IS CARICOM STILL VIABLE?

Jul 09, 2016 Editorial

The 37th Heads of Government Conference of CARICOM) was held in Guyana at the National Cultural Centre and the government has rolled out the red carpet for the Heads of State. In his opening remarks, CARICOM Secretary General, Irwin La Rocque, asked the Heads of State to observe a moment of silence for the late Patrick Manning, a former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and a true champion of regional integration. The three-day conference ended on Thursday July 7.
Established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas in 1973, CARICOM is comprised of 15 nations, five associate members and eight observers. The associate members are British territories, whose role is yet to be determined. The observers are states which engage in at least one of CARICOM’s technical committees.
The first four signatories were Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago. The organisation superseded the 1965–1972 Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), which was organized to provide economic linkage between the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean following the dissolution of the West Indies Federation in 1962. Article 4 of the Treaty divides the member states into two groups: Less Developed Countries and More Developed Countries.
The objectives of CARICOM are to coordinate the region’s foreign policy as a show of strength, promote regional trade and economic integration and cooperation among its members, and to ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared among the peoples of the region. Its main goal is to provide dynamic leadership and service, in partnership with Community groups and institutions toward the attainment of a viable, internationally competitive and sustainable Community with improved quality of life for all. Its main organ is the secretariat which is located in Georgetown, Guyana.
The post of Chairman is held by the Heads of State of each country and is rotated among them.
In theory, the operations of CARICOM were supposed to be smooth but in practice, it is not. Since its establishment in 1973, CARICOM was plagued with a number of problems.
Integration of the region’s economy and the coordination of its foreign policy proved far more difficult than anticipated. Most of the countries in the region continue to trade more with the United States and Canada than with each other because of the need of foreign currency.
In 1983, tensions escalated among the heads of CARICOM states after it was revealed that the leaders of Barbados, Jamaica and Dominica had invited the United States to invade Grenada following the murder of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and six government ministers.
The removal of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004 by the United States also soured relations between Haiti and the other CARICOM states. It led to the suspension of Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue from the organization. Latortue who was infuriated with the CARICOM states’ support for the removal of Aristide withdrew Haiti from CARICOM. Following the 2006 election of President René Préval, Haiti’s membership was restored.
The fanciful titles, forced handshakes and fake smiles at the conferences cannot disguise the fact that CARICOM is in a slumber. While the leaders pontificate, the dream of a vibrant CARICOM single economy remains distant as economic hardship continues to envelope the peoples of the region.
Further, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) which was established in 2005 as the final appellate court for the region has only a few CARICOM members. The majority continue to pledge their allegiance to the Privy Council.
While the leaders of CARICOM seem to be the purveyors of hope and positivism, instead of advocates of doom and gloom, they do not have a road map for CARICOM. The absence of initiatives to strengthen CARICOM has led to the inertia and lack of enthusiasm in which it now languishes.

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