–CARICOM Chair says, denies engaging Norton formally

PRIME Minister of The Bahamas, Phillip Davis, who is the current Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), says he never got the impression that the Irfaan Ali-led government was a racist or corrupt one and instead believes that President, Dr Irfaan Ali is a man of integrity who has demonstrated sound leadership at the regional level.

The Bahamian leader, who spoke to local media outlet the News Room, on Saturday, spoke about his engagements with the Guyanese Head of State.

“In my interactions with Irfaan Ali, I find him to be a man of integrity.

“[He is] someone who we can join forces with on issues that impact particularly those of us in CARICOM [and] whenever he is called upon, he is there for CARICOM,” Prime Minister Davis was quoted by the News Room as saying.

Further, the CARICOM Chairman said that President Ali has provided sound leadership in several regional matters. That leadership, he reportedly said, is particularly evident in the area of food security and nutrition.

Currently, Guyana has lead responsibility for food security and nutrition in CARICOM. With this responsibility, President Ali has been pushing Caribbean countries to grow more of their own food, increase trade among each other and reduce extra-regional imports. If his efforts succeed, CARICOM will be able to reduce its more than US$4 billion annual food-importation bill by some 25 per cent by 2025.

Though speaking well of the President’s character, the Bahamian leader also shared his positive impressions of the Ali-led government and the political situation in Guyana.

“I never got the impression of corruption, I never got the impression of racism,” he reportedly said.

These comments came after it was elsewhere reported that Guyana’s Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton met with Prime Minister Davis in The Bahamas and raised several concerns about the Ali-led government.

Norton reportedly accused the government of being both corrupt and racist.

Prime Minister Davis clarified that he had no formal engagement with Norton. Still, he said he engaged him out of courtesy.

Notwithstanding the informality of the engagement, the CARICOM Chairman said he advised Norton to pen his concerns to the CARICOM Secretariat, which is headquartered in Georgetown, Guyana. Though he did not share those concerns, the Prime Minister said the bloc would deliberate over them and act, if necessary.

Importantly though, Prime Minister Davis said CARICOM rarely involves itself in the internal affairs of countries. It only does so when there are serious situations such as threats to democracy.

On Friday, Guyana’s Vice-President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo accused the APNU+AFC opposition of crying racism and corruption in an attempt to distract people from the development unfolding across the country.

Dr Jagdeo, however, contended that the APNU+AFC coalition, when in government from 2015 to 2020, was the most incompetent, corrupt and racist government in Guyana’s history.
CARICOM was forced to intervene in Guyana’s politics in 2020 when the APNU+AFC coalition attempted to derail the March 2, 2020 General and Regional elections, stalling the swearing in of President Ali by five months.

Members of the coalition have been fingered in attempts to rig the 2020 elections in collaboration with members of the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Secretariat. Some members of the coalition and GECOM are before the courts on electoral fraud charges.