THIS past week, Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley was conferred with Guyana’s second highest National Award, the Order of Roraima. This was given as part of Guyana’s 50th Republic Anniversary celebrations to the PM, for her distinguished leadership in the Caribbean.

In my opinion, Prime Minister Mottley is one of the better regional leaders. She seems to be more liberal and forward-thinking than most;there have been specific events that the PM was at the forefront of, which caused her to win me over.

The first was that she announced that Barbados would be abolishing their Secondary Entrance Examination, of which our National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) is the equivalent. The woman, who was the former Minister of Education, Youth Affairs and Culture, indicated that education reform is a priority for Barbados, and as such, one specific matter that would be reviewed is the ‘Common Entrance’ examination.

“Ten or 11-years-old is too young to ask a child to determine what their life should look like for the rest of their life….” she was quoted as saying, as she sounded the death-knell for those exams.

This was a conversation that eventually made its way to Guyana, due to remarks made at a public forum here by Director of Economics at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr Justin Ram. But persons here remain divided on that matter and our Minister of Education Dr Nicolette Henr, has said that Guyana will pursue such a move, only if it is guided by proper consultations and findings.

Then, the second event that has been very pleasing to me occurred a bit more recently. In January, Prime Minister Mottley, who is also the current Chairperson of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), instructed her Foreign Minister not to attendi the meeting of selected Caribbean leaders with the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

According to her, the choice of the U.S. Department of State to invite only selected ministers to a multilateral roundtable discussion, instead of all members of the CARICOM, was an attempt to divide the regional bloc.

“As chairman of CARICOM, it is impossible for me to agree that my foreign minister should attend a meeting with anyone to which members of CARICOM are not invited,” she said.

While I do have much appreciation for PM Mottley, part of me is still reserved about Guyana/Barbados relations. Last year, I went to Barbados for a mini-vacation; while making my way there, I was cautioned to be very careful, particularly at the airport, because of the infamous “Guyanese Bench.” I know we have moved past that, but the very fact that my friends and relatives could caution me about this means that those memories still linger. So, it’s not all water under the bridge.

You see, Guyana has been one of the leading proponents of regionalism. This country was part of the core four that signed the Treaty of Chaguaramas to bring CARICOM into being, and it is my opinion that Guyana has embraced the spirit of community embodied by CARICOM. But, Guyana has not always been the recipient of this spirit.

And this is by no means something from Barbados alone. Right here in Trinidad, Guyanese have not been treated the best. During one of my first classes last semester, a lecturer of mine insinuated that Guyanese came to Trinidad to steal jobs. And at the airport, the immigration process has been so much more rigorous for Guyanese students.

But now, here we have all these countries being so very friendly with us post-oil discovery, and I can’t help but feel that this interest shown towards Guyana may very well be because of the wealth (both in revenues and in opportunities) this country is expected to generate.

Just these past few weeks, a Jamaican bank and a Jamaican airline also indicated an interest in Guyana. These are all very good things for Guyana, because I know investments are needed to diversify and enhance development here. I only hope that we see continued friendship from our Caribbean sister nations as well.