Looking out for the Common Good within CARICOM

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is up in arms about the reappointment of CARICOM Secretary General Dr Carla Barnett, and is calling for a special meeting of CARICOM Heads as it claims to have been “uninvited” deliberately from the deliberation process. Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, in what has now become a characteristic aggressive style, has declared that she would “ruthlessly” pursue the matter.

This latest salvo stems from the 50th Regular Meeting of CARICOM Heads which was held in St Kitts Nevis from February 24-27. The Trinidad and Tobago Government is claiming that it was “surreptitiously” excluded from the decision making process which would seem to be very strange behaviour for a forum of this importance. It also claims that the reappointment of Dr Carla Barnett occurred without being on the official agenda and without an invitation to the twin island Republic to participate in the deliberations.

This week that country’s Foreign and CARICOM Minister Sean Sobers, said that his country would formally request a meeting of CARICOM’s Community Council which comprises all Foreign Affairs Ministers. While claiming that his government has no issue with Dr Carla Barnett personally, Sobers said they were questioning the procedure used to effect her reappointment.

It is known that Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar left the meeting early and therefore did not travel to Nevis with the other Heads where the decision was voted upon to reappoint the Secretary General. Sobers claims that none of the other designated Heads of Delegation from the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda or himself, whose Prime Ministers also left the meeting early, was invited. Sobers claims that they were told that they “were not able to attend” which he terms “disrespectful.”

To date, Chairman of CARICOM Dr. Terrence Drew, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, has yet to respond and there are increasing calls for him to do so. However, from the opposition benches, the former prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, has been expressing his opinions on the matter. The veteran politician claims that Sean Sobers had not been “disinvited” from the Nevis retreat but, according to reliable sources, had informed regional officials that he could not make the trip by boat because of seasickness. Gonsalves opined on his Unity Labour Party’s Star Radio that in Sobers’ absence nobody else who would not get seasickness was nominated.

Even as Persad-Bissessar and Sobers continue to claim that CARICOM breached the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas by failing to recognize the Foreign and CARICOM Minister’s authority to vote as head of the T&T delegation after his Prime Minister departed the meeting early, Gonsalves points to Article 28 of the Treaty. That article says that conference decisions must be approved by all members, and are binding. However abstentions do not invalidate decisions once three-quarters of members vote in favour.

The former prime minister also rebutted Sobers’ assertion that the appointment of a Secretary General was not on the provisional CARICOM agenda. Gonsalves said that he had seen the agenda which was approved which included the appointment of the Secretary General, security questions, and finance.

Gonsalves on his radio show on Thursday morning addressed Persad-Biessar’s threat to cut her country’s funding to CARICOM’s annual budget with a reminder that Trinidad and Tobago is the principal beneficiary in the Caribbean Single Market and Economy. He pointed out that if T&T were to pull out of CARICOM it would hurt its business sector as that country would no longer get preferential access to the market as they would have to pay additional duties put at 15 percent.

We eagerly await an official statement from the CARICOM Chair and meanwhile, one would hope that someone in Port of Spain can remind the Prime Minister that just as Trinidad &Tobago always played a leading role in the regional integration movement, it has a responsibility to see the other nations are parts of a whole and to reassess her attitude. In this tumultuous world we should still be our brothers’ keepers and need to look toward the common good.