Caricom does not want Jamaicans to move freely in the islands.They don't want our homophobia, idle, lewd and violent conduct. We do not like it, why should they? The EU Directive on free movement to the UK landed in 2004 and by 2006 EU citizens were flocking to London. Trinis, Lucians, Bajans, etc, will move freely in Caricom - not us. As a group we are feared! Even the big US and UK can't cope with our offal, and to our chagrin they deport us daily! Caricom works well as friend, coordinator - CCJ, negotiations and "fluffy" things - not growth.
Caricom is becoming a beggar brand - lots of chat, jobs for old boys, no help for our economy or poverty. The core market is small, distant, and as we have half its people and debt we can sink it! Do the maths. We are a big market for them, they are a small market for us. Will the advocates say how CSME will help us? Can we entrust CSME with our economic future? No! We know little of CSME. Will chairman Bruce publish the accounts now? Caricom is not transparent - there's no freedom of information and CSME is flawed. What works in Europe may not work here. Caricom needs a "root and branch" review of all operations, structures, governance and the 1962 and 1973 premises which underpin it. We need to see figures before we cough up more money. We invested 38 years and billions. Where has the money gone?
What's with Minister Tufton and the JMA? Why lobby PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar to make Trinis pay 10 times what they now pay for energy so JMA can export there? What if Kamla asked Bruce to put up the water bill so she can sell us some? The iniquitous light bills we hate, we want Kamla to lay on Trinis! This would raise energy and all other prices for Trinis! A wicked, grudgeful, badminded and stupid act; she must raise prices for her people so we can make a profit! The real politics of poverty - we won't rise to the challenge, so we try to bring Trinis down to suffer with us - voila, we are equal! Is this unity? Friendship? No! We must stop whingeing. Get productivity up, costs down, or lobby Bruce to forgo the same revenue that Kamla forgoes to give her people a break. They see our true colours! Screw Trinis so we can get ahead - I weep for CSME! Scotland gets benefits from its North Sea gas. No UK or EU member protests. It's their gas. Scottish patriots even want to cut ties so they can get the full benefit for their people. Will T&T leave CSME? With friends like us they need no enemies! Tufton and the JMA must lobby the US and UK to raise energy prices for their citizens; tell China to pay workers a living wage so we can compete with them? "Duppy know who to frighten!" Kamla, as a UWI graduate, educator and lawyer, please "run dem bwoy" and let them know "Jancro chrisen 'im pickney firs'!" Selah!
The Maastricht treaty in 1992 took the EU to its present state. CSME will introduce EU-type controls by stealth, but it does not have the frisson of contiguous states, unity in war or wealth to make it work. EU law is superior to its members' laws via the issue of Regulations - binding and applicable with no variation; Directives - the local law must be changed in a given time and its Court of Justice - rulings are binding on individuals and countries. We had the CCJ, now the Council of Ambassadors; we are getting there.
Last week saw Directives to the UK that all EU citizens must have equal rights to housing, health care, employment and benefits in the UK as UK citizens. This will cost UK taxpayers a bomb and new Directives arrive every day. France is told not to deport Roma (gypsies) despite their disruptive behaviour! Can you imagine CSME ordering us not to deport Haitians or to give them free housing and other benefits? Or direct T&T to raise fuel prices to its citizens so Jamaicans can profit? Riot and revolution! CSME is taking supra national control by stealth and we must stop them. CSME is good politics but bad economics. The EU Directive on caged birds in the UK means farmers must buy new "enriched cages" by 2012 to give hens more space - a multi-million pound sterling investment. English eggs will cost more and they can do nothing. CSME must not be allowed to restrict, impair, pre-empt, limit, dictate or control any aspect of our economy. It is a power trip and a trough of foreign loans and grants. What is our share of Caricom debt? Will Governor Wynter tell us? More anon. My Caricom whistleblower is fearful. CSME's agenda is control, not growth. Does it have top business brains as Gordon Shirley's? No! We must vet the new secretary general; if a businessman, we have hope; an international or local civil servant and its politics! Our economic future still lies with our Greater Antilles neighbours whose markets are close and 10 times larger than Caricom's.
OCG: The "politics plot" to erode the OCG's credibility is being played out slowly but relentlessly. I admire the DPP, yet she gave comfort to the plotters by being triumphalist rather than demure and professional. Tufton and his PS know better. The wrongheaded media think it's a contest. Their duties are different. OCG proposes and the DPP decides if the three "horse-taring man dem" with big lawyers should be jailed! Can you tell your bank you made a "genuine mistake" when you get papers, discuss them and sign them under oath with a JP? Wow! Boys, put on your "dunce cap" and sit in the corner!
BRADY: The Brady letter says who met Bruce, when, where, the brief, the money part and who told whom to hide the role of government. Brady is a heavyweight and can win but he will settle and save their skins! At least we know the truth.
RED MUD. I hope ODPEM is in Hungary to help and learn from the spill of bauxite offal. This toxic soup destroyed villages, killed people, spread its poison and they are now detoxing all tributaries into the Danube. The CEO of Mal Zrt, the bauxite firm, was also arrested. What a "prekeh"! Are there lessons for us? Stay conscious!
Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants currently on assignment in the UK. franklinjohnston@hotmail.com
October 15, 2010
jamaicaobserver
