IF you ask the average citizen of CARICOM how it started and who started it, 99 per cent would say, the Big 4, meaning the four CARICOM nations in terms of square miles, population and economic resources – Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados.

This is misleading. CARICOM was the outcome of CARIFTA – Caribbean Free Trade Area. But CARIFTA was not the product of the Big 4; rather, it was the brainchild of two of the four, – Guyana and Barbados, and later Antigua. After the acrimonious break-up of the West Indian Federation, there were persistent efforts for Caribbean integration by the Prime Minister of Trinidad, Eric Williams, but it began and ended there.
Across the Caribbean, the integration idea found a home in Guyana. The Premier of British Guiana, Forbes Burnham in 1964 spouted the idea of a Caribbean free trade area. Williams suggested an annual meeting of West Indian heads slated for Barbados, but Burnham asked for it to be held in British Guiana. It was held here, but, strange enough, Wiliams boycotted the confabulation.

Here are the words of Burnham at the 1965 meeting that surprised many of the attendees: “In the spirit of this conference, within the last week, the Government of Guyana and Barbados have agreed to set up a Free Trade Area, and to work towards the eventual establishment of an economic community and a customs union.”

Maybe as a reaction to Williams’ attitude, Barbados and Guyana decided to establish the free trade movement between the two countries, with Antigua agreeing to join from the start. There are some that attribute the ease with which Burnham and Errol Barrow, the Bajan PM, agreed to the formation of CARIFTA was because of their close friendship during their student days in London.

Another theory was that there was always a closeness between Barbados and Guyana, and the Barrow-Burnham formation of CARIFTA was a natural outcome of this closeness. Guyanese historians generally allude to the closeness Guyana has always shared with Barbados.

In fact, there has been only one Barbados Prime Minister who was, subtly, anti-Guyana. Although Prime Minister Tom Adams was wary of the influx of Guyanese into Barbados, he never pursued a policy of stopping Guyana’s immigrants into Barbados. That policy was implemented by Prime Minister David Thompson. The most welcoming hand of invitation to Guyanese by a Bajan PM was under Owen Arthur.

There seems to be an enduring closeness that is taking shape between the two countries again. It appears that Dr. Ali in Guyana and Mia Mottley in Barbados are set to replicate the Burnham/Barrow friendship. If there is a CARICOM Prime Minister that the Guyanese President gels with in ways more assuring than any other CARICOM leader, it is the current PM in Barbados, Mia Mottley.

Guyana would be the senior partner, of course, in the relation, in terms of size, trade and economy. I once wrote that President Ali should resuscitate the Manning Initiative. PM Patrick Manning of Trinidad, as a reaction to the slow pace of CARICOM integration, suggested a mini-integration process among Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad.

Manning would have known that the first PM of Trinidad, Eric Williams, was always a dedicated proponent of integration. But, of course, there is the contradiction of the seat of the Caribbean Court of Justice being in Port-of-Spain, but Trinidad’s political leaders, cutting across ethnic, political and party lines, do not want to have the court as their final appellate court. This is one of the strangest occurrences in the history of the British West Indies.

The resuscitation of the Manning Initiative does not look like it will get a willing welcome from the current PM of Trinidad, Dr. Keith Rowley, so President Ali needs to fashion a mini-union between Guyana and Barbados. I would suggest as a start, the abolition of visa requirement for Bajans. At the moment is it automatic in CARICOM, with an initial three-month duration, after which you have to apply for an extension.

I am suggesting the doing away with visa requirement for Bajans. Secondly, I would recommend a single currency between Barbados and Guyana. Thirdly, I propose the frequent exchange of police, magistrates, judges and senior public servants between the two countries to do a six-week stint in each other’s countries.

Fourthly, Guyana should have a permanent Bajan representative on its national soccer and cricket teams and the same for Barbados.

The Manning Initiative must be resuscitated. CARICOM, as an integration movement, has been moving at a slow pace that is simply horrible and disastrous. As he shapes his legacy, I would advise President Ali to introduce into CARICOM a unique bond between Guyana and Barbados.