CARICOM: a failure of effective leadership

By Byron Blake, jamaica-gleaner GUEST COLUMNIST

Leadership - political, institutional and business - has failed the Caribbean integration process and people over the last decade in the thrust to move from common market to single market and economy and to cope in an unsympathetic global environment.

This became crystal clear to me in 2009.   Then, in the throes of the global economic and financial crisis, CARICOM political leaders refused to adopt and advance an innovative and internally driven strategy based on collaboration, Caribbean creativity and innate strengths.   They consciously and explicitly decided to go visionless and without a strategy to the international financial institutions to provide them with the solution to the crisis as it was manifesting itself in the region.

That, together with their retreat from the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), which should have been the strategic bulwark of the region in the global crisis, and increasing public cynical statements by leaders, caused me to fear for the Caribbean.   I, however, decided to avoid writing, or commenting, as far as possible, lest I added fodder for the cynicism of the general population.

Three recent pieces of writing have caused me to reconsider.   These are:

(i) Bits and pieces from Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves' letter to CARICOM's secretary general, Ambassador Irwin La Rocque,

(ii) Two articles by veteran Caribbean journalist and long-time integration observer Ricky Singh, and

(iii) The editorial in the Observer of February 29, titled 'CARICOM must be enlarged to survive'.

I fear that these are again laying tracks for debate, apportioning of blame, avoidance of responsibility and action and the further disillusionment of the population, especially the young ones.   I have, therefore, decided to break my self-imposed silence to offer a few suggestions for action.

Accountability and agriculture

First, political leaders, at their next opportunity, must make this short declaration, without preamble: "We are all culpable, we are all responsible for the state of the Caribbean economy.   We commit to work together to raise the CARICOM economic boat on which we are all adrift."

Second, political and business leaders must recognise that even with the various global crises, there are significant economic opportunities for Brand Caribbean.   Important here, are:

CARICOM has a large and unsustainable food-import bill.   In addition to this large and growing regional market, there is an insatiable international market for food - especially foods produced under environmentally healthy conditions such as those which still exist in the Caribbean.

Further, unlike the situation which prevailed in the 1980s, 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, when areas such as the Caribbean were discouraged and punished for indulging in food production, the international community is now encouraging and facilitating investment in agricultural production for food and other global benefits such as mitigation of environmental degradation and climate change; the provision of raw material for alternative energy; pharmaceutical and nutraceutical production; and for the achievement of several of the Millennium Development Goals.

Investment in agriculture is a private-sector, not budget-driven, activity. Leaders should agree unequivocally to operationalise the provisions of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.   This would give investors in agriculture, agro-industry and allied services rights to the resources and to invest as envisaged by the treaty.   Also, agree to immediately reconstitute the group which has been looking at agriculture for the past 10 years or so to include a much larger private-sector component.

Solving energy woes

Energy is critical to international competitiveness.   International competitiveness is one of the foundation objectives that differentiates the CSME from the 1973 Common Market.   In a region comprising small, closely located economies, international competitiveness can only be achieved and sustained by combining resources.

Leaders must accept that it is against the letter, intent and spirit of the Revised Treaty to use the existence of a natural resource in a particular jurisdiction to create competitive advantage over other members of the CSME.

A priority of the region should be to put in place an appropriately structured technical group to advise on how best to utilise resources such as the sun, sea and airspaces, fisheries, forests, bauxite, oil and natural gas to drive sustainable and balanced development.   Balanced development is a fundamental concept in both the 1973 and 2001 versions of the treaty.

Export Services

The CARICOM Secretariat has had in its possession, since January 2011, the final report of a study it commissioned on 'New Export Services'.   The study, among other things, recommended five broad areas in which the region can collaborate for immediate, spread and sustained benefits.   These benefits would include not just increased income and employment but the stimulation of the region's creativity and entrepreneurial talents, and the linking of the culture, music, athletic and sporting prowess of the young persons, especially in urban areas.

These recommendations require relatively small financial outlays.   In any event, the region is not short of financial resources for export promotion.   In addition to the resources it expends annually in areas like tourism promotion, it has access to more than €28.1 million from the European Union through CARIBBEAN EXPORT and US$40 million from the Inter-American Development Bank, the Canadian International Development Agency, and the Department For International Development under the Compete Caribbean Programme.   These are two relatively new facilities. The resources should be largely untapped so that governments should agree to direct their use to areas of likely greatest impact.

One of the priority recommendations relates to London 2012.   The basis of the recommendation is the serendipitous coincidence of XXX Olympiad, the Special Olympics and the associated Cultural Olympiad; the burst of the Caribbean (through Jamaica) on to the Olympic stage in London in 1948, followed by Helsinki, 60 years ago, and the expected excellence of the Caribbean in sprint events in London, based on performances in Beijing and Berlin.

Add to this the 50th anniversary of independence from Britain, of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and the 40th anniversary of CARIFESTA, together with the large Caribbean diaspora population in the United Kingdom, it creates a one-time opportunity to project all aspects of Caribbean life.   The spin-off benefits for creativity, culture, music, cuisine, investment opportunities, export potential, tourist attractions, and Caribbean people in general, would be tremendous.

This would not only create a lasting legacy in the UK but provide the basis for a Caribbean programme at the 2014 football World Cup and 2016 Olympics, both in Brazil.

Five months out from the Olympics, which opens on July 27, there is no Caribbean or even national programme to take advantage of the unique opportunity.   It is late.   But in the words of the chair of the Cultural Olympiad, "It is never late for a good idea."   A strong Caribbean participation was considered by her to be "a good idea".

CARICOM leaders must now resolve to work together and launch a specially selected task force to pull together a rescue programme.   This should be delivered within one month.   Pieces of work have been done and there are individuals who have worked with key persons in the UK side who were, up to late 2011, anxious to work with the Caribbean.   The task force would have responsibility to coordinate the implementation.

Third, political leaders must complete the implementation of some high-profile outstanding decisions.   In this regard, the full implementation of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

CCJ

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is a financially costless act through which CARICOM leaders A drilling rig in the twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago as depicted on gstt.org.   Byron Blake says that CARICOM member states should coordinate the use of natural resources to benefit the region  -  can demonstrate to the people of the region their seriousness about Caribbean integration.

In the 50th anniversary of the independence movement in the English-speaking Caribbean, leaders should resolve to make the CCJ their final court of Appeal.   Jamaica, with the largest caseload, and Trinidad and Tobago, the seat of the court, should complete the process before the end of the anniversary year.

Fourth, leaders must seek quick resolution or defusing of differences before they become disputes.

The Reverend Wes Hall will confirm that in 1971 when the prime minister of Guyana, Forbes Burnham, decided to ban Gary Sobers from playing cricket in Guyana, the then prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago presented him with airline tickets and a letter of apology, over Sobers' signature, to take to Barbados to Gary to sign and then to Guyana to Prime Minister Burnham.   Burnham accepted Sobers' apology; matter resolved.

Few but those directly involved knew about Eric Williams' hand in the resolution.

Fast-forward to today.   A misunderstanding between Chris Gayle and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has been left for a year to balloon into a dispute between Jamaica, the Jamaican prime minister and the WICB, with no intervention at leadership level - political business or civil.   Leaders must put in place mechanisms to resolve this and be vigilant in the future.

Fifth, political leadership must resolve to appoint institutional leaders based on proven competence and experience; provide them with clear mandates and resources; and hold them responsible.   In a time of crisis, a new secretary general has been in office for six months without issuing a statement of vision or direction.   This will not instil confidence in a region and an institution under siege.

Byron Blake is a former assistant secretary general of the CARICOM Secretariat. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.

March 4, 2012

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Dancing to Caribbean drums: An appreciation of the life of Rex Nettleford

By Sir Ronald Sanders:



PROF. REX NETTLEFORD, O.M., F.I.J., OCC


This commentary is being written in the first blush of the news that Rex Nettleford has died. A profound and deep sense of loss overcame me, and I have no doubt enveloped many throughout the Caribbean, including those who did not know him personally. What everyone understands - those who knew him personally and those who didn’t - is that he was a Caribbean champion; a man who fervently believed in the worth of the term, “Caribbean person” and gave it both intellectual meaning and depiction.

The entire Caribbean knows, in the inner place that is our Caribbean soul, that, with Nettleford’s passing, the region has lost an essence – an essential ingredient of our own validation as a Caribbean civilization – that was unique and is irreplaceable.

Rex Nettleford simply made Caribbean people more assured of themselves; more comfortable in their skins of whatever colour; and more confident that, despite the fact that they are a transplanted people, they had established a unique cultural identity equal to any in the world.

Nettleford was a Jamaican, but he was Caribbean too. As he said: “The typical West Indian is part-African, part-European, part-Asian, part-Native American but totally Caribbean”. He developed the point by saying: “The texture of character and the sophistication of sense and sensibility engaging the Planet’s systemic contradictions were ironically colonialism’s benefits for a couple of generations in the West Indies. In dealing with the dilemma of difference manifested in the ability to assert without rancor, to draw on a sense of rightness without hubris, to remain human (e) in the face of persistent obscenities that plague the human condition, all such attributes in turn served to endow the Caribbean man with the conviction that Planet Earth is, in the end, one world to share”.

He drew on that reality and his fervent belief in it to serve not only multi-ethnic Jamaica, but the wider multi-ethnic, multi-religious Caribbean, and to be a respected regional representative on the world’s stage including on the Executive Board of the United Nations Education, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

All who knew him in his several incarnations at the University of the West Indies, as Professor, as Vice Chancellor and as emeritus Vice Chancellor, will testify to his great erudition; his capacity to argue passionately and convincingly ; and to the breadth of his knowledge.

I recall well one such international outing when at a biennial meeting of foreign ministers from the UK and the Caribbean, he represented the University of the West Indies in a discussion of the role of education in Caribbean development. I led a delegation from Antigua and Barbuda that included the late Leonard Tim Hector, himself an educator and historian. The discussion on the role of education in development was dominated by Nettleford and Hector, and somewhere in the British archives of that meeting held in London is the verbatim record of their enthralling presentations. It was a discussion conducted without a note by the two main speakers, and none who heard it could fail to be impressed by the quality and force of the arguments. But, they did a major service to Caribbean scholars. The Chevening Scholarship resulted from it, and annually Caribbean students journey to the UK for post-graduate work.

From his overarching position as Vice Chancellor of UWI, Nettleford knew, in his own words, that “the world is changing as if in a contest with the speed of light” and UWI had to produce skills “so that its graduates can find firm place and sustained purpose in the ‘knowledge society’ of the third millennium, even while maintaining standards and delivering education of excellence”. “The challenges of politics, economics, social development in the new global situation,” he said, “demanded no less”.

It was a task to which he set his hand with determination as the University’s principal officer. But, he also knew, as he put it, that the University had “to place great emphasis on the exercise of the creative attributes of the mind”. The University had to produce the skills that would make the Caribbean competitive in the global economy, but it had the ongoing responsibility too of nurturing thinkers, ideas-people, innovators – Caribbean people who, from the richness of their own cohabitation and intermingling, could contribute to domestic and global thinking on religious tolerance, international relations, ending racism, and solving conflicts.

Students from every Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) country encountered Nettleford in one or other of his many roles in the University for decades. They were inspired and motivated by him, and they admired him greatly. Therefore, it is not surprising that Caribbean people - in their separate states with their national flags and national anthems – are united in their sense of loss – a sense that the essence of the region’s single Caribbean soul is yet again diminished.

Rex Nettleford is to Caribbean cultural identity what Shridath ‘Sonny’ Ramphal, Alister McIntryre and the late William Demas are to the Caribbean’s political and economic identity as a region and in the region’s interaction with the global community. He belongs to a select group of Caribbean visionaries who the region’s people know without doubt championed them selflessly and faithfully and validated them in the world.

In the rebuilding of Haitian society – occasioned by the massive physical destruction of Haiti by last January’s earthquake – Rex Nettleford would have been a perfect resource for CARICOM’s P J Patterson, Jamaica’s former Prime Minister, as he leads the regional argument not only for the rebuilding of Haiti, but also for the restoration of Haitian society, socially, culturally and politically.

Nettelford was a dancer and choreographer – two disciplines he personally enjoyed and in which his creativity gave enjoyment to audiences throughout the Caribbean. In these disciplines, he danced to many drums and he was spectacular in his performance. But, it is in the dance to the drums of his Caribbean life that he is a motivating force – Jamaican he was by birth and commitment, but Caribbean he also was by intellectual understanding, cultural recognition, and passionate embrace.

It would be to the Caribbean’s lasting benefit if from the shared sense of loss felt throughout the region, there could be a sustained revival of the drums of Caribbean union to which Rex Nettleford danced in his lifetime.

February 4, 2010

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