THE CARIBBEAN Community will in 2011 have a new Secretary-General, who will have the unenviable task of steering an organization whose governance structure is in need of an overhaul, and in the face of waning commitment to regional integration on the part of some of its 15 Member States. Outgoing Secretary-General, Trinidadian-born Edwin Carrington has indicated that during his 18-year tenure, there have been significant accomplishments as well as disappointments.
In one of his first interviews on assuming the post in 1992, I recall the headline of my article: ‘Secretary-General pleads: Give me the tools to do the Job’. There is no doubt that some of the tools were defective and, in many cases, either unavailable or in short supply. Undoubtedly, there have been positive initiatives under Carrington’s watch, many of them in the functional cooperation area.
To address the continued lag in implementing decisions, at the end of August this year, CARICOM leaders agreed to the establishment of a Council of Ambassadors. Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Bruce Golding explained that the Ambassadors will head regional integration units in the individual Member States “to follow-up, make sure that domestic action is taken to give effect to the decisions of the Heads.”
Will the Committee have the authority to nudge Ministers who are not following through on decisions taken by the CARICOM leaders, or will they report directly to their Head of  Government, and what options will be available for fast-tracking implementation? Perhaps the terms and conditions of the Ambassadors and when exactly they will begin functioning will clarify this.
The current scenario where at meetings of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), both Ministers and their senior functionaries sometimes try to back down from previously taken positions, claiming they are unaware of the implications of decisions taken; that there is a lack funding to implement them, and even try to reverse decisions taken by the Heads, needs to be addressed.
Addressing a lack of commitment displayed by some Member States is an underlying issue that no Committee can fix. One fundamental problem is the fact that CARICOM decisions are not automatically binding, and await national legislative provisions.

There is a growing consensus among CARICOM technocrats and analysts who have been part of the regional integration process that it is time to re-examine the proposal for a CARICOM Commission, similar to that of the Brussels-based European Commission on a scaled-down basis. The proposal for the regional Commission was the centrepiece of the 1992 ‘Time for Action’ report of the West Indian Commission chaired by Sir Shridath Ramphal.
As Communications Consultant to the Commission, I recall the many interventions at public consultations throughout the region, where private and public sector groups as well as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) sang one tune that was familiar: Regional governments were not delivering the goods. The lyrics are pretty much the same two decades later.
One regional consultant who has done several regional integration studies for CARICOM Governments supports the proposal for a Commission-type arrangement, where the Secretary-General would serve the political directorate such as Heads of Government and the COTED, while a Commission would deal with Executive matters.
“This separation of functions is key to a proper functioning of the body. Concern is expressed about the cost of this but there is room for cutting out a lot of fat to make this workable since the Secretary-General and his staff would be much smaller and the bulk of the technical people would go to the Commissioners,” the consultant recommended.
“The present system of waiting for domestic parliaments to approve all decisions into law is not working. In this new dispensation, I would get rid of the Bureau, which in any case, is just another wasteful bureaucratic layer and there would be no role for a permanent committee of ambassadors as that can only function well if all countries have a representative in Georgetown,” he added.
Apart from the fact that several governments oppose the idea of a Commission, the question that arises is how it will be financed given the challenging economic circumstances of member countries, many of whom are finding it hard to come up with the funds for the implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union and other initiatives, including the regional marketing fund for the tourism industry.
Another key issue that needs to be addressed is more autonomy for the Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN), formerly the Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM). CARICOM watchers familiar with the agency feel it has lost some of its ‘teeth’ and the spirit of the technical staff has been affected in the process.
Apart from reducing the long list of issues that  go before the CARICOM leaders, video conferencing for someMinisterial meetings has been suggested as an option once the problem of bandwith in Guyana is addressed. Video conferencing has been tried in the past but resulted in the participants being downgraded to junior technocrats who advised they were not in a position to make decisions.
On the issue of a successor to Carrington, it would be interesting to know the credentials being considered and in particular whether there will be term limits, a different mandate, a requirement to be multi-lingual and reduced travel.
Candidates for the post being mentioned include the current CARICOM Assistant Secretary-General, Trade and Economic Integration, Irwin La Roque; former Deputy CARICOM Secretary-General, Dr. Carla Barnett; current OECS Director-General, Dr. Len Ishmael; and Vincentian Ambassador to the Organisation of American States (OAS), Elsworth John.
In addition to the search for a new Secretary-General, a replacement will have to be found for Dr. Edward Greene, Assistant Secretary-General, Human and Social Development, who has resigned, and word is that Colin Granderson, responsible for Foreign and Community Relations, may not be around for too much longer.
The considerable influence wielded by Jamaica in both regional institutions, and in external trade negotiations has not gone unnoticed. Jamaicans now head several regional bodies, including CARICOM’s OTN, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Caribbean Export, and The CARICOM Development Fund (CDF).
Also of interest is how Trinidad and Tobago views its role in the regional integration process, given Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s comments about Trinidadian aid to the region that was considered offensive by some Jamaica and the Eastern Caribbean nationals and business leaders.
In 2011, there will hopefully be more visible movement in three areas – the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), EPA implementation, and the trade negotiations with Canada, which are reported to be bogged down on the CARICOM side.
The drive and energy associated with the CSME during the Owen Arthur’s administration in Barbados has since dissipated, while some of the January deadlines for EPA implementation are unlikely to be met.
At a recent COTED meeting, Carrington urged the Ministers and their representatives not to fail the people of the Region, and to strengthen their resolve to meet the expectations of Caribbean youth who have demanded quicker implementation of the CSME. (Sandra Ann Baptiste is a business consultant and specialist in Caribbean Affairs)