Just over a month after the St Lucian-born Dr Hyginus ‘Gene’ Leon assumed office as President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and in the wake of media reports in the region tagging his predecessor’s ten-year occupancy of office as a tenure of growth, Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell is challenging the Bank to assume a more aggressive posture in its approach to helping borrowing member countries (BMC) address development challenges.
During a virtual telephone conversation between Mitchell and Leon last week, the customarily outspoken Grenadian Prime Minister told the new CDB President that “these are tough times for the region, and the CDB and its personnel have to become even more innovative in serving member states.”
Asserting that in terms of the operations of the CDB, its agenda ”cannot be business as usual in this time of crisis,” Dr. Mitchell reportedly said that apart from having created “enormous challenges” Covid-19 had “opened up immense opportunities” and that the Bank “must find a way to harness these for the benefit of the region’s development.”
In what appeared to be a direct urging that the CDB raise its game regarding its service to the region, a regional media report on the exchange said that Dr Mitchell called for more innovation in the execution of the CDB’s mandate.
Smith’s tenure in office which extended
from May 2011 to the end of April 2021 meant that he “oversaw the response to two global crises that heavily impacted the Caribbean Region – the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis at the beginning of his first term and the Covid-19 pandemic at the end of his second. In between, CDB tackled a series of increasingly devastating storms associated with climate change which hit Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs),” one media report assessing his tenure in office said.
In paying tribute to Dr Smith at the end of his tenure, Guyana’s Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance Dr Ashni Singh, according to the Department of Public Information (DPI), had noted “the excellent working relationship between the Government of Guyana and the Bank and their valuable support provided over the years”. The CDB, the DPI said, had supported a number of projects in Guyana, “the most recent being the US$190M Linden to Mabura road, funding for which was approved by the CDB last December along with a US$11 million (approximately G$2.3 billion) loan for the development of a Tourism and Hospitality Institute in Guyana.”
Mitchell, a one-time member of the Board of Governors of the regional bank is reported as saying that based on his own experience the CDB tended to be too bureaucratic, a circumstance which, taken together with the bureaucracies of Caribbean governments, tended to compound the problem.
Dr. Mitchell’s reported criticisms of the operations of the CDB came against the backdrop of what, allegedly, have been frustrations over Grenada’s failed efforts to secure the Bank’s support for an assessment of hazards across the country for many years, particularly as it relates to loosened boulders rolling down from hillsides and posing a threat to motorists and others.
And even as he reportedly expressed his “full confidence” in the new CDB President, Dr Mitchell is quoted as saying, “If those who sit at the top do not change the structure and demand accountability, it may not happen. I don’t think we challenge ourselves enough in terms of addressing the bureaucracy. We are too settled in our own comfort zones while there are many people suffering, waiting for us to create opportunities that can help them. I, therefore, challenge the bank to act more aggressively in delivering on its mandate.”
Leon, who assumed office with the strong backing of Grenada and other OECS countries, reportedly used the occasion to thank those countries for supporting his nomination. The new CDB President reportedly alluded to what he reportedly termed the reticence and frustration of Caribbean leaders with respect to the CDB, adding that he wanted to “rebuild, reset and start a new stage where we can genuinely say this is our institution.”
The bank president has reportedly identified some broad areas for collaboration including infrastructure, vulnerability to climate change, and generating more growth through economic diversification.
