CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque on Tuesday called on the Community Council to equip the CARICOM Secretariat to be the change agent that it required.
Delivering an address at the opening of the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Community Council of Ministers, held on Tuesday in Georgetown, the Secretary-General said that the Secretariat appreciated the challenging circumstances which member states faced, and it had responded to those challenges by freezing its budget from 2008 to 2010 and having its budget cut in 2011, said a press release from the CARICOM Secretariat at Turkeyen.
He noted, however, that any further cuts without prioritizing mandates would weaken the efficiency of the Secretariat, given the resources that were available.
Ensuring an adequately resourced Secretariat was essential, Secretary-General LaRocque said, against the backdrop of the demands by CARICOM Heads of Government that the actions of the Community “must make a meaningful impact on the ground.”
“There is an urgent call for us to do things differently if we are to deliver what is expected of us,” Ambassador LaRocque said, adding that the changes, which are expected to flow from the proposals to restructure the Secretariat, must be welcomed.
“Changes will have to be managed, it will not be easy, it will definitely require a new mindset, a new way of doing things,” the Secretary-General is quoted as saying.
Expressing confidence in the staff of the Secretariat, he noted that “they plough through long hours and are committed to their tasks.”
But he questioned whether the Secretariat was organised to do what is required, and whether they had their priorities right and were capable of rendering the service that member states and associate members require given the available resources.
“These are some of the tough questions that must be faced and answered as we go forward,” LaRocque stated.
Prioritisation and resources are two words which must go along with results, accountability and value for money in reference to the Secretariat and indeed all the Community’s institutions in going forward, the Secretary-General underscored.
The Secretariat’s organisational review is the first of such reviews which are to be conducted of all Community Institutions, LaRocque pointed out.
