Dear Editor,
In a recent letter which I asked Mr Lincoln Lewis to deliver to the Prime Minister of Barbados, I suggested that the Barbadian concept of the social compact (contract) be extended to include the opposition in addition to the government, the private sector and the trade union movement. The inclusion of the opposition will bring the nation together where Westminister policies divide the country unnecessarily. The British practice of Westminister has grown out of centuries of history. Instances where national agreement was threatened by fundamental rifts as during the nationalisation period by the Labour Party and the Arthur Scargill coal strike were resolved by a general acceptance of the welfare state.
No similar consensus has had the time to evolve in Caricom. The period of independence has been too short. Hence the need for a social compact (contract) to include the opposition. The social compact will rein in the polarisation of sharply differing political philosophies.
Brother Eusi Kwayana understood this social dilemma from as early as 1961 and proposed a joint premiership, which was perceived as proportioning the country even though a rotation of premiers was at the heart of the proposal.
Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname present racial and cultural differences in addition to ideological differences in the path to nationhood. The Surinamese maintain their language differences, demonstrating that national unity can be achieved by the way racial groups combine to achieve national output and in the fairness with which that national output is distributed. This realistic approach highlights the sloppy sentimentalism that claims that racial harmony is achieved by living and working together and by declaring that we are all one.
The sum total of the above observations is that the structure of governance is inappropriate to the achievement of national unity. The social compact idea is an extension of the joint premiership proposal, but the rotating premiership is now unworkable. Assignments of responsibilities may be more appropriate. The compact can comprise the opposition, the private sector, and the trade union movement. The opposition can include several political parties including the AFC and the WPA. The trade union movement can embrace FITUG as well as the GTUC.
Local government can be assigned to the opposition which should assume responsibility for drainage and irrigation and the distribution of all land, including land along the highways. The intention in that arrangement is to reduce the inducement for arbitrariness in land distribution.
This is a brief outline of what Eric Phillips continuously refers to as a government of national unity, and that harks back to the missed opportunity of the joint premiership that Brother Kwayana proposed since 1961. It provides for the Oliver Hinckson conversation of race, and reins in the murder and mayhem of extra-judicial killing.
This arrangement constitutes much more than power sharing. It cannot wait for the elections of 2011. It should be instituted immediately.
Yours faithfully,
Clarence F Ellis