Caricom Opening Ceremony – long…but with some eye opening moments!

Caricom Opening Ceremony –
long…but with some eye opening moments!

“But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day”
(H.W. Longfellow)

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - With these words, the Hon. Freundel Stuart, Prime Minister of Barbados expressed what everyone at the Caricom Opening Ceremony could agree with and one could sense the silent feeling that he had put his finger on the pulse of what was running through the minds of the gathering.

In the rest of his speech he came over as a bit preachy but oftentimes expressing poetic eloquence.

Caricom Opening ceremonies, though filled with a certain amount of pomp and ceremony to magnify the significance of having so many Heads of governments in the same place, also attract a certain measure of curiosity and this one was no different, even if it was being held at a different place – at the Sir Cecil Jacobs Auditorium of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, St. Kitts, on June 30, 2011.

There is invariably new blood, or should we say new brains, and they are always up for scrutiny. And this year there were some interesting additions to the Caricom family seated on the platform, and they were also down to make speeches

There was a new Secretary General (Acting) and for the first time, the post was filled by a woman, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite.

There was the Hon. Freudel Stuart, successor to the late PM David Thompson of Barbados. Though a seasoned politician, he was yet to face an election as Prime Minister and was relatively unknown to the region.

Another new Head of Government was President of Suriname, His Excellency Desi Bouterse – a very interesting character with a very colourful Suriname past.

The audience craned forward to see him as he entered the hall. What would he say? And how would he say it, was the silent question in everyone’s mind.

But the star attraction was surely the newly elected President of Haiti. His Excellency Michel Martelly, on his first overseas visit since being elected in the very controversial Haiti elections.

Curiosity peaked as he came in.

What manner of man was this who would aspire to be President of Haiti while it was experiencing such ‘super-normous’ multitudinous problems? Was he the exemplar of “Country above Self” and knowing Haiti’s checkered past, many wondered - would he be the real deal?

Eyes, heads and necks craned to get a good look as this tall, lean, stately-looking president walked up the steps and on to the platform.

The first batsman/speaker was Ag. Secretary General, Ambassador Lolita Applewaite, and she faced the bowlers head on, well aware that Caricom had been getting very unfavourable ratings recently.

“Caricom is dead; Caricom has lost momentum, Cari-come… Cari – gone!” she mocked the regional press whom she said was “trumpeting” false headlines.

“Caricom is alive; Caricom is on the move; Caricom is here to stay,” she countered.

Ambassador Applewaite chose not to remember that much of the criticism of late had come from inside the Caricom family.

It is true that veteran regional columnist Ricky Singh had reflected that within Caricom, there is a “sad absence of political will”. But wasn’t it the Hon, Bruce Golding, Prime Minister of Jamaica who had coined the term “implementation deficit” and said this was eating away at its core?

Wasn’t it the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves. Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who spoke of “a serious lack of leadership” in Caricom?

So that first ball came off the edge of the bat and she was caught in the slips. She could have said, like a responder to BBC’s forum, “It’s not failure, it’s merely snail-paced evolution.”

However, her information on the strong links the Caribbean benefits from in the area of functional cooperation such as UWI, CXC, CDB, CEDEMA and cooperation in Health activities, in procuring Pharmaceuticals etc,were strong reminders that Caricom is indeed alive and is beneficial to us all.

This article must merely comment on some aspects of the Opening Ceremony. Its length, like that of the Opening Ceremony, must not challenge the attention span of the reader/audience.

Both President Bouterse and President Martelly gave good accounts of themselves. President Bouterse seemed eager to share what Suriname had, had learnt, and had achieved with his ‘brothers’ in the Caribbean. He called for cooperation and integration.

President Martelly delivered his speech in French which was, immediately after, delivered by a translator.

“Impossible is not an option in my vocabulary,” he revealed. He, too, like Martin Luther King, had a dream. He felt education was the key to the new Haiti and he wanted to use his abilities to give people a positive vision.

In delivering his speech in French, he admitted he was lobbying and wanted to make French and creole French official languages in the Caribbean.

Here he was treading on fragile ground since it is often admitted that much of the strength of Caribbean and indeed Commonwealth unity was due to the fact that all members spoke a common language.

Now the times are a-changing in the Caribbean with possible integration of the Spanish Dominican Republicans and Cubans, the French Haitians and the Dutch St, Maartians,

The length of the near 5 hour ceremony caused many to lose attention along the way; and by ten o’clock there were movements in and out of the hall, so that by the time the host Prime Minister Douglas gave his speech, attention had flagged and the lack of rapt attention did not do justice to the award ceremony which came after. Commentary on these deserves a separate article.

Overall, each speaker, especially Hon. Douglas Slater, Min. of Foreign Affairs of St. Vincent and the Grenadines who represented Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, tried to whip life back into the sluggish Caricom. He spoke sincerely of ‘lifting the gloom and doom’ that surrounded Caricom; called for an ’urgent spirit of renewal’ … “lest our crippling moods metamorphose into a disability’”.

“Let’s really try,” he said earnestly. This statement, too, like that of PM Stuart, was one with which all could agree.

The full house of Caricom Heads, dignitaries and officials will continue their deliberations until Monday 4th July. Many items on the Agenda, like LIAT, Crime, Trade and Freedom of Movement are in urgent need of solutions.