The recent imposition of direct rule by the UK in the Turks and Caicos Islands is a regrettable, forced step backwards, CARICOM has said.
It has also expressed “profound concern and deep disappointment” at the decision of the British Government to dissolve the Government and the legislature, and also to suspend the right to trial by jury, all in reaction to the adverse findings of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry on the administration of the territory.
And calling this action counterproductive, CARICOM reiterated what it said was its principled position that the democratic process cannot be strengthened by removing representative democracy from the citizens of the Associate Member of the Caribbean Community, a press release from the CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, stated.
According to the release, it would have been far more beneficial and the results more sustainable to involve the people of the territory through their elected representatives in the efforts required to strengthen the good governance and public administrative processes, which is the stated ultimate goal of the British Government.
It is the firm hope of CARICOM that this action by the British Government will be for a very limited duration, the release concluded.
