Cool Heads and no Crowns: The Caribbean in a storm

By Sir Ronald Sanders


Not for the first time in the history of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), Heads of Government are conveying mixed signals to the people of the region about how they feel about the CARICOM relationship and, indeed, about themselves.

Two incidents brought this reality into sharp focus over the last few days. The first was an inflammatory statement attributed to Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, that she did not make, and the other was the almost complete turn out of CARICOM Heads of Government to the funeral of David Thompson, the late Prime Minister of Barbados, and the genuine sense of “family” that they showed.

The statement that Persad-Bissessar is alleged to have made is, “No free help” for the islands of St Vincent and St Lucia that have been severely battered by Hurricane Tomas with St Lucia getting the worst of it. Earlier, as a tropical storm, Tomas had also sallied through Barbados uprooting trees, dislodging utility poles and wires, and damaging hundreds of mostly low-cost houses throughout the island.

“No free help” were not Persad-Bissessar’s words. They were the headline in the Trinidad Express newspaper on November 1, which did report what the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister actually said. According to the story and other newspaper reports, the Prime Minister was speaking at a press conference about a request that she had received from the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, for assistance after his country was ravaged by the brutal Tomas.

What all the Trinidad and Tobago media reported her to say, was: "We will have to look at ways in which we would be able to assist. But you would recall my comments earlier this year, when I said there must some way in which Trinidad and Tobago would also benefit. So if we are giving assistance with housing for example, and that is one of the areas that we (Prime Minister of St Vincent and myself ) spoke about, ... then we may be able to use Trinidad and Tobago builders and companies, so that whatever money or assistance is given, redounds back in some measure to the people of Trinidad and Tobago."

She did not say that the Trinidad and Tobago government would not help. Indeed, she is reported as actually saying that her government had already mobilised two containers of foodstuff, and a decision would be made about where to send them but "certainly to St Vincent".

The issue here is not that she refused to provide assistance. If she had done so, I would have joined the chorus of voices that are now condemning her. When she talked earlier this year of Trinidad and Tobago not being “an ATM machine” for the Caribbean, I was one of the first to criticise that statement drawing attention to the fact that Trinidad and Tobago enjoys almost a monopoly market in the Caribbean for its cheaper oil-subsidised goods because of the CARICOM Treaty and that the Petroleum Fund (badly managed though it is) is as much in Trinidad and Tobago’s interest as the rest of the CARICOM countries since it helps to keep those countries as markets for Trinidad and Tobago’s goods.

The real issue with those who now condemn her is the link she drew between her government’s assistance and the use of “builders and companies” from Trinidad and Tobago.

Heat over that issue should be tempered by two realities. First, other countries (not only the former imperialists) link their assistance to their own materials and people. As examples, Cuban projects in many CARICOM countries use Cuban material and Cuban labour, as do several Venezuelan-funded projects. And, China not only insists upon the use of its material and people in aid projects, it does so for commercial projects too. And, it has long been the condition of many donors – either directly or through the agencies they use to finance aid projects – that their money be used for materials and workers from their countries exclusively.

The second reality is that Kamla Persad-Bissessar is the leader of a political party and Prime Minister of a country that, like many others, has become sceptical of CARICOM. It is up to her and her Ministers to demonstrate to a large section of the Trinidad and Tobago population that there is benefit in CARICOM for them.

Of course, they need to demonstrate CARICOM’s benefit to them over a very wide range of issues which includes the fact that CARICOM is a very lucrative market for Trinidad and Tobago’s products and services keeping thousands of its people employed; the country needs the support of CARICOM in fighting drug trafficking and crime, and maintaining security; it needs CARICOM in international bargaining in trade against larger entities such as the European Union; and it would not fulfil its international aspirations in the international system without the full backing of CARICOM.

Trinidad and Tobago, too, must realise that it alone does not wear a crown and it is not an island (not even two) unto itself.

But Persad-Bissessar should not be lynched for what she did not say, or for linking her government’s assistance to use of her country’s material and work force. At no time did she say no help would be forthcoming.

The entire Caribbean is going through what Professor Norman Girvan recently described as “existential threats”. This is a time for cool heads. It is not a time for tit-for-tat statements or for statements whose content sound like “something will not be given for nothing”.

Much of this present controversy is unnecessary and would not happen if CARICOM governments talk to each other on a platform of interdependence and common problems, and with a resolve to solve them collectively, recognising that none of them can go it alone and the task at hand is urgent and huge.

It was significant that at the well-organised and dignified funeral of Barbados David Thompson in the same week of this incident, CARICOM leaders turned out in full force to honour their fallen brother, and CARICOM was given an important role in the proceedings through its Chairman, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding. It is on that sense of CARICOM “family” that the region needs to go forward in its own vital interest.

November 5, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Tough time for some Caricom heads

ANALYSIS

RICKEY SINGH




search for a new secretary general and an improved governance system for the Caribbean Community (Caricom) have come at a very challenging time for some Heads of Government of the 37-year-old regional economic integration movement.

Here in Jamaica, Prime Minister Bruce Golding, current chairman of the Community until February 2011, felt compelled to go on the offensive against a new wave of sharp criticisms of his Government's earlier involvement with a United States law firm to help ease pressures in Washington for the extradition of the infamous don of Tivoli Gardens, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.


Faced with an ongoing battle in defence of his credibility as prime minister, Golding has chosen to ignore the call by the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) for an independent commission of enquiry into the Government's involvement in Coke's extradition case and to engage, instead, in country-wide meetings with various communities and stakeholders to correct the misrepresentations.

It is doubtful that having acknowledged mis-steps by the Government in handling the extradition controversy in the first place, Prime Minister Golding can succeed in evading an independent probe into the whole affair. Especially in the wake of recently published e-mail correspondence between Jamaican attorneys and the law firm of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips.

Dominica: Across in the Eastern Caribbean, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and his Education Minister Peter Saint Jean were informed by High Court Judge Errol Thomas that they would each have to face trial on charges claiming why their parliamentary seats won at last December's general election should be declared null and void.

Skerrit is faced with the charge of having contested the December 18 poll in the Vieille Case while holding dual citizenship (with France), which is forbidden by Dominica's constitution.

His education minister, on the other hand, has been advised that the claims made against the results of his election for the La Plaine constituency by the Opposition United Workers Party leader, Ron Greene, "deserve to be heard" in court.

Antiguan scenario

Antigua: As the Dominican prime minister and his Cabinet colleague await a date for their respective court trials, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer, and two of his Cabinet ministers remain quite anxious about their own future in government.

In the case of the Antiguan trio, their political fate hangs on a judgement to be delivered by a panel of judges from the Eastern Caribbean Appeal Court.

The judgement will be in response to a ruling on March 12 this year by Justice Louise Blenman to declare vacant the seats of Spencer; his education minister Jacqui Quinn-Leandro, and that of the tourism minister John Maginley.

Judge Blenman's ruling resulted from a series of petitions filed by the Opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP) challenging controversial results of the March 2009 general elections at which Spencer's United Progressive Party (UPP) won nine of the 17 parliamentary seats.

Should Justice Blenman's ruling be upheld by the Eastern Caribbean Appeal Court, there would have to be either three by-elections or, more likely, a new general election.

Barbados: In this community state there continues to be deep national concern over the health of Prime Minister David Thompson. He felt compelled to announce on July 1 a two-month leave from official duties to undergo major surgery in the United States.

Apart from the domestic situation, Thompson's illness is also impacting on progress of Caricom's flagship project -- the Single Market and Economy (CSME) -- for which he shoulders lead responsibility among Heads of Government.

Suriname: Then there is the challenge of dealing with the appointment of a new Caricom secretary general, to succeed the retiring Edwin Carrington.

At the same time, the community is preparing to work in the councils of the community with Suriname's newly inaugurated President Desi Bouterse, a long controversial public figure in the politics and governance of that former Dutch colony.

An immediate concern is whether Suriname's scheduled turn to assume the chairmanship of Caricom in July next year should not be deferred instead to February 2012 to facilitate some perceived needed adjustments for both the incoming new secretary general as well as President Bouterse for the rotating six-month chairmanship.

This issue may be finally determined at the first Caricom Inter-Sessional Meeting for 2012 scheduled for Grenada next February and hosted by Prime Minister Tilman Thomas, who will serve as chairman until the regular annual summit in July 2012.

That, under normal circumstances, would have been Suriname's turn to host and assume chairmanship. It is a matter to be resolved.

Finding new SG

Currently, there remain concerns about the approaches by the community's Heads of Government to find the most suitable successor to replace the 72-year-old Carrington, who has been serving as secretary general for 18 years.

The recent decision to recommend the creation of a nine-member "search committee" to help identify potential candidates, when it is not clear that they have even satisfied themselves about what they are looking for in a new secretary general, is not being viewed as a serious approach.

Questions currently being raised include whether the recent special committee meeting in Grenada on "governance issues" had even a draft outline on a 'job description' for the new secretary general.

Further, there is the more crucial issue of a new administrative structure for effective governance which the Heads continue to avoid like the plague, while they fiddle with band-aid responses.

For instance, the hilarious idea of creating a Council of Community Ambassadors to help improve the governance system in areas such as implementation of decisions.

Since they are part of the 'governance' problems, it is being suggested that the Heads should perhaps consider how best to utilise the vast experience acquired by Carrington, both as secretary general of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states and Caricom, in any serious attempt to significantly change the governance system to respond to the challenges of our time.

August 29, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

Free movement issue tops CSME meeting

GEORGETOWN—The free movement of labour and goods, reduction of the food import bill, and strategies to ensure the general public’s effective participation in the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) were among the key issues raised at an open forum of the Convocation on the CSME held in Bridgetown, Barbados. The forum on Saturday afternoon brought the curtain down on the two-day convocation at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Conference Centre, which was held to receive a report of an audit of the status of implementation of the CSME.

The audit was mandated by the Caricom heads of government, four of whom were at the convocation—David Thompson, Prime Minister of Barbados and Lead Head of Government with responsibility for the CSME; Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda; and Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of T&T. The forum, which lasted for more than two hours, benefitted from robust interaction among the heads of government, ministers, regional institutions and organisations, representatives of civil society, the labour union, the private sector and the media. In particular, the free movement of labour and the attendant consequences for member states emerged arguably as one of the more pressing issues at the convocation.

CSME, a thorny issue:

Characterised from the floor alternatively as the “feel of the CSME” and a “thorny issue,” the free movement of labour element of the Community’s flagship programme elicited several recommendations. They ranged from the establishment of a labour market information system and a social welfare stabilisation programme to the full exploration of lifestyle and demographic changes that would be wrought by the free movement of people. The labour movement, which was well represented at the convocation, reiterated its support and commitment to the CSME and recommended the establishment of a regional labour market information system so that the Community could be adequately informed about employment opportunities and other pertinent data from which residents could make informed decisions. The time ripe for such a regional facility, the trade unions argued.

Dialogue and discussion between governments and labour were also critical to progress within the CSME, the trade unions stressed, and suggested that regional tripartite consultation committee forum be set up aimed at promoting and monitoring regulatory labour market developments at the regional level, suggesting areas for improvement and advising on strengthening social capital. The business community expressed concern about the likely change in the demographics of member states, particularly those in the Eastern Caribbean that may occur from the free movement of people in the region. The region must be able to address those facts head-on and until such time as the benefits associated with the CSME are firmly ventilated and understood, there will always be objections, Robert LeHunte, the Caribbean Association of Indigenous Bankers representative, said.

“Life as they know it with those changes will not be the same and people must be aware of that,” he said.

He was also of the view it was important for the community to understand the benefits of political union. “We are missing some of those issues…; the politics of fear can take us that far, but the politics of inclusion is also important,” he said, while underscoring the goals and ideals of the CSME would not be achieved unless there was a mechanism for corporate governance that was not possible without political union.

14 Oct 2009

guardian.co.tt

Bahamas Blog Bahamas

Free movement hot topic at CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) convocation

GEORGETOWN, Guyana -- The free movement of labour and goods, reduction of the food import bill, and strategies to ensure the general public’s effective participation in the CSME were among the key issues raised at an Open Forum of the Convocation on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) held in Bridgetown, Barbados.

The Open Forum on Saturday afternoon brought the curtain down on the two-day Convocation at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Conference Centre, which was held to receive a Report of an Audit of the status of implementation of the CSME.

The Audit was mandated by the CARICOM Heads of Government, four of whom were at the Convocation – David Thompson, Prime Minister of Barbados and Lead Head of Government with responsibility for the CSME; Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda; and Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines and Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Open Forum, which lasted for more than two hours, benefitted from robust interaction among the Heads of Government, Ministers, regional institutions and organisations, representatives of civil society, the labour union, the private sector and the media.

In particular, the free movement of labour and the attendant consequences for Member States emerged arguably as one of the more pressing issues at the Convocation.

Characterised from the floor alternatively as the “feel of the CSME” and a “thorny issue”, the free movement of labour element of the Community’s flagship programme elicited recommendations ranging from the establishment of a labour market information system and a social welfare stabilisation programme to the full exploration of lifestyle and demographic changes that would be wrought by the free movement of people.

The labour movement, which was well represented at the Convocation, reiterated its support and commitment to the CSME and recommended the establishment of a regional labour market information system so that the Community could be adequately informed about employment opportunities and other pertinent data from which residents could make informed decisions. The time ripe for such a regional facility, the trade unions argued.

Dialogue and discussion between governments and labour were also critical to progress within the CSME, the trade unions stressed, and suggested that regional tripartite consultation committee forum be set up aimed at promoting and monitoring regulatory labour market developments at the regional level, suggesting areas for improvement and advising on strengthening social capital.

The business community expressed concern about the likely change in the demographics of Member States, particularly those in the Eastern Caribbean that may occur from the free movement of people in the Region.

The Region must be able to address those facts head-on and until such time as the benefits associated with the CSME are firmly ventilated and understood, there will always be objections, Mr. Robert LeHunte, the Caribbean Association of Indigenous Bankers representative said.

“Life as they know it with those changes will not be the same and people must be aware of that,” he said.

He was also of the view that it was important for the Community to understand the benefits of political union.

“We are missing some of those issues…; the politics of fear can take us that far, but the politics of inclusion is also important,” he said, while underscoring that the goals and ideals of the CSME would not be achieved unless there was a mechanism for corporate governance that was not possible without political union.

The Audit identified five basic challenges which would affect the pace at which economic integration could be achieved:

• surviving the current global economic downturn and emerging from it as a transformed and more resilient Community which is still committed to its original purpose;
  
  


• strengthening the market integration process and stimulating increased cross-border activity, especially in favour of the Member States with negative trade balances;
  
  


• increased investment to build up the general infrastructure and for increased production and job creation;
  
  


• mobilizing adequate resources for implementing effective Community sectoral and other progammes to sustain the supply of skills and for export expansion;
  
  


• reaching agreement on mobilizing adequate resources and execution of a scheduled plan of actions for implementation of the macroeconomic and other measures to establish the single economic space

The matters raised at the Convocation will be considered by officials in November. A final report of the CSME appraisal is expected to be ready for submission to the Twenty-First Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in 2010.



October 13, 2009



caribbeannetnews

Bahamas Blog Bahamas