turks and Caicos were important for their salt product, cotton, as a training area for sailors and their warships and, initially because of our many islands and cays, as a hide out for pirates, buccaneers, and smugglers. Later in this century we became military bases to maintain surveillance of Castro’s Cuba, and to listen to and track Russian submarines.
A prominent historian of Caribbean affairs describes the background to the contemporary challenges the Caribbean faces today. He states that the society was based on masters and slaves, and this made impossible any spirit of mutual trust between the two sides. The phrase that emerged from this situation was, ‘the worse you behave to a Negro, the better he behaves to you.’ Even now, we still say this about each other.
This perception of these two categories of master and slave later translated into divisions between those with money and resources, and those who had only their labour to offer. From here, developed the antagonistic relationship between labour and capital. And although later, as Caribbean society became more sophisticated through the development of science and technology, a managerial versus a technologically skilled class developed, with knowledge replacing capital as the important factor in workplace relationships.
This historian further states that a further characteristic of Caribbean society was the parochialism of its governing climate of opinion. Any opinions that differed from, or contested the way things were being done, were discouraged. The idea behind this was to maintain the political and social dominance of one group of persons who differed from the local inhabitants in social status, colour and interest.
The type of governance that existed, particularly in those islands with British influence, was Crown Colony government, or direct rule, where a governor and officials from the metropole were the main players, assisted by selected locals regarded as prominent members of the community. This same type of governance exists in the Turks and Caicos today. In the early colonial period, it was based on the contrived assumption that people who were culturally different had no real conception of how to govern themselves, or conduct their affairs in a civilised way. They therefore needed persons of a different and superior cultural orientation to ‘help’ them to become more civilised. To hold their hand and gently lead them, until they were deemed ready and fit to govern themselves.`
This historian rounds out his description of Caribbean society’s background by noting that the European mind failed to apply the idea of equality to subject Caribbean people. The fact is that, in many instances, this perception still remains of people of other races. In the Caribbean, we have absorbed these prejudices, and use them against our own to determine class and social status. People with a fair complexion are still preferred to those with darker skins, and the many races we have still discriminate against each other in various subtle and open ways. We have not as yet, in our Caribbean, despite chatter at various conferences, come to accept each other, trust each other, or see each other in an open-minded way, without race, class, island of origin, or even religion, playing a significant part with respect to how we perceive each other.
In the Caribbean’s quest for ever increasing control over its political affairs, leading to independence for some islands, again, the dominant power insisted that certain steps or stages be gone through, as if locals had to take examinations at different levels of difficulty. Crown Colony government was followed by more political representation through the extension of the vote. Through agitation, internal self-government came about with either a Chief Minister or Premier, based on the intensity of the agitation. This was then followed by independence. But at each stage, it was the colonial power that responded to challenges made on it. It was the local leaders who formed political organisations that over time contested the existing system, and got it to be changed to a more democratic system, representative of the majority.
This is where the Turks and Caicos is today, with demands for the reinstatement of the 2006 constitution, that many insist has nothing wrong with it. Some feel the newly considered constitution is meant to restrict the power of the elected representatives, and the newly proposed electoral system is designed to emasculate the political parties, and give further authority to the function of Governor as an institution.
What is often forgotten, or not realised, is the fact that the 2006 constitution can in many ways be regarded as really an independence constitution. The office of Premier had enormous power, and many international missions were undertaken by the elected government, although it was the UK government that was responsible for foreign affairs. The then Premier gave audience to many heads of state, and a minister of government had some responsibilities for national security. The UK government on a whole, allowed the Turks and Caicos to exercise authority in many areas, which could only be seen in an independent territory. Under the 2006 constitution, therefore, the islands could be described as really being independent where governance in the strict sense is concerned. Ministers exercised certain levels of authority to negotiate abroad on behalf of the country, met with their counterparts abroad, and entered into agreements after the proposals had gone through the cabinet process.
The independent Caribbean territories basically followed this same process. It appears, though, that the Turks and Caicos, although coming a little late on the scene, caught up quickly with these countries, even surpassing them in economic development, and becoming their equal in the level of political awareness and consciousness. As a matter of fact, our first Premier was even invited to an economic event in Jamaica to share ideas on how his country was able to achieve the level of economic growth it did. One of our Chief Ministers under the PDM government even attended important functions abroad, on an equal footing with other heads of state. Although not formally an independent country, the Turks and Caicos enjoyed equality of status with the other independent Caribbean countries. No other Caribbean country received this recognition when they were at the political stage the Turks and Caicos was at.
We all know the political story of what happened to the Turks and Caicos political system, and the accompanying economic challenges we now face. Many feel that the introduction of current revenue measures, and those impending, will result in further economic decline, and a further lowering of the standard of living in the islands, as well as discouraging foreign investment. Some feel that our economic progress began with the introduction of political parties that took various initiatives that secured agreements for growth and development to take place. Others feel that jealousy is responsible for the state the country is in now, and that there is no independent objective means of knowing what the real state of the economy is.
There is a segment of the population that also feels that whatever resources we have are not being used in a way significantly beneficial to the inhabitants, and that a new class of ‘others’ is calling the shots, and enjoying a certain lifestyle, while local people are mere spectators in their own country. If this is so, is this moral? Others feel that it is the Turks and Caicos political class and their associates that are responsible for the developments that led to where we currently are.
But there is also a view which is convinced that the profile of the Turks and Caicos as a country with people of colour who developed and managed a successful economy, and brought advantages not previously enjoyed to almost every island and its inhabitants, went against the previously held view of people of colour being unable to manage their political and economic institutions successfully, being always dependent on handouts from others, because they were lazy, carefree, and a bunch of freeloaders, incapable of anything serious or worthy of note. Certain activities therefore had to be initiated to restore the islands to the status it was felt they should really have, as a territory with people of colour as its majority, with a selected few of ‘others’ who feel themselves entitled, by virtue of their alleged cultural sophistication, to lead these people of colour into the light.
In the context of the wider Caribbean, then, it can be seen, that basically, the Turks and Caicos followed the same political and economic course, had the same historical elites that exercised power and authority over their destiny, and experienced the same condescending attitudes exhibited by these elites. The demonstrations for the restoration of democracy here were also carried out by other Caribbean territories in their quest for autonomy, and our politicians, although living in a more enlightened age, still behave in a way reminiscent of those Caribbean politicians at our stage of political development.
The independent countries got their way. Will the Turks and Caicos, through its party system, and other political groups achieve its objectives and soon join these territories as a fully sovereign and independent country?
March 16, 2011
caribbeannewsnow
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Should condoms be distributed in schools?
By Dr Oswald Thomas
If as a teacher I give out condoms in schools, will I be encouraging promiscuity? Taking the power of transmitting values to children away from their parents? Costing the education system more money? Sending mixed messages? Supporting safe sex? Stemming the tide of HIV/AIDS? Combating teenage pregnancies or safeguarding morality over saving lives? These issues were brought to the fore when the Antigua Daily Observer on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, published an article under the caption “Minister of Education Says No to Condoms in School.”
The Hon. Minister of Education and Gender Affairs, Dr Jacqui Quinn-Leandro was at the time responding to a suggestion put forward by the coordinator of the St Lucia-based Educational International Organization, Virginia Albert-Poyette, at a regional teacher trade unions workshop. One of the aims of the workshop was to conduct an evaluation of a five-year project on HIV and AIDS and Education for All. Ms Albert-Poyette felt that as part of the battle against HIV/AIDS, condoms should be given out to school children.
Challenges
I am in full support of the Minister on her unshakeable stance that condoms should not, and will not be distributed in schools across Antigua and Barbuda. If the suggestion is simply to give school children full access to condoms in isolation of a holistic sex education program, then this exercise is worthless. In fact, condom distribution will have no impact in the fight against HIV and AIDS. According to Kirby (2000), there are three main controversial approaches to reducing rates of sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy among North American teenagers, namely: abstinence-only programs, safer sex education, and making condoms available in schools.
Even if one argues for the idealism of school being solely about education, this is simply not the reality. Antigua and Barbuda and the rest of the Caribbean for that matter are part of a changing landscape. Things that are happening in the Caribbean today sexually are not things that I never felt I would have lived to see. Sex is all around us, television adds, movies, strip clubs, gay and lesbian clubs, openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender couples. Just take a look at the number of young ladies who are having babies very early. As of December 2010, the AIDS Secretariat in Antigua reported an increase in HIV/AIDS of 65 cases with 90% of the infected falling between 15-49 age group and of that number the majority are women between 15-34 age group. The Caribbean now has the highest number of persons living with HIV/AIDS in the world. We cannot ignore this problem or allow it to flourish by being rigidly moralistic.
I know that sex is more often on the minds of school children more than education is. While I know the need for sexual experimentation is not confined to school children, rightly so, sex should be on school children minds. It is an integral part of their bodily functions and emotional cravings. Part of growing up is learning how to manage one’s sexual energies and to direct those powerful emotions to healthy outlets -- swimming, exercise, community service, organized religious activity, sports etc.
Distributing condoms must be filtered through a set of discerning criteria that exclude primary schoolers and acts as protective measure against indulgent adolescents. This process may also be tied to parental alert so that parents can either seek professional help, pastoral counseling or psycho-therapeutic intervention as they seek to influence their children with desired moral values. This is very important especially in those sensitive years when school children’s hormones act like a runaway train, and preaching abstinence is neither safe nor good enough.
The American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs states that abstinence-only programs may delay sex however, a large number of youths are already sexually experienced and need the knowledge, motivation, skills and access to condoms and contraceptives to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies.
What this implied is to say No to condoms without offering a credible alternative intervention program is in essence to say yes to behaviors that are likely to destroy school children’s chances at living a successful life. It is unjust that the school system should not find more practically ethical intervention to encourage their journey towards personal development and responsible citizenship.
Solutions
“The only natural resources that Antigua and Barbuda has are its people,” These words were wisely spoken by the late Father of the Nation, Sir Vere Cornwall Bird. If education keeps us learning, sorrows keeps us humble, success keeps us flowing, then our children should keep us human.
Perhaps what is needed in Antigua and Barbuda and the Caribbean school system is to educate our adolescents about sex and sexuality as part of our regular school curricula. A lesson plan that goes far beyond human biology of naming the parts of the body and the sexual reproductive system. Sex and sexuality must be openly addressed in our schools from intercourse, childbearing and childrearing to sexually transmitted diseases. A salient point we seem not to remember is that education is much broader than mastering subject content -- English, math, history, geography, biology, home economics, woodworking, chemistry and the whole regiment of CXC requirement. Schooling is to be about equipping students with life skills intelligent, so that they can develop sound judgments, practice ethical behavior, attain self-fulfillment, act as responsible citizens and maximize spiritual aspirations. Hence, subject matter must bridge the gap between theory and practice or else our schools will be graduating adults who are children.
Add to that moral education, self-discipline and practical strategies of avoiding situation where saying No to sex becomes almost impossible. As a person who works in the helping profession, I have met countless teenagers, who honestly don’t have a clue about the addictive nature of sex, about their own sexuality, about the destructive nature of sex to life and dreams or about the proper context of sex, which is a stable, loving committed intimate relationship -- better known as a healthy and mutually fulfilling marriage.
More tragic is the observation that if and when school children become victims of early pregnancies (usually occurring because of poverty, delinquent influences and exploitation of promiscuous adults), most island school systems do not make alternative provisions for them to complete their schooling. I see this travesty as one of the gravest vices committed under the cover of virtue. Saying No, would not change injustice.
The ministry of education should also look to partner with its counterpart, the ministry of health to develop and implement a school-based health center whereby condoms can be dispensed by the school nurse. The student would have to request a condom from the school nurse and that student would have to listen to a brief lecture on safe sex. Condoms in school are nothing new as many schools districts around the world have already grappled with this controversial policy since the 1990s. When our school children have become fully armed with sex and sexuality education they will be in a better position to make sound decisions that will increase their chances at success in life.
Bear in mind some very stark statistics that underscore this problem. For each of the 65 new cases of HIV/AIDS in Antigua and Barbuda, to get a better picture of how many persons who could be actually walking around with HIV/AIDS knowingly or unknowingly, we would have to multiply each person infected as having five sexual partners. Hence, the number of persons infected would jump from 65 to 325 in 2010.
Given this situation, the minister of education is correct -- we cannot just give away condoms in school without first educating the nation’s only natural resources. We have to do everything within our power to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Parents, pastors, community leaders, politicians, journalists, and educators should join our children in preparing to be part of the solution.
I am not suggesting that only saying Yes to condoms in school is the panacea. I know that if we simply say No to condoms we would be multiplying the problem, not solving it. I believe that distributing condoms in school is an act of saving grace rather than promoting promiscuity. I encourage our education administrators throughout the Caribbean to take Albert Einstein’s counsel seriously: "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."
March 15, 2011
caribbeannewsnow
If as a teacher I give out condoms in schools, will I be encouraging promiscuity? Taking the power of transmitting values to children away from their parents? Costing the education system more money? Sending mixed messages? Supporting safe sex? Stemming the tide of HIV/AIDS? Combating teenage pregnancies or safeguarding morality over saving lives? These issues were brought to the fore when the Antigua Daily Observer on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, published an article under the caption “Minister of Education Says No to Condoms in School.”
The Hon. Minister of Education and Gender Affairs, Dr Jacqui Quinn-Leandro was at the time responding to a suggestion put forward by the coordinator of the St Lucia-based Educational International Organization, Virginia Albert-Poyette, at a regional teacher trade unions workshop. One of the aims of the workshop was to conduct an evaluation of a five-year project on HIV and AIDS and Education for All. Ms Albert-Poyette felt that as part of the battle against HIV/AIDS, condoms should be given out to school children. Challenges
I am in full support of the Minister on her unshakeable stance that condoms should not, and will not be distributed in schools across Antigua and Barbuda. If the suggestion is simply to give school children full access to condoms in isolation of a holistic sex education program, then this exercise is worthless. In fact, condom distribution will have no impact in the fight against HIV and AIDS. According to Kirby (2000), there are three main controversial approaches to reducing rates of sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy among North American teenagers, namely: abstinence-only programs, safer sex education, and making condoms available in schools.
Even if one argues for the idealism of school being solely about education, this is simply not the reality. Antigua and Barbuda and the rest of the Caribbean for that matter are part of a changing landscape. Things that are happening in the Caribbean today sexually are not things that I never felt I would have lived to see. Sex is all around us, television adds, movies, strip clubs, gay and lesbian clubs, openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender couples. Just take a look at the number of young ladies who are having babies very early. As of December 2010, the AIDS Secretariat in Antigua reported an increase in HIV/AIDS of 65 cases with 90% of the infected falling between 15-49 age group and of that number the majority are women between 15-34 age group. The Caribbean now has the highest number of persons living with HIV/AIDS in the world. We cannot ignore this problem or allow it to flourish by being rigidly moralistic.
I know that sex is more often on the minds of school children more than education is. While I know the need for sexual experimentation is not confined to school children, rightly so, sex should be on school children minds. It is an integral part of their bodily functions and emotional cravings. Part of growing up is learning how to manage one’s sexual energies and to direct those powerful emotions to healthy outlets -- swimming, exercise, community service, organized religious activity, sports etc.
Distributing condoms must be filtered through a set of discerning criteria that exclude primary schoolers and acts as protective measure against indulgent adolescents. This process may also be tied to parental alert so that parents can either seek professional help, pastoral counseling or psycho-therapeutic intervention as they seek to influence their children with desired moral values. This is very important especially in those sensitive years when school children’s hormones act like a runaway train, and preaching abstinence is neither safe nor good enough.
The American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs states that abstinence-only programs may delay sex however, a large number of youths are already sexually experienced and need the knowledge, motivation, skills and access to condoms and contraceptives to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies.
What this implied is to say No to condoms without offering a credible alternative intervention program is in essence to say yes to behaviors that are likely to destroy school children’s chances at living a successful life. It is unjust that the school system should not find more practically ethical intervention to encourage their journey towards personal development and responsible citizenship.
Solutions
“The only natural resources that Antigua and Barbuda has are its people,” These words were wisely spoken by the late Father of the Nation, Sir Vere Cornwall Bird. If education keeps us learning, sorrows keeps us humble, success keeps us flowing, then our children should keep us human.
Perhaps what is needed in Antigua and Barbuda and the Caribbean school system is to educate our adolescents about sex and sexuality as part of our regular school curricula. A lesson plan that goes far beyond human biology of naming the parts of the body and the sexual reproductive system. Sex and sexuality must be openly addressed in our schools from intercourse, childbearing and childrearing to sexually transmitted diseases. A salient point we seem not to remember is that education is much broader than mastering subject content -- English, math, history, geography, biology, home economics, woodworking, chemistry and the whole regiment of CXC requirement. Schooling is to be about equipping students with life skills intelligent, so that they can develop sound judgments, practice ethical behavior, attain self-fulfillment, act as responsible citizens and maximize spiritual aspirations. Hence, subject matter must bridge the gap between theory and practice or else our schools will be graduating adults who are children.
Add to that moral education, self-discipline and practical strategies of avoiding situation where saying No to sex becomes almost impossible. As a person who works in the helping profession, I have met countless teenagers, who honestly don’t have a clue about the addictive nature of sex, about their own sexuality, about the destructive nature of sex to life and dreams or about the proper context of sex, which is a stable, loving committed intimate relationship -- better known as a healthy and mutually fulfilling marriage.
More tragic is the observation that if and when school children become victims of early pregnancies (usually occurring because of poverty, delinquent influences and exploitation of promiscuous adults), most island school systems do not make alternative provisions for them to complete their schooling. I see this travesty as one of the gravest vices committed under the cover of virtue. Saying No, would not change injustice.
The ministry of education should also look to partner with its counterpart, the ministry of health to develop and implement a school-based health center whereby condoms can be dispensed by the school nurse. The student would have to request a condom from the school nurse and that student would have to listen to a brief lecture on safe sex. Condoms in school are nothing new as many schools districts around the world have already grappled with this controversial policy since the 1990s. When our school children have become fully armed with sex and sexuality education they will be in a better position to make sound decisions that will increase their chances at success in life.
Bear in mind some very stark statistics that underscore this problem. For each of the 65 new cases of HIV/AIDS in Antigua and Barbuda, to get a better picture of how many persons who could be actually walking around with HIV/AIDS knowingly or unknowingly, we would have to multiply each person infected as having five sexual partners. Hence, the number of persons infected would jump from 65 to 325 in 2010.
Given this situation, the minister of education is correct -- we cannot just give away condoms in school without first educating the nation’s only natural resources. We have to do everything within our power to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Parents, pastors, community leaders, politicians, journalists, and educators should join our children in preparing to be part of the solution.
I am not suggesting that only saying Yes to condoms in school is the panacea. I know that if we simply say No to condoms we would be multiplying the problem, not solving it. I believe that distributing condoms in school is an act of saving grace rather than promoting promiscuity. I encourage our education administrators throughout the Caribbean to take Albert Einstein’s counsel seriously: "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."
March 15, 2011
caribbeannewsnow
Monday, March 14, 2011
Haiti - The Caribbean's hot spot for drug traffickers
By Rebecca Theodore
If drug control is fundamental in maintaining a healthy society and in preventing the suffering and harm caused to individuals and society by drug abuse and drug trafficking, then its threat to the security and stability of Haiti presents a frightening picture.
While the International Narcotics Control Board continues to uphold its mandate of strengthening international action against drug production, trafficking and drug related crime and providing information, analysis and expertise on drug issues; critics on the other hand point to its failure in effectively policing both licit and illicit drugs in Haiti.
Cannabis and cocaine and the likes thereof are not the only substances classified as drugs. The availability of analgesics for the treatment of pain on unregulated markets in Haiti is now suffering an adverse backlash where illicitly manufactured pharmaceutical products that contain narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances are readily available.
Thus, the drug situation in Haiti again proves that understanding drug-control measures are not only dependent on a society’s culture, but that drug abuse and trafficking will always be in conflict with the respect of the rights and freedom of others and in meeting the requirements of health, public order and the general well-being of a democratic society.
The exceptional prospect to build a drug-free world by the International Narcotics Control Board fades in the face of mounting concerns in Haiti. The transshipment of cocaine, cannabis and medical and scientific drugs continue to pose a noteworthy menace because, in a country where more than three-quarters of the population live in wretched poverty, compressed with the inability of the state to uphold the rule of law, the temptation to earn easy money from the drug trade is always going to be a threat to stability.
Moreover, natural disasters always pose new challenges to drug prevention efforts in the Caribbean. The magnitude of the destruction that occurred on January 12, 2010, favours Haiti for illicit financial transactions and pervasive corruption, as it is the practice of criminals to exploit regions weakened by war or torn by conflict and natural disasters. It is this dislodgment effect that now leads to the rise in demand for both licit and illicit drugs in Haiti and an increase in drug-related crime.
This is also where the question of a supply of powerful medicines used in medical care comes into effect and positions a serious public problem, because drugs for medical and scientific purposes are now available without a prescription in Haiti. The scale of this abuse and trafficking is staggering and it is now a very destructive problem because dangerous drugs used for medical and scientific purposes are counterfeited in the hands of amateurs and find their way on the internet, proving that licit drugs used for illicit purposes can be manufactured anywhere.
It must be remembered that we live in a society where pharmacological explanations are sought and endorsed for problems ranging from overweight to excessive gambling, enhanced sexual and athletic performance and behavioral and emotional challenges. Drugs are a quick fix to complex physical, emotional, and even social problems and the new challenges that are emerging in Haiti has dangerous consequences for the world at large, as a problem in one part of the system has a disturbing and far reaching effect on the other because there are no codes of conduct and ethical guidelines on the correct handling of these deadly drugs.
It follows that if the goal of the United Nations International Drug Control Program is to eliminate the illegal drug trade worldwide, then its approach to the drug problem in Haiti yields disappointing results because development needs security to succeed. Responses to criminal justice and security reform, the strengthening of state mechanisms in dealing with criminal networks, must be taken into account as these are the factors that aid in eliminating the destructive mission of drug abuse and trafficking.
If the International Narcotics Board is concerned with the health and safety of humankind then special attention must be paid to the many actors of civil society and providers of humanitarian assistance in addressing the drug problem in Haiti, because it is not only cannabis and cocaine, but fentanyl, morphine and oxycodone compounded with pervasive corruption, poverty and high unemployment that now registers Haiti as the Caribbean’s hot spot for drug abuse and trafficking.
It is imperative that the International Narcotics Board implement measures of a broader social policy approach to reduce the demand for both licit and illicit drugs in Haiti. Such measures should be wide-ranging, multifaceted, synchronized and cohesive with the social, political and economic well-being of the Haitian people.
March 14, 2011
caribbeannewsnow
If drug control is fundamental in maintaining a healthy society and in preventing the suffering and harm caused to individuals and society by drug abuse and drug trafficking, then its threat to the security and stability of Haiti presents a frightening picture.
While the International Narcotics Control Board continues to uphold its mandate of strengthening international action against drug production, trafficking and drug related crime and providing information, analysis and expertise on drug issues; critics on the other hand point to its failure in effectively policing both licit and illicit drugs in Haiti.
Cannabis and cocaine and the likes thereof are not the only substances classified as drugs. The availability of analgesics for the treatment of pain on unregulated markets in Haiti is now suffering an adverse backlash where illicitly manufactured pharmaceutical products that contain narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances are readily available.Thus, the drug situation in Haiti again proves that understanding drug-control measures are not only dependent on a society’s culture, but that drug abuse and trafficking will always be in conflict with the respect of the rights and freedom of others and in meeting the requirements of health, public order and the general well-being of a democratic society.
The exceptional prospect to build a drug-free world by the International Narcotics Control Board fades in the face of mounting concerns in Haiti. The transshipment of cocaine, cannabis and medical and scientific drugs continue to pose a noteworthy menace because, in a country where more than three-quarters of the population live in wretched poverty, compressed with the inability of the state to uphold the rule of law, the temptation to earn easy money from the drug trade is always going to be a threat to stability.
Moreover, natural disasters always pose new challenges to drug prevention efforts in the Caribbean. The magnitude of the destruction that occurred on January 12, 2010, favours Haiti for illicit financial transactions and pervasive corruption, as it is the practice of criminals to exploit regions weakened by war or torn by conflict and natural disasters. It is this dislodgment effect that now leads to the rise in demand for both licit and illicit drugs in Haiti and an increase in drug-related crime.
This is also where the question of a supply of powerful medicines used in medical care comes into effect and positions a serious public problem, because drugs for medical and scientific purposes are now available without a prescription in Haiti. The scale of this abuse and trafficking is staggering and it is now a very destructive problem because dangerous drugs used for medical and scientific purposes are counterfeited in the hands of amateurs and find their way on the internet, proving that licit drugs used for illicit purposes can be manufactured anywhere.
It must be remembered that we live in a society where pharmacological explanations are sought and endorsed for problems ranging from overweight to excessive gambling, enhanced sexual and athletic performance and behavioral and emotional challenges. Drugs are a quick fix to complex physical, emotional, and even social problems and the new challenges that are emerging in Haiti has dangerous consequences for the world at large, as a problem in one part of the system has a disturbing and far reaching effect on the other because there are no codes of conduct and ethical guidelines on the correct handling of these deadly drugs.
It follows that if the goal of the United Nations International Drug Control Program is to eliminate the illegal drug trade worldwide, then its approach to the drug problem in Haiti yields disappointing results because development needs security to succeed. Responses to criminal justice and security reform, the strengthening of state mechanisms in dealing with criminal networks, must be taken into account as these are the factors that aid in eliminating the destructive mission of drug abuse and trafficking.
If the International Narcotics Board is concerned with the health and safety of humankind then special attention must be paid to the many actors of civil society and providers of humanitarian assistance in addressing the drug problem in Haiti, because it is not only cannabis and cocaine, but fentanyl, morphine and oxycodone compounded with pervasive corruption, poverty and high unemployment that now registers Haiti as the Caribbean’s hot spot for drug abuse and trafficking.
It is imperative that the International Narcotics Board implement measures of a broader social policy approach to reduce the demand for both licit and illicit drugs in Haiti. Such measures should be wide-ranging, multifaceted, synchronized and cohesive with the social, political and economic well-being of the Haitian people.
March 14, 2011
caribbeannewsnow
Sunday, March 13, 2011
The niggling issue of good governance in the Caribbean Community
The issue of good governance in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
By Ellsworth John
The issue of good governance in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has generated much discussion, as its citizens become increasingly frustrated by what they perceive as a lack of progress with the community’s agenda. As early as July 1989, as reflected in the Grand Anse Declaration, there was acknowledgement that there was need for a people centered governance structure. The declaration speaks of “the special roles of ...…people of all walks and conditions of life in moving CARICOM forward.
Since then many studies have been commissioned to look at the issue of governance and the prevailing idea has been for a Commission of three prominent persons with executive powers to ensure implementation of decision. In 1992, through the Time for Action, a seminal product of the West Indian Commission, it was proposed that a CARICOM Commission should be established with its membership drawn from within the region’s public and political ranks with a president, two other commissioners and the secretary general as an ex-officio member. Since then a number of task forces have been established and until last year when the council of ambassadors was proposed as an implementation vehicle, the recommendations have all been basically a tinkering of the original concept of a commission of three.
The Technical Working Group on Governance, established in 2005 and chaired by Professor Vaughan Lewis, did a comprehensive overview of the issues related to decision making and their implementation and made some pertinent observations about the problem. Yet the solution offered still had its genesis in the recommendations of the West Indian Commission Report, which almost twenty years later, the heads of government are no closer to implementing.
The elitist, top down construct of the Commission proposed over the years flies in the face of effective implementation when there is a general acceptance that citizen participation is vital to moving the integration process forward. To quote directly from the Lewis Report “in the discussions with the Heads of Government, Leaders of Opposition and other persons, the TWG has been impressed by their persistent emphasis on the importance of citizen participation in the decision-making process and in the legitimisation of decisions taken in regard to the nature and pace of the integration process.”
We flirt with the concept of citizen participation without designing at the national level, an effective uniformed model to ensure more effective consultation among the citizens. No wonder there is an implementation deficit. The solution to the problem must of necessity be grounded in pragmatism.
The effects of the global financial crisis, the collapse of CLICO and British American, the uprisings in the Middle East and Northern Africa and the expected negative impact on oil prices and food security are issues that are confronting our various cabinets and their electorates whose needs are always pressing and have the urgency of now. There is no denying that all of our governments understand that there is need for collective action to confront these national issues, but there is need for an individual to be identified in each country whose primary responsibility is regional integration.
This person should be named as Ambassador to CARICOM and be given a staff. He/she should be located in the Office of the Prime Minister to give him/her the requisite power and authority to fulfil the mandate given to the office of Ambassador. I refuse to believe that in each of our countries, we cannot find a person of sufficient political heft and acumen to fill that role. To do so might be to make a tacit admission that only in certain countries are there persons of that stature, one of the fundamental, nationalistic reasons why the concept of a Commission of three, while noble, has had no traction.
At the national level, three bodies are necessary: A cabinet Committee on Regional Integration, an Inter-ministerial Committee on Regional Integration and a forum that allows the views of the civil society, NGOs and political opposition parties to be expressed. The latter two committees should be chaired by the ambassador who would then report to the Cabinet Committee on Regional Integration. This is a pragmatic method for dealing with the issue of implementation. This, however, does not entirely deal with the issue of decision making.
This requires change in the way the issues are generated and decisions are made. First, it is necessary to accept the construct for governance that when the heads meet twice per year it is to look at the broad policy framework for the community and to assess the results of implementation of those broad policies. It requires change in the way the Secretariat conducts its work to incorporate participation by the ambassador in the conceptualization of the agenda for heads. Their participation is essential so as to avoid an agenda driven solely by a bureaucratic viewpoint, but also with a political outlook.
In essence, what I have just described is how the Permanent Committee of Ambassadors should work and why I support its establishment. The original proposal submitted by the Prime Minister of Jamaica called for the Permanent Committee of Ambassadors to be based in Guyana; however, that eliminates the vital national role that the ambassadors must play in the implementation of decisions.
Let’s be practical in our approach to the issue of governance.
March 12, 2011
caribbeannewsnow
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Rene Preval, the Haitian president, an evaluation, five years later
By Jean H Charles
Five years ago, as President Rene Preval was being inaugurated for a second, non-consecutive term, my sister Maggie, who went to school with the president (albeit her junior) at the George Marc Institute, commented around the kitchen table that it will be a disaster for the country of Haiti in the next five years. I argued instead that she should wait at least for six months to pass such a judgment. Five years later, using the lowest standard of evaluation, Rene Preval is one of the most inept and callous heads of government that Haiti has ever had in the modern, post democracy era!
I will hasten to say that the positive side of this characterization is that I dare to write this column, having its publication in Haiti, the Caribbean and in the rest of the world without the fear of being persecuted or thrown into jail.
I will hasten to say also that his ineptness is shared by most if not all the members of his government. If the president is himself indecisive, no one is on the way of his minister of tourism of being an active minister instead of one with only a draft master plan still at the stage of a draft, five years later.
The prime minister, who doubles his portfolio with one of minister of planning, one year after the earthquake has not understood that a junior minister of coordination for the activities of the NGOs (his director at the ministry of planning would be an excellent choice) is crucial and fundamental for a minimum effectiveness in the delivery of services by the international organizations.
Rene Preval offered no plan in his campaign. He ran his government on an ad hoc basis, pulling a solution out of his sleeve, with no follow up and no evaluation. He had, though, his lion’s share of disaster that befell the country during his term: inundation and flood in Gonaives and in Mapou, earthquake in Port au Prince, Jacmel and Petit Goave and cholera epidemic brought into the Artibonite region by the United Nations.
He has also received an avalanche of support from all corners of the world. This support is completely wasted, bringing no impact or, rather, a negative impact to the people of Haiti because the president and his government did not use positive leadership to channel and synergize the assistance.
I have in a previous column shone a light into the leadership capacity or the lack thereof of the president. In addressing an evaluation de fin de régime, it is proper to revisit Rene Preval in his inner workings.
A student of the Belgium state university, President Preval is surrounded by classmates or friends of his time in Belgium: Paul Denis (his minister of Justice), Dr Alex Larsen (his minister of health and population), amongst others.
The Belgium cultural legacy in the former colonies is one of divisiveness. The colonial empire it amassed through the centuries, especially in Africa, has turned into a legacy of failed nations (Congo Brazzaville), filled with hatred and racism that produced genocide in Rwanda, famine and fragmentation in Burundi. The country of Belgium, albeit the seat of the European Community, is a land divided amongst itself, where the concept of nation is a hollow one.
Rene Preval has brought into Haiti from Belgium the culture of a political animal, where politics is used as an instrument or scientific tool to reward friends and remain in power on the front or on the backside as long as possible. Nihilism is elevated to the standard of excellence.
Rene Preval is also the embodiment of the Haitian ethos well encapsulated in the story of Bouqui and ti malice. Bouqui is the naïve brother who puts all his faith in the cunning and malicious ti malice. He uses all the artifices such as lies, deception, disguised affection to get the lion’s share of the family legacy, leaving his brother (Bouqui) in extreme misery.
The international community has found a fertile incubator in this government to create a land of make believe in Haiti. Amidst massive outpouring of assistance, the individual or the collective repercussion is minimal at best, negative at worst.
Item: the car rental business is one of the fastest growing enterprises in the country because of the need of each international worker to have his own car with his own driver. Uncontrolled drug money recycled into the rental car sector has killed the mom and pop storefront.
Reviewing all the sectors of the economy, Rene Preval has registered an F or a failure rate. An agronomist by training, the environment has not indicated any incremental stop in its degradation. With the exception of the north and the extreme south of Haiti, the remaining forest land (2 percent) is in an accelerated slide towards desertification.
In the area of agriculture and agro-business, the Dominican Republic has become the food basket of the Republic of Haiti. Eggs (1 million units per day), plantain, even coconut water are imported for resale in Haiti. One hundred large trailers filled with cement are brought into Haiti every day from the Dominican Republic.
The security segment has exhibited a significant improvement from its low point of poor morale, recurring kidnapping and lack of policing. Yet the large majority of the hinterland operates without a police presence. There is no discussion or timetable in terms of building Haiti’s own military force for the protection of its border, enhancing its environment and securing its population against disaster and drug contraband.
Creating a culture of the rule of law was Preval’s leitmotiv in assuming power. Five years later, he failed (allegedly for lack of time) in naming a chief of the Supreme Court. At election time, the government deployed with strength the power of the state, as a bandit use his arsenal of resources and munitions for his own candidates. To his credit, the president as a man and his government in general is unobtrusive. Social peace, although tenuous, is maintained, even favoured.
In health and public hygiene, a cholera epidemic brought into the country by a UN contingent has tested the strength of the health apparatus. The collection of garbage is still a subject of contention between the mayors of the large cities (including the capital), deprived of the means to do so, and a callous centralized government more inclined to do politics with the resources instead of caring for the welfare of its citizens.
The best characterization of Rene Preval and its governance is one of a Teflon president turning the country into a Teflon nation.
Item: to keep the men off his back, he promoted during the World Cup the soccer mania in the country. All day, Barcelona vs. Real Madrid and nonstop commentary about Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is now the rule in Haiti. Industrial and administrative production is at a low point -- a soccer game between Real Madrid and Barcelona takes precedence over the business of the state.
Item: road building has been the government panacea. The result five years later is unfinished roads to nowhere and a woman pre-eminently promoted on the tractor as the way to the future. Yet the crowded streets of the Port au Prince need repairs that could unclog the daily giant traffic bottleneck, leaving adults and children under stress more customary in the western capitals.
Item: the Preval government has created a new class of well endowed citizens. They are the public employees at the policy level. They have at their disposal the national and the international resources, used with arrogance for their own benefit not for the benefit of the ordinary citizen.
The international community, in particular the MINUSTAH, with the resources of the whole world in their hands, taking its cue from the government, has perfected the Teflon culture to its limit. I am still awaiting one nation from the pack that would become a conscientious objector in helping the world shed a light into the big scam of the mission of stabilization. OXFAM, from my empirical observation one of the best NGOs in Haiti, is leaving this summer. Is it a signal that the Teflon culture and corruption is choking the best and the brightest?
On March 20, 2011, the people of Haiti will go back to the polls to elect a new president and a new government. Will it be a break from the past or will the Preval culture of squalor and ti malice over hospitality for all continue to haunt Haiti for another twenty years?
March 12, 2011
caribbeannewsnow
Five years ago, as President Rene Preval was being inaugurated for a second, non-consecutive term, my sister Maggie, who went to school with the president (albeit her junior) at the George Marc Institute, commented around the kitchen table that it will be a disaster for the country of Haiti in the next five years. I argued instead that she should wait at least for six months to pass such a judgment. Five years later, using the lowest standard of evaluation, Rene Preval is one of the most inept and callous heads of government that Haiti has ever had in the modern, post democracy era!
I will hasten to say that the positive side of this characterization is that I dare to write this column, having its publication in Haiti, the Caribbean and in the rest of the world without the fear of being persecuted or thrown into jail.
I will hasten to say also that his ineptness is shared by most if not all the members of his government. If the president is himself indecisive, no one is on the way of his minister of tourism of being an active minister instead of one with only a draft master plan still at the stage of a draft, five years later.
The prime minister, who doubles his portfolio with one of minister of planning, one year after the earthquake has not understood that a junior minister of coordination for the activities of the NGOs (his director at the ministry of planning would be an excellent choice) is crucial and fundamental for a minimum effectiveness in the delivery of services by the international organizations.
Rene Preval offered no plan in his campaign. He ran his government on an ad hoc basis, pulling a solution out of his sleeve, with no follow up and no evaluation. He had, though, his lion’s share of disaster that befell the country during his term: inundation and flood in Gonaives and in Mapou, earthquake in Port au Prince, Jacmel and Petit Goave and cholera epidemic brought into the Artibonite region by the United Nations.
He has also received an avalanche of support from all corners of the world. This support is completely wasted, bringing no impact or, rather, a negative impact to the people of Haiti because the president and his government did not use positive leadership to channel and synergize the assistance.
I have in a previous column shone a light into the leadership capacity or the lack thereof of the president. In addressing an evaluation de fin de régime, it is proper to revisit Rene Preval in his inner workings.
A student of the Belgium state university, President Preval is surrounded by classmates or friends of his time in Belgium: Paul Denis (his minister of Justice), Dr Alex Larsen (his minister of health and population), amongst others.
The Belgium cultural legacy in the former colonies is one of divisiveness. The colonial empire it amassed through the centuries, especially in Africa, has turned into a legacy of failed nations (Congo Brazzaville), filled with hatred and racism that produced genocide in Rwanda, famine and fragmentation in Burundi. The country of Belgium, albeit the seat of the European Community, is a land divided amongst itself, where the concept of nation is a hollow one.
Rene Preval has brought into Haiti from Belgium the culture of a political animal, where politics is used as an instrument or scientific tool to reward friends and remain in power on the front or on the backside as long as possible. Nihilism is elevated to the standard of excellence.
Rene Preval is also the embodiment of the Haitian ethos well encapsulated in the story of Bouqui and ti malice. Bouqui is the naïve brother who puts all his faith in the cunning and malicious ti malice. He uses all the artifices such as lies, deception, disguised affection to get the lion’s share of the family legacy, leaving his brother (Bouqui) in extreme misery.
The international community has found a fertile incubator in this government to create a land of make believe in Haiti. Amidst massive outpouring of assistance, the individual or the collective repercussion is minimal at best, negative at worst.
Item: the car rental business is one of the fastest growing enterprises in the country because of the need of each international worker to have his own car with his own driver. Uncontrolled drug money recycled into the rental car sector has killed the mom and pop storefront.
Reviewing all the sectors of the economy, Rene Preval has registered an F or a failure rate. An agronomist by training, the environment has not indicated any incremental stop in its degradation. With the exception of the north and the extreme south of Haiti, the remaining forest land (2 percent) is in an accelerated slide towards desertification.
In the area of agriculture and agro-business, the Dominican Republic has become the food basket of the Republic of Haiti. Eggs (1 million units per day), plantain, even coconut water are imported for resale in Haiti. One hundred large trailers filled with cement are brought into Haiti every day from the Dominican Republic.
The security segment has exhibited a significant improvement from its low point of poor morale, recurring kidnapping and lack of policing. Yet the large majority of the hinterland operates without a police presence. There is no discussion or timetable in terms of building Haiti’s own military force for the protection of its border, enhancing its environment and securing its population against disaster and drug contraband.
Creating a culture of the rule of law was Preval’s leitmotiv in assuming power. Five years later, he failed (allegedly for lack of time) in naming a chief of the Supreme Court. At election time, the government deployed with strength the power of the state, as a bandit use his arsenal of resources and munitions for his own candidates. To his credit, the president as a man and his government in general is unobtrusive. Social peace, although tenuous, is maintained, even favoured.
In health and public hygiene, a cholera epidemic brought into the country by a UN contingent has tested the strength of the health apparatus. The collection of garbage is still a subject of contention between the mayors of the large cities (including the capital), deprived of the means to do so, and a callous centralized government more inclined to do politics with the resources instead of caring for the welfare of its citizens.
The best characterization of Rene Preval and its governance is one of a Teflon president turning the country into a Teflon nation.
Item: to keep the men off his back, he promoted during the World Cup the soccer mania in the country. All day, Barcelona vs. Real Madrid and nonstop commentary about Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is now the rule in Haiti. Industrial and administrative production is at a low point -- a soccer game between Real Madrid and Barcelona takes precedence over the business of the state.
Item: road building has been the government panacea. The result five years later is unfinished roads to nowhere and a woman pre-eminently promoted on the tractor as the way to the future. Yet the crowded streets of the Port au Prince need repairs that could unclog the daily giant traffic bottleneck, leaving adults and children under stress more customary in the western capitals.
Item: the Preval government has created a new class of well endowed citizens. They are the public employees at the policy level. They have at their disposal the national and the international resources, used with arrogance for their own benefit not for the benefit of the ordinary citizen.
The international community, in particular the MINUSTAH, with the resources of the whole world in their hands, taking its cue from the government, has perfected the Teflon culture to its limit. I am still awaiting one nation from the pack that would become a conscientious objector in helping the world shed a light into the big scam of the mission of stabilization. OXFAM, from my empirical observation one of the best NGOs in Haiti, is leaving this summer. Is it a signal that the Teflon culture and corruption is choking the best and the brightest?
On March 20, 2011, the people of Haiti will go back to the polls to elect a new president and a new government. Will it be a break from the past or will the Preval culture of squalor and ti malice over hospitality for all continue to haunt Haiti for another twenty years?
March 12, 2011
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