Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Dr. Kenny D. Anthony, the Incoming Chairman of the Caribbean Community, called on his colleague Heads of Government yesterday to craft responses to jointly address corruption and the abuse of power in order to have better governance.
Prime Minister Anthony, in remarks, contended that mature societies act freely and not only when forced to do so, and therefore “if we are to expect better governance, then we must find the courage and the determination to reform our parliamentary processes as well as our electoral machinery and related practices.”
According to a copy of his remarks made available by the CARICOM Secretariat at Turkeyen, the Incoming Chairman of CARICOM declared that “we must craft responses to jointly address corruption and the abuse of power. We must rethink our financial management systems to make them more transparent and accountable to the shareholders of our states; so that it reflects the totality of government operations, not simply that of Central Government.”
Meanwhile, he said that “thankfully, we have the prior experience of Jamaica, which has led the way in innovations such as creating an Office of Contractor General and modifying budget procedures to better capture government spending.”
Anthony said that “we cannot afford to leave the winds of progress uncaught when they blow,” as “the gales and harmattans of global politics and economics mean that we must be willing to venture through waters uncharted. We must be enterprising, yet perceptive and willing to put into our “common cloud,” the store of knowledge and expertise held throughout our states.”
The Saint Lucia Prime Minister acknowledged that of great concern to him “is the apparent recurrence of issues related to the management of our institutions which were addressed years before (and) these are like recurring decimals and we really must summon the will to settle them once and for all.”
As a consequence, he maintained, “we must not fear to reform and reshape our political architecture within regional and national spaces.”
Decisions in Beijing
Anthony also pointed out that the time has come for CARICOM to overhaul and redefine its foreign policy positions and postures.
“I accept that there will always be differences between and among our states. But that does not mean that we should ignore the need to remodel our space in this dramatically altered world.”
According to the Saint Lucia leader, “the reality that beholds us is that the prospects of global growth will be determined by decisions made in Beijing.”
China is on course to be become the world’s largest economy in the next few years and a superpower in its own right, he noted.
“Sixty percent of the global population is in Asia with a growing share of the world’s GDP – currently 22% and rising. Major emerging economies including India, Indonesia, Korea and Malaysia are increasingly important to global demand,” Anthony highlighted.
In this hemisphere, he said, the countries of Latin America, once told that they were doing everything wrong, have emerged out of this global economic quagmire relatively unscathed.
He said further that although Africa’s GDP is currently about one-twelfth that of Asia’s, it is a massive continent of nearly one billion persons and with exciting opportunities. African states are finding a new era of stability which is fuelling economic growth and a socio-cultural renaissance.
Anthony posited that in many ways, Africa is embracing and adapting technology at a faster rate than the Caribbean.
“South Africa and Nigeria are not the only regional powers enjoying increased prosperity and even formerly war torn states such as Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo are becoming major partners for investment flows from China.”
“With such rapid change and enormous opportunity, where does CARICOM find itself?”, he questioned.
Anthony noted that the Caribbean and Africa are historical extensions of each other.
“We know the potential exists to develop strong Trans-Atlantic partnerships in trade, tourism, technology, education and cultural fusion. Unfortunately, we have allowed our relationship with the African Continent to rise and fall with the fortunes of the ACP. We need to re-engage Africa urgently,” the new Chairman of CARICOM asserted.
And he contended that Europe which is now facing an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions will never be the same again.
“We need not be naïve of the likely impacts that these may have on future assistance from the European Union. Already, efforts are underway to redefine us.”
And he went on to explain that while “we should certainly ensure our economies benefit from the existing Economic Partnership Agreement with Europe, however, we must come to terms with a Europe that is deeply wounded.”
