By Ariana Gordon

PRIME Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves decried critics of CARICOM on Monday night during his address at the opening of the Thirty-seventh Regular Meeting of Heads of Government held in Georgetown.In a sharp statement against pessimists of the region, the St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister said there has been much progress in the regional bloc since its establishment in 1973.

This, he noted is notwithstanding the many challenges facing the Community.

Dr Gonsalves told those gathered at the National Cultural Centre for the opening ceremony that those who opine that CARICOM is “comatose” do not take into account what the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas is about and the “tremendous progress that has been made. And have also failed to acknowledge the strength and possibilities that exist therein, he said.

“There is abroad in the Caribbean, and across the world, in particular the western world, a sense of pessimism, a species of learned helplessness… you see it in the newspapers, you hear it on the radio and television and even on the pulpits.”

INDEPENDENT STATES
Dr Gonsalves noted that CARICOM is not a federation, a military state nor confederation. He made it clear that CARICOM is a community of independent, sovereign states.

It was established with three main aims: to enhance the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), to establish effective functional cooperation and to coordinate foreign policy.

A fourth pillar, security was added following the petition made by former Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, Patrick Manning. Dr Gonsalves made it clear that the only supra national authoritative institution created under the Treaty of Chaguaramas is the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in its original jurisdiction.

The St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister noted that the case of Jamaican Shanique Myrie resulted in the CCJ examining the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and the decisions of the Heads of Government of CARICOM and making pronouncements which all governments are mandated to follow, relative to freedom of movement.

Myrie in 2011, claimed she was unfairly treated when she arrived at the Grantley Adams Airport in Barbados and sued for damages which were granted by the CCJ, which ruled that subjecting her to a cavity search, locking her up in an unsanitary cell and deporting her was contrary to the rules of the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.

Dr Gonsalves noted that problems faced at ports of entry by some nationals ought not to be seen as a restriction on free movement but as a problem that must be solved.

“If you ask them if they would like a federation or military state they would tell you no, if you ask them should we have a single currency, they would laugh. If you should ask if they should have a common currency, they would say no,” he added.

STAY UPBEAT
He was quick to point out that there is a need to “deepen the integration process” but called on all to not denounce the achievements made by the Community over the years.

“We have a way of beating up on ourselves too much and we find ourselves going to church on Saturday or Sunday morning and singing great is they faithfulness,” the St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister stated.

He also called on CARICOM citizens to work hard, produce and not allow the workplace to become a war zone.

Dr Gonsalves noted that as a people “we need to work harder and smarter.”
Many of the critics, he said “do not want to put in a good day’s work and engage in pushing an agenda”.

“The Caribbean, of which CARICOM has a seminal political expression, is a civilisation, a functioning civilisation, we have law and order, there is no state in the region which is a failed state, we have modern sophisticated countries, so why don’t we acknowledge these blessings and mercies and see how we can build on them rather than beating up on ourselves needlessly.”

Turning his attention to BREXIT, which refers to the June 23, 2016 referendum by British voters to exit the European Union, the Prime Minister said the Caribbean people are hysterical about the implications of BREXIT, but have failed to look at the opportunities that the decision by the United Kingdom can bring to the region.
“We must look for them (opportunities) rather than to bemoan what has happened. That is not going to get us anywhere,” he said.

And notwithstanding all the challenges and struggles, Prime Minister Gonsalves strongly believes that progress will continue to be made in the region.

He agreed that work has to be accelerated in the area of the Single Market and Economy, but call on all stakeholders to remember that the process cannot be accelerated if “we remain unequally yoked”.

The Prime Minister contends that immense progress has been made in the areas of poverty reduction, housing, transparency and democracy. But despite the achievements, he said there is much “negativism and learned helplessness”.
“I say we stop it. We need to be very positive.”