Mediation in Caribbean Justice

By Abiola Inniss, LLB, LLM, ACIArb

The use of alternative dispute resolution in the Caribbean is as yet in a fledgling state and there is little information about it in most parts of the region, except for Jamaica, which has a considerably developed ADR scheme that focuses on mediation, and there is substantial ignorance about what constitutes alternative dispute resolution.

While Jamaica’s dispute resolution foundation has made significant strides in the promotion of peace and reconciliation in various communities, as well as in providing useful support to its justice system, the example has not resounded strongly across the region. Caribbean justice systems and seekers of justice remain strongly entrenched in the adversarial, combative methods of resolving matters, even with all the attendant difficulties and disappointments which often accompany litigation.

It needs to be clear that ADR usually applies to civil matters (person to person non-criminal claims) and that, where ADR is applied in the criminal jurisdiction, it is known as restorative justice and remains distinct from the other ADR methods, comprising conciliation, negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. In selecting mediation for particular attention in the discussion of Caribbean justice, it is intended that this form of dispute settlement might be considered within the context of the issues that trouble the region at community levels within CARICOM countries and their impact on the justice system.

A cinematic view of community life in any Caribbean nation would reveal a culture that contains a mixture of stereotypes, prejudices, superstitions and beliefs, which often compound the issues of what justice is and what is expected of it in the mind of the average citizen.

For example, it is common perception that a woman’s birthright is the home and that this right is absolute, her physical right is unquestionable while in her home; however, if she is violated in any way while outside her home, perceptions tend to vary as to whether the violations were of her own making or whether she contributed to it by being outside her home (see Caribbean legal educator, Hazel Thompson Ahye - ‘Women and Family Law and Related Issues’ for further discussion).

This idea, among others, has extended from the grassroot levels to the halls of justice, with consequences ranging from the interesting to the appalling.

Mediation comes into the justice system as a means of tempering the dispensing of justice according to fixed principles and judicial discretions and gives disputants the power to discuss their problems under professional guidance and to come to a resolution of their own making. It also gives a means of hearing to those affected by prejudice and other forms of unreasoned or unreasonable thinking, so that a path to common understanding might be laid.

It has been found that parties retain a high level of loyalty to their settlements when reached in this way and that there is better opportunity of conciliation afterwards.

The obvious advantage is that there is a lesser burden on the courts to deal with petty matters that often permeate the Magistrates courts and which could be dealt with by mediation. Issues of common corridor littering, noise nuisance, market vending disputes, family disputes concerning common dwelling and other similar problems can be addressed in this manner.

The overall benefit to the system of justice is that the municipal courts are freer to deal with more jurisprudentially substantial issues and that a culture of peaceful resolution is recognized at all levels of society. The economic side of justice dispensation internationally also favours the use of ADR very strongly and the current trend across Europe with the budget cuts has made it imperative for governments to find other means of addressing the resolution of disputes.

In the United Kingdom, the government announced proposals to close 54 county courts and 103 magistrates courts in order to save some 15.3 million pounds sterling in annual operational costs. The Courts Minister Jonathan Djanogly is quoted as saying, “Not all disputes need to be resolved in court . I want to explore whether more people can resolve their disputes in a way that leads to faster and more satisfactory solutions.”

Lord Woolf FCIArb, the architect of the major reform of the UK justice system, which led to new civil procedure rules in 1998, is also quoted as saying, “The availability and use of mediation is always important but the present financial situation has made its use, whenever possible, essential. No one can afford to ignore the benefits it offers.”

In the Caribbean, Guyana recently passed the Mediation Bill, which among other things makes the use of court-connected mediation mandatory for some kinds of disputes. Experience has taught, however, that it sometimes requires more than the passing of legislation to create a new cultural norm. The application of the law may demand conformity from a party to it but does not translate to wide cultural acceptance of an idea and many examples of this abound worldwide, the ongoing debate over the US case of Roe V Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) points out this idiosyncrasy.

There needs to be region-wide promotion of the concept of alternative dispute resolution and the particular use of mediation in the court systems and in the communities. Citizens need to see and feel the benefits for themselves in order to promote a culture of mediation, negotiation and conciliation Arbitration is hardly a community based option since it is more suitable for business arrangements and industrial and commercial disputes.

The concept and use of mediation in Caribbean justice requires far more effort and application than is currently exerted. Certainly it is to be hoped that Caribbean leaders in the legal field and in government will not wait for the gates of perdition to be opened upon our society before embracing alternative dispute resolution.

November 29, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Haiti's Election November 28, 2010: I am voting for Michel Martelly!

I am voting for Michel Martelly!
By Jean Hervé Charles



The election of November 28, 2010 represents a seminal transitional corner for Haiti in the Caribbean (it shares that auspicious Sunday with Ivory Coast in Africa). The island country will either go back to the squalor of the past under a new cover or it will leap forward into a renaissance that will bring not only Haiti but the whole Caribbean into a sustainable growth mode.

With its ten million creative and resilient (albeit uneducated citizens), its natural beauty of gigantic mountains surrounding the villages and the cities, Haiti under a proper government can become the Singapore of the Caribbean. The question is whether the retrograde culture of Duvalier, Aristide and Preval that has been the staple politics looming over Haiti during the past sixty years can be uprooted to plant a culture of solidarity and hospitality towards and amongst each other?

2010 can rightfully being described as an annum miserabilis for Haiti. The successive wave of misery started at the dawn of the New Year with an earthquake that shook the land under the capital and the surrounding cities, killing more than 300.000 people and sending 1.5 million citizens to live under tents in fetid condition.

The earthquake during the winter was followed by flooding during the spring, hurricane during the summer and an outbreak of cholera during the fall, causing more than one thousand deaths and sixteen thousand infected and in hospitalization. Under those circumstances, the Haitian people have remained calm, resilient and conducting business as usual as imposed by the obligation of daily survival.

Recently, the people of the northern part of the country, endowed with a culture of defiance inherited from Henry Christophe, the first Haitian king, have embarked into a fight to derail the election -- dubbed a selection -- and to demand the withdrawal of the UN forces – in particular the Nepalese contingent accused of bringing the cholera virus into Haiti and the Caribbean. The same contingent is also accused of the murder by hanging of a young lad who used to do errands for the army personnel.

In that environment, nineteen candidates are vying to become the next president of Haiti. The five front runners represent a canvas of the old guard reconfigured with new color plus two new kids on the block: M for Martelly and M for Manigat.

If the eyes of the world can suffice to protect the ballots against the manipulation of the government for its preferred candidate, I am predicting the last electoral fight will be between the two Ms: Martelly and Manigat.

Mrs Mirlande Manigat, the spouse of the former President Manigat, holds a PhD in political science from the Sorbonne in France; she is the vice dean of a private university, Quisqeya University. She was riding a wave of good will from the populace until a story from a Mexican newspaper indicated she has entered into a secret deal with the Preval government to share the political cake with her, holding the presidency while yielding the prime ministry to Preval.

Joseph Martelly has been the Haitian bad boy, the equivalent of Howard Stern in the Haitian media. As the leader of a musical band named Sweet Micky, he did not hesitate to confront the mores of the Haitian culture that refrain from vulgarity and plain language. Yet as a candidate, he pointed the right finger at the de facto apartheid condition existing in Haiti. On television, in the national debate he accused the other candidates of being part of the problem for presiding one way or the other in the policy making that led to the disastrous Haitian situation prevailing in the last twenty years.

I met Martelly recently as we were boarding the same plane traveling from Kennedy airport to Port au Prince, Haiti. I told him of my fascination for his vision of a Haiti hospitable to all. He should nevertheless send his mea culpa to the people and to the Church for the dirty language used as a non candidate. He was unrepentant. “The other candidates must first send their mea culpa for their disrespect and their callousness in their treatment of the Haitian people!”

I have listened to the young people. His voice reasoned amongst them. I have listened to the poor and the deserted; he has a following amongst them. I have followed those who are disgusted of the more things change, more they remain the same, Martelly represents for them a breath of fresh air!

As an advocate of change for Haiti, a change that starts at the bottom to engulf all the citizens, those who live in the abandoned countryside as well as those who live in the squalid cities, I am voting on Sunday for Michel Martelly. I am predicting he will be the wild card who will upset the status quo inside the country as well as the so called friends of Haiti to force the country to embark into the road of modernity as Singapore did in Asia some twenty years ago!

November 27, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

A Time for Thanksgiving

The Bahama Journal Editorial


Those who would be Christians routinely give the Almighty thanks for all that transpires in their lives. They are – so to speak- men and women who are imbued with an ethos that calls on them to serve, struggle and sacrifice.

Christianity is also that kind of faith that is grounded in a philosophy that calls on humankind to struggle and serve as it waits for the coming of that day when it will be reconciled and reconnected with its Maker.

Coming with this philosophy or worldview are other notions that are profoundly and deeply rooted in the Torah; words to the effect that human beings made in the image of God are enjoined to walk humbly, do justice and love God.

It is with these thoughts in mind that today, we note a matter that is of high moment not only for our great neighbor to our immediate north, but also to people like us who would emulate the American Way. The matter to which we refer concerns that uniquely American day that has been set aside for Thanksgiving.

As President Obama says in his proclamation, “As Americans, we hail from every part of the world. While we observe traditions from every culture, Thanksgiving Day is a unique national tradition we all share. Its spirit binds us together as one people, each of us thankful for our common blessings.”

We say Amen to that sentiment.

Indeed, we today take –as it were- a break of sorts from our now routine litany of lament concerning how crime has run amok or [for that matter] how this or that leader is not doing what they should.

Instead, we pause to take note that while things are bad, there is still much that is going quite right. And for sure, there is absolutely no doubting of the truth in the proposition that Bahamians are – for the most part- hard-working, law-abiding citizens.

In addition, while crime seems to be spiraling, there is a sense we are getting that serves to underscore the point that people have not gotten so far jaded that nothing is either being done or contemplated.

Lots of truly good things are happening; and for these thanksgiving is absolutely necessary. And so, we give thanks. Indeed, we have a myriad of other reasons to show how we are always so very optimistic.

Assuredly, we would also venture that most Bahamians would respond in the positive were they to be asked whether they are Christians. And for sure, most of these people would readily say that – as Christians- they are called to give thanks in all things and for all things.

This implies that Bahamians are absolutely predisposed to join in rituals and routines that reference thanksgiving and harvest.

Indeed, there are numbers of old-timers who vividly recall the times when farm produce was the ready staple destined for ‘harvest’.

Here of late, one of the signs of the times has to do with the fact that some people now bring –as harvest- some of the canned goods they purchased from this or that super-market.

So, while some things might have changed, Bahamians –in their vast majority- celebrate Thanksgiving in a manner that is quite reminiscent of how Americans do the same thing.

Indeed, Thanksgiving as we know it, uses the American model as its ever-ready template.

As research reveals, “Thanksgiving Day in the United States is possibly the premier U.S. family celebration — typically celebrated at home or in a community setting and marked with a substantial feast…”

We note that, “Thanksgiving provides an occasion for reunions of friends and families, and it affords Americans a shared opportunity to express gratitude for the freedoms they enjoy as well as food, shelter and other good things.”

We also know that, “Many Americans also take time to prepare and serve meals to the needy at soup kitchens, churches and homeless shelters. Others donate to food drives or participate in charity fundraisers; in fact, hundreds of nonprofit groups throughout the country hold Thanksgiving Day charity races called “Turkey Trots.”

“And on a more worldly note, Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the “holiday season” that continues through New Year’s Day. The Friday after Thanksgiving is one of the busiest shopping days of the year.”

And for sure, we are also quite aware that, “Every year, the president issues a proclamation designating the fourth Thursday in November (November 27th. this year); a National Day of Thanksgiving.

And finally, “It is an official federal holiday, and virtually all government offices and schools — and most businesses — are closed…”
Of course, stores here in the Bahamas will not be closed.

And for sure, while some Bahamians will remember to give thanks; some others –sadly – will eat, drink and be merry’ all the while remaining blissfully oblivious of the reason for the celebration.

November 27th, 2010

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Haiti and the UN: To promote social progress and better standards of life?

By Rebecca Theodore


Not even Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy can sum up the magnitude of Haiti’s nightmare. Yes! Hell has a local existence in today’s day. Hell is the doomed misery of Haiti. ‘Prisons built with stones of law... Brothels with bricks of religion...’ Excess sorrow magnified in multitudes dying the death of common worms in a great age of modern medicine where cholera is akin to a common cold in the west.

Reluctantly enough, the occupants of that hell are also the UN with pitchforks, drinking blood sweetened with tears, embellishing their corporate wants in bureaucratic inefficiency and waste. And like the great whore of Babylon arrayed in purple and scarlet, beckoning with golden pitchers filled with abominations and filthiness, their babbled voices penetrating thick billows of smoke - ‘ we need $164-million (US) more in special aid’ to treat a disease which was reported about two months ago, while a people and culture plummet into eternal dust.

Lurching from flood to earthquake to hurricane and now epidemic in the space of mere months, Haiti has not only emerged as the richest poorest state on the planet but it is now the raging cries of critics everywhere that ‘the UN belongs in a museum next to the League of Nations.’

This criticism no doubt must be widely hailed by people everywhere because in the same way the League of Nations failed to prevent the scourge of World War II, leading instead to added pain and suffering on all humankind, the UN has instead chosen to embezzle billions of dollars in fraud to satisfy their corporate ambitions, ignoring the perils of the Haitian people and humanity on a whole.

Judging from the incompetence and corruption in Haiti, it is easy to see why the UN is a testament of failure in calling for additional aid for a disease that can be treated with simple oral rehydration salts or antibiotics. To ask why people are dying like flies in a modern age of medicine and why they waited so long impels our thoughts back to the Congo sex scandal that went on for more than a year, even after UN officials had knowledge of allegations that their peacekeepers were raping children as young as 12, soliciting prostitutes and engaging in child abuse.

Hundreds of images of child pornography involving Congolese and Haitian children are satisfying the wants and lust of pedophiles on the internet, having been placed there from the caches found on the laptop of French UN civilians. Sadly enough, up to this day not one UN soldier has been charged, thus justifying their actions as good and righteous.

To add to this discontent, the UN also failed to act in Liberia’s seven year civil war in which hundreds of thousands were butchered. UN peacekeepers sent to Rwanda failed to prevent the murder and torture of nearly one million Rwandans. The UN failed to condemn slavery in Sudan, and failed miserably in Sierra Leone. The UN failed in Angola, in Kashmir, and in Colombia. The UN has failed to prevent genocide or provide assistance in Darfur and now we are summoned with the mother of all failures -- Haiti. This is no genocide by natural selection as many choose to claim and Nepalese troops are not the scapegoats of the blame game. It is the failed and corrupt administration of the UN.

Haiti will prove that the UN’s mission of maintaining international peace, advancing cooperation in solving economic, social and humanitarian problems, and promoting social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom is nothing but a charade… a metaphor swallowed in the bowels of political jargon to mask the passing of time. Admonishing people to wash their hands and drink boiled or potable water defies human reasoning in a country where people haven’t had a proper meal in months -- how can they afford soap?

Educating the population on cholera prevention or learning the proper hygiene concerning any epidemic will be a big task in Haiti because mistrust of colonial representatives like the UN will forever deny the psychological and physical conditions needed to understand the destructiveness of the epidemic, as medical science and concern for health is imposed by an occupying order that makes it impossible for education to produce social change, because education grows out of a colonial environment in which the preservation of lives, and the maintenance of the social structure can never be maintained.

Not only did the UN ignore the fact that a perturbing effect in one part of the system has a disastrous and far reaching consequence, which is presently mired in an epidemic that now transgresses the Haitian boundaries, making the entire Caribbean at risk; but has now evoked a new wave of political violence for the poor and destitute in Haiti, who have seen nothing but hunger and death for more than 10 months.

As fate would have it, United Nation troops are protecting and fulfilling the duties of only UN workers as has been customary. For this reason, Haitians must be obliged to seek solace in the leadership of Dr Mirlande Manigat in the upcoming presidential elections -- the first female who will ever to be elected to that office, as there must be change, not only from the corrupt dictators that have ruled Haiti for decades but also from the binding shackles and corrupt management of the UN.

And if anyone asks where hell is -- there you have it... beyond Dante's imagination --
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate (Abandon all hope ye who enter here)
Through Haiti you pass into everlasting pain
And into the darkness of daylight
But to the UN I say --
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven

November 24, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Should Haiti become a UN Protectorate?

By Winston D. Munnings



With presidential elections to be held in Haiti on November 28, if there was ever a time to revisit the concept of Haiti becoming a UN Protectorate State is now. And why not? There is no other nation in the Western Hemisphere that has endured the adversities and misfortunes as that of the Republic of Haiti and its people. No other country!

Haiti’s problems and the problems of the Haitian people, however, did not start on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 10:53 pm, when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti, killing more than 250,000 and leaving 1.5 million of its people homeless. Haiti’s problems started more than a half century ago under a merciless dictatorship, a poorly planned economy, greed, corruption, isolation … and the list goes on and on for this long neglected nation, which achieved its independence in 1804.

Fast forward all this now to 2010 (as Haiti is finally the focus of the world’s attention) and just one week shy of national elections there to elect a new president. There are undoubtedly more questions than answers by all concerned (Haitians included) about Haiti’s future and (perhaps) more suggestions than ever before as to how the new leaders might proceed to bring this ravaged nation into the 21st century.

The question of a UN protectorate status for Haiti is relatively old news, but one that shows promise for Haiti in the long run. In fact, some in the international community have already called for the creation of a UN protectorate for Haiti to provide this already fragile nation with stability and leadership as they recover and rebuild from the devastation of the last eleven months.

Others, of course, are strongly rejecting this option, viewing it as a threat to Haiti’s autonomy and sovereignty. What autonomy, one might ask? How is the current situation in this island nation benefitting the republic and its people? How long must the Haitian people continue to suffer while we intellectualize about their future?

Before the January earthquake, Haiti was still the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Given what has happened since (an assault last month by Hurricane Tomas and a deadly cholera outbreak that followed) the people of the Republic of Haiti are worse off now than ever before. The people of Haiti are hurting as never before.

Haiti needs help. Haiti needs guidance. Given the republic’s present dilemma, Haiti needs to be taken care of as a parent would take care of a child until that child is in position to take care of himself.

CARICOM, France, the United States and the future president of Haiti need to come together early 2011 under the auspices of a UN sponsored conference (now that Haiti is finally the focus of the world’s attention) to take a review of Haiti’s future and the future of its people. Critical to that review should be to assess the short, medium and long term impact on Haiti under UN Protectorate Status similar to that (perhaps) of the Kosovo model. To this end, it might be a good idea for the special envoy to Haiti (President Bill Clinton) to invoke the fundamentals of the UN Charter and let this world assembly take serious charge of Haiti’s monstrous predicament.

It is not unusual for the United Nations to play a significant role is matters of this kind. Although the circumstances vary in each case, take a look at Protectorates under direct UN administration since the early 1960s: (1) United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA), 1962-1963 - United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), 1992-1993 - United Nations Transitional Authority for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES), 1996-1998 - United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), 1999 – Current, and United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), 1999-2002.

This is not the time to talk of Haiti’s autonomy as a sovereign entity. This is the time to talk of Haiti’s survival and the survival of its industrious and hardworking people who deserve, like other peoples, the opportunity to live and to be recognized and treated as human beings.

November 22, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Why Caricom needs to know of T&T's illegal spying politics

By Rickey Singh





PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Trinidad and Tobago would have done herself and her Government a whole lot of good by going public last Tuesday with an apology to Caricom partners for her recent unfortunate and insensitive statements that linked emergency disaster aid to likely benefits to her country.

Without any rhetorical choreography, she declared during Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines: "I do apologise for the statements that have been taken in this regard. I remain committed to regional integration and to our Caricom brothers and sisters."

What she now needs to consider — bearing in mind that her domestic opponents will continue to exploit that careless political stance — is to sensitise Caricom governments to the uncovering of an illegal spying network with the lists of unsuspecting victims reaching the highest political office to ordinary law-abiding citizens.

The reason such an initiative should be considered is not a matter of courtesy but because the national security interests of Trinidad and Tobago's community partners may well have been compromised by the spying epidemic that involved State-funded intelligence agencies.

Let the following account help to inform what went so terribly wrong when illegal spying on law-abiding citizens, pursued under the guise of battling crime and ensuring "national security", got out of control:

If the problem were not as nationally and regionally challenging, a relevant news item last week could have been dismissed as perhaps an error, or a joke.

Some quick checking by this columnist with the Caribbean Community Secretariat in Georgetown and Caricom's Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) made it clear that it was neither an error nor a laughing matter.

The dust had not yet settled on a parliamentary exposure on November I2 about very extensive and intrusive spying activities of State agencies under the previous People's National Movement Government of ex-Prime Minister Patrick Manning, when there came a surprising press release last Monday from the Community Secretariat.

It announced the holding of a five-day training workshop -- which was then currently occurring in Port-of-Sain, involving 20 immigration officers from 11 Caricom countries, in addition to seven law enforcement officers from the Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT).

Under normal circumstances, such a news release from the Community Secretariat would simply have been taken as notification of another work programme of IMPACS. This is the agency which was established to serve the security needs of the region when we hosted Cricket World Cup 2007.

However, given the grave implications of the violations of the fundamental rights of citizens across all races, political parties, social classes and professions by the illegal spying network, it was ironic that SAUTT was involved in the so-called 'train-the-trainer' workshop then underway in Port-of-Spain.

Money and arms


Granted, the arrangements for the workshop would have preceded the November 12 statement in Parliament by Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar about the shocking illegal spying operations in which SAUTT was initially involved.

There also came the exposure of even more disturbing illegal activities by an uncovered Secret Intelligence Agency (SIA) that was out of control, with millions of dollars and a quantity of sophisticated weapons at its disposal.

It may perhaps have been too late for either the Caricom Secretariat and/or the Trinidad and Tobago Government to pull the plug on the five-day 'train-the-trainer' workshop at SAUTT's Camuto-based training facilities.

Nevertheless, it's difficult to ignore the insensitivity on the part of those who have collaborated on the training project with SAUTT as a core partner, as if oblivious to the negative image of this State agency now facing a doubtful future.

Unlike the alarming details the people of Trinidad and Tobago and the region in general came to learn by Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar's disclosure of the SIA's illegal spying activities, the public had already been alerted to the disturbing functioning of SAUTT.

For instance, that the six-month-old People's Partnership Government (PPG) of Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar felt compelled, on the basis of controversial reports received, to terminate the services of the former director of SAUTT as well as to significantly overhaul its mode of operations, pending further decision on its future.

The Workshop


This, then, is the same security body that was involved with IMPACS for last week's training programme.

Involved in collaborative efforts for the workshop are CARICAD (Centre for Development and Administration) and DIFID (British Department for International Development).

While SAUTT remains under the microscope with a doubtful future, and the more controversial SIA has been shut down while the Government finalises plans for a structured probe, a formal request is to be made to the director of public prosecutions to pursue actions he deems legally relevant.

There remains, of course, another dimension to the saga of Trinidad and Tobago's "spying politics" in relation to the security interest of Caricom as a whole.

It is simply not easy to accept that the implications of the gross human rights violations involved in the illegal spying politics in Trinidad and Tobago may have been overlooked in relation to their consequences for Caricom partners.

The reality is that whoever is the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago also holds lead responsibility for "crime and security" in Caricom's quasi-cabinet.

That was the case under Patrick Manning's watch during the past five years in particular when the now recognised 'spying epidemic' was spreading with all the negative effects of illegal interceptions of telephone, e-mail and other forms of communication.

In the circumstances, it is felt that Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, who currently shoulders lead responsibility for crime and security in Caricom, has a moral obligation to share as much as possible of the illegal spying activities with her community counterparts.

Question of relevance is: How can a Caricom prime minister, with lead portfolio responsibility for crime and security, be depended upon to be competent and committed in fulfilling his/her mandate, when at home there are a multiplicity of examples involving illegal spying activities that violate the basic rights and dignity of law-abiding nationals?

November 21, 2010


jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

Chinese take away?

By Sir Ronald Sanders


Problems have emerged in the Bahamas over the number of Chinese workers on a project funded in part by the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank of the People’s Republic of China.

The original number of Chinese workers appears extraordinarily high – 8,150 even though there is an undertaking from the owners of the project that the peak number of foreign workers, at any given time, will not exceed 5,000 non Bahamians.

Rightly, Bahamas’ Prime Minister, Hubert Ingraham, has raised concerns about the large number of Chinese workers. His concerns are particularly relevant against the background that, according to the International Monetary Fund “tourist arrivals declined by 10 percent and foreign direct investment fell by over 30 percent, leading to a sharp contraction in domestic activity and a large rise in unemployment” in the Bahamas in 2009.

Construction is a critical engine of growth in any economy, but especially so in small economies where payments to local workers and suppliers keep money in circulation over a wide area including supermarkets, transport providers, clothing and footwear stores, real estate rentals and banks.

If 8,150 Bahamians – or close to it as possible – could be employed in this project, it would definitely be a fillip to the Bahamian economy and help to expand domestic activity and create jobs directly and indirectly.

The issue troubled Ingraham enough for him to travel to China to raise the matter with the Chinese government and return to the Bahamas with the news that he had succeeded in securing $200 million dollars more for construction workers and for Bahamian sub-contractors, raising the total that would be allocated to them to $400 million.

How this translates into jobs for Bahamians and a reduction in the number of Chinese workers is unclear, but note should be taken that, not surprisingly, the opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has characterised Ingraham’s journey to China as “a failure”. To be fair, it should also be pointed out that it was the PLP which introduced this project, known as Baha Mar, when it served as the government.

Baha Mar, projected to cost $2.5 billion, is a very large tourist project. On completion it is expected to rival the Bahamas’ biggest tourist plant, Atlantis, which was developed by Kerzner International. The operator behind Baha Mar is Caesars Entertainment Inc, a private gaming corporation that owns and operates over 50 casinos and seven golf courses under several brands. Prior to November 18, the Company was called Harrah’s Entertainment.

Ceasar’s, like every commercial business, puts its profitability first. In seeking financing from Ex-Im Bank of China, they apparently agreed that the work force, in effect, would be 71% Chinese and 29% Bahamian – a bitter pill to swallow in the best of economic times and certainly indigestible in the present economic climate.

No one in the Bahamas or elsewhere doubts the contribution that Baha Mar will make to the Bahamas economy in the short and long term, but the conditions of the Chinese loan rankles on the requirement for such a large number of Chinese workers.

After all, this is not aid. It is not even emergency or disaster aid when a high component of Chinese material and people would be acceptable. It is purely and simply a commercial contract, lending money that will have to be repaid.

The only reason one can surmise for the insistence on such a large number of Chinese workers, vastly outnumbering Bahamian ones, is that the Chinese will work for less and trade union conditions, and rights, would not apply in their case thus reducing the cost of the project.

This commentary is less concerned about the local politics of the Bahamas that are involved in this issue; more qualified people can comment on them. It is more concerned with the present and future relations between Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries and China.

The experience of African countries, notably Angola recently, in relation to China’s use of an overwhelming number of Chinese workers, shows a strain in their relations with China. In 2006, the former President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki famously remarked: Africa must guard against falling into a "colonial relationship" with China.

I have long argued that CARICOM countries should negotiate with China at least a long-term framework treaty that covers aid, trade and investment. It should be a treaty along the lines of the Lomé and Cotonou Agreements that existed with the European Union.

As in all their bargaining with third countries, the CARICOM states would secure better terms if they negotiated with China as a collective than if each of them tried to bargain alone. And, if they succeeded in settling a treaty with China, issues such as the paramountcy of local labour in commercial projects and in loan-funded projects could be settled upfront, as would issues such as the supremacy of labour laws and respect for human rights in the countries where such projects are undertaken.

To negotiate such a Treaty with China, however, CARICOM countries have to do one of two things: those who now recognise Taiwan over China will have to drop that stance so that there is a united CARICOM recognition of China only; or those that recognise China should proceed to negotiate the Treaty with China leaving the others to join when they can.

There is a small window of opportunity left to negotiate a meaningful treaty with China. As China grows more powerful economically crowding out CARICOM’s traditional aid donors and investment partners, it will become very difficult for small Caribbean countries to bargain for the best terms even on commercial projects.

Beggar thy neighbour policies will get CARICOM countries nowhere in the long term and the time is right for all CARICOM countries to strengthen their relations with China on the basis of a structured and predictable treaty.

My friend and fellow writer, Anthony Hall, wrote recently that Hubert Ingraham’s “challenge to China” on the issue of the 8,150 Chinese workers “is precedent setting... and it behoves all leaders in our region to support, and be prepared to emulate, the stand he’s taking: for together we stand, divided we fall”.

China has itself faced the challenges of division; it might – just might - respect Caribbean unity.

November 19, 2010

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Bahamas Blog International