CARICOM was doomed from the beginning

Mar 15, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor
Kindly allow me to respond to Sir Ronald Saunders article titled “Will regional unity be lost forever to the Caribbean?” It is very revealing that Sir Ronald has acknowledged that “influential persons in the region are, once again, expressing deep concern about CARICOM, particularly over its lack of unity in international affairs and the failure of its leaders to implement their own decisions regarding the single market.” The facts of the matter are that the individual Caribbean countries that make up Caricom will not surrender their individuality to a failed Caricom scheme. It was doomed from the inception.
Rightly so it “has led a Minister of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines government to reproduce on his blog, a strong view that “CARICOM is dead,” depicted by a headstone in a burial ground.”
I gave evidence before the West Indian Commission in 1992 and told the commissioners which included Sir Shridath Ramphal and UWI professor Mr. Rex Nettleford that Caricom was doomed to fail as it was being implemented from the top by a few Caribbean leaders who do not even have a political mandate even in their own country.. Chief among these leaders was Mr. Forbes Burnham of Guyana who was partially motivated in getting the free flow of Caribbean immigrants into Guyana to shore up his minority support in the electorate..
Since Caricom has no grassroots support for its existence it has become weaker. Its weakness is evident in its non-representation of minority interest across the board. There is no sensitivity to the sizable Indian presence within its makeup. As a matter of fact, the Caricom secretariat is overwhelmingly staffed by Africans and there is no attempt to hide it.
In response to my criticism Sir Shridath replied that he is Guyanese and that would always guide his deliberations while Mr. Nettleford repeated in private to me the usual refrain that Africans were the logical inheritors of the Caribbean from the departing British colonialists.
The two men couldn’t have been more different in their opinion. A few decades Sir Ronald is now pitifully lamenting the demise of Caricom.
Yours truly,
Sultan Mohamed

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News