Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, has emphasised the need for the Caribbean Community to address decisively the perception that CARICOM was not working out for its people.
Speaking at the 22nd interssessional meeting of CARICOM heads of government in Grenada on Friday morning, Golding said the major issue that needed to be addressed in CARICOM was the implementation deficit, which he said was a consequence of the governance challenge faced by the Community.
“We cannot escape addressing the issue of governance for it is a major cause of our implementation deficit – the Caribbean people’s benefit deficit,” he stated.
Golding pointed to the need for the Community to scale up the governance mechanism to better meet the mandate of Grand Anse – the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.
According to Golding, the peoples of the Caribbean continued to lament the lack of benefits accruing from the CSME and the Community.
That concern, he said, could not be dispelled by sentimental pleadings and history-based rationalizations. “They want to see results, results that they can feel, count and enjoy.”
“The voices of the sceptics have never been stilled. They may be subdued from time to time but they are ever present. Our response must not be to dismiss them or denounce their reasoning but to remove the cause of their scepticism,” he added.
He outlined a number of critical issues that he stressed should be addressed decisively. Those included the operations of the CSME, the series of crises and challenges in Haiti after the earthquake, the severe impact that the global recession continues to have on our economies and finding a suitable successor to the former Secretary-General, Sir Edwin Carrington.
In addition he pointed to the several other issues that had to be addressed including the continuing negotiations in the DOHA Round, implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union, regional security, the rising food prices and the budget crisis currently facing the Community which he said could not be separated from the economic challenges faced by member states.
The Prime Minister of Jamaica cautioned his colleague heads that the peoples of the Caribbean region might look elsewhere if they did not see in CARICOM the fulfilment of their hopes and aspirations and the solution of some of their most persistent problems.
“They will look beyond CARICOM for their salvation. That has always been the burden of the CARICOM movement. That remains the challenge for the CARICOM movement,” he concluded.
