By failing, up until now, to provide the people of the Caribbean with an update on the state of readiness of the promised Food Security Terminal and some kind of reasonable timeframe by which it will begin to serve the region, those Caribbean Heads of Government that have been charged with responding to what we have been told is a food security crisis in the region and those ‘lesser’ functionaries responsible for the execution of this most important project have exposed themselves to being accused of doing the region a disservice. To repeat our oft-stated position – lest it may have been misunderstood – our position remains that even as the project is being ‘rolled out’ the extent of its importance to some countries in the region, more than others, demand that we be apprised, in phases, of the progress being made towards its completion. In other words, we must not be left to die wondering about the pace of progress towards the completion of the Terminal.
Here we feel obliged to make the point that our insistence on periodic updates has to do with the fact that Caribbean governments have tended to ‘blow hot and cold’ about matters that are of particular importance to the development of the region, as a whole. This is not the first ‘tilt’ that Caribbean governments have had at strengthening the region’s food security bona fides. One effort that will be recalled by those of us who are old enough, ‘went South’ after a period of huffing and puffing, particularly between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Those of us who are not universally in the know, really have no clear idea as to whether, while the grass is growing, some of the horses may not be starving, perhaps even dying, since, we also have no clear idea as to how the populations in some of the less well – endowed counterpart CARICOM countries are given the fact that the region, as a whole, is not exactly equally blessed insofar as food security is concerned.
Here we believe that a point has been reached where we must ‘call out’ the Heads of Govern-ment of Guyana and Barbados, along with their respective Agriculture Ministers, not so much because the promised Food Terminal remains, up until now, promises and nothing more, but because we have no clue at this time as to where we are and where we are going insofar as the Terminal is concerned. Certainly in the matter of failing, up to this time, to update the region on this matter, those responsible appear to be asleep at the wheel. Beyond that, and while there is no hard evidence that in the instances of some member countries of the region food security remains a living, breathing thing, the aforementioned Heads of Government and their designated Ministers are answerable. As far as we are aware there has been no robust inquiry from the CARICOM territories that ought to have the greatest vested interest in the matter. That too is unacceptable. Quite why a group of Caribbean leaders who, from time to time are so seemingly passionate about the problems and concerns of the people whom they represent have now lost their voices in a circumstance where something clear and definitive needs to be said is a mystery.
By remaining close-mouthed on the issue of the Food Terminal, they can certainly add an additional dimension of worry to the food-insecure in the region some of whom may (as this editorial is being written) wondering where their next meal is coming from. Again, we say that we believe that we have every right to call on Prime Minister Mottley and President Ali on this matter and to ask that they not keep the people of the Caribbean waiting for an answer for much longer. Surely they cannot tell us that as the region’s ‘lead heads’ on food security they are not ‘in the know’ insofar as the pace of progress towards the completion is concerned and cannot, in short order, put mechanisms in place to notify the people of the region as to the extent of the progress that has been made up to this time insofar as the Terminal is concerned. What is no less significant is that we have had little, if any, information regarding what may now well be the further degraded food security status of those CARICOM countries whose food security circumstances were known to be far less than comfortable, in the first place and which, in some instances and given factors like inclement weather, may well have worsened considerably.
That apart, what we do know for sure, is that, according to reports, the food security circumstances of the hemisphere as a whole, are, even now, in decline. While one imagines that people, generally, usually do not have an appetite for bad news, the advantage of bringing the information to the fore is that it allows for the contemplation of strategies through which it may be possible to consider initiatives that might forestall a worst case scenario. By declining, up until now, to provide a helpful update on the pace of progress towards the realization of a Regional Food Security Terminal, the two ‘lead heads’ on regional food security, unquestionably, have a case to answer.
