– Hopes for arresting the crisis depend on Heads of Government ‘biting the bullet’
THE Caribbean Community is in “crisis”. And the discouraging news is official. Confirmation on the nature of the ‘crisis’ is outlined in a comprehensive report, based on a mandated assessment that’s now in the possession of Heads of Government of the 15-member Community.
Hopes for arresting the crisis depend on a willingness on the part of Heads of Government to bite the bullet on the elusive issue of “fundamental changes” in the management structure and operational modalities of the Georgetown-based CARICOM Secretariat.
The Guyana Chronicle has been reliably informed that the comprehensive document, submitted by a Project Management Team (PMT), has been circulated to Heads of Government ahead of their forthcoming Inter-Sessional Meeting scheduled for March 8-9 in Suriname.
Prior to that meeting, specific recommendations outlined in the report will be considered by a special session of the Community Council of Ministers—second highest body in CARICOM—scheduled to take place also in the Surinamese capital, Paramaribo before the meeting of Heads of Government gets underway.
An executive summary that focuses on ‘turning around CARICOM’, points to why delaying the establishment of a new administrative structure can no longer be an option.
The ‘crisis’, it said, “is sufficiently severe to put CARICOM’s very existence in question” and identified three reasons:
*Long standing frustrations with its slow progress have continued to mount;
*A serious weakening in its structure and operations over a number of years; and
*Continuing economic retrenchment since the 2008 (international) financial crisis and the risk of a further downturn in 2012.
As punctuated in their analysis, the experts feel that the Community Secretariat and related CARICOM institutions “are not strong enough” to cope with any shortfall in funding.
Notwithstanding the “immediate dangers”, the team of experts feel that without a “fundamental change”, CARICOM could expire slowly over the next few years as stakeholders begin to vote with their feet…”
Nevertheless, in seeking to bolster optimism instead of yielding to pessimism, the authors of the report feel that CARICOM can yet surmount the prevailing  crisis “as long as fundamental changes in its operation and structures are made—and made decisively and speedily”.