In the wake of the sudden removal of St. Lucian-born Dr. Hyginus ‘Gene’ Leon from the presidency of the Caribbean Development Bank, earlier this year, the Board of Governors of the region’s most important financial support institutions have sat down to ponder issues relating to the way forward for the Barbados-based institution that has become a critical cog in the wheel that has, over time, kept a number of key regional development projects turning.
Official details of the sudden meltdown of Dr. Leon’s leadership of the region’s key financial support props for critical development projects in the region have, up to this time, been largely withheld from the general public, even though Dr. Leon’s resignation back in April “with immediate effect,” served to communicate the magnitude of the crisis that had spawned his departure from the financial institution. A letter to the Bank by the former CDB President in the wake of his resignation had stated that it was “evident that the Bank has lost all trust and confidence in our client by the failure of the board of governors to prevent the continued violations of its Charter, policies, rules and regulations with regard to its elected President.”
The sending on leave of Dr. Leon earlier this year and his subsequent resignation from the Bank’s presidency had sent shock waves across the Caribbean, particularly in the wake of the deafening official silence that had attended the development since there had been no indication, at least at the level of the wider public in the region that something was amiss at the upper echelons of the regional financial institution. Established in 1969 at a juncture when Caribbean territories were still caught in the grip of underdevelopment and largely dependent on international funding sources to keep their economies afloat, the CDB has come to be seen as the region’s most important multilateral institution.
The CDB is regarded as an institution that is geared towards poverty reduction, embracing sectors that include agriculture and rural development, energy, and water and sanitation. The Bank is one of the key regional institutions that supports member countries in optimizing the use of their resources, promoting private and public investment, and mobilizing financial resources, both within and outside the region, for the execution of regional development projects. At its June 17-20 54th Annual Meeting, hosted by Canada, deliberations reportedly focused on the Bank’s continued identification of practical measures for leveraging regional and international cooperation and themed “Partnerships for Resilient Prosperity,” the deliberations reportedly focused on identifying practical measures for leveraging regional and international collaboration to achieve sustainable development.
The Bank’s own description of the focus of the forum asserted that the tone and content of the deliberations reflected the Bank’s drive to catalyse cooperative approaches to bolster growth and resi-lience across its Borrowing Member Countries (BMC). The Canada CDB forum also reportedly sought to provide a platform for consultation and interaction between the Bank’s highest levels of leadership and critical stakeholder groups including donor entities, sector experts, public sector leaders, and development partners.
