Dear Editor,
There is no political will simply because there is no political mandate and I have previously alluded to this basic deficiency affecting any meaningful programme in Caricom.
Executive Director of the Caribbean Council for Europe, David Jessop, in his ‘View from Europe’ column of Sunday, January 9, 2011 gave a very scathing review of the fate of Caricom and expressed the view that the choice of a new Secretary General “will demonstrate how strong or weak an institution they require and whether they want change” – he was referring to the pending decision of the Caribbean heads of government.
Mr Jessop also lamented that academics and others were, “alarmed by the failure of the regional project to move forward, and worried by the inability or unwillingness of governments to implement what is agreed.” Citing most notably the failure to complete the CSME, this lack of political will is evident, but as I have written before, there is no political mandate to impel appropriate action.
Referring to a previous article by Sir Ronald Sanders, in which mention was made that the time had come to stop playing with the aspirations of the Caribbean people, I am forced to ask when and where the aspirations were determined. Aspirations were never, ever sought or given, and that is my contention regarding the absence of a political mandate.
Something as basic as devising a comprehensive regional plan utilising the best Caribbean brains that can be assembled from inside and outside the region is now being put forward by Sir Ronald. Well maybe David Jessop’s column titled ‘The fear is it may be too late for change’ might be quite appropriate.
But the cruncher is in this paragraph: “Sir Ron is right. There is desperate need for a commission with popular support to be empowered to make recommendations on how to move forward and modernise Caricom.” The compelling operative words – “with popular support,” are instructive and highlight the need for a political mandate.
Yours faithfully,
David DeGroot
