CARICOM Free Movement and Barbados

I AM elated, also, at the CCJ’s recent ruling in the Myrie versus Barbados case. It is such a profound development in the Caribbean integration paradigm, that while I am happy that Myrie took on Barbados, I am gnashing my teeth in envy that it wasn’t one of the thousands of Guyanese who suffered dog treatment from the Bajans over the years, who stepped up.

Nonetheless, I am not at all surprised that it was a Jamaican who was able to bring to bear, that world renowned “we nah ramp” persona, to set Barbados straight.
But will the ruling really set them straight? Particularly since I am reading (in one of the daily newspapes) some terribly disturbing comments attributed to the Barbadian Prime Minister – that ‘Barbados pilloried for opening of floodgates comment’, where he is reported to have warned immigration officials not to be intimidated by the ruling and allow a floodgate of “unemployed and criminals” into the country.
Assuming these comments to be correctly attributed, then I believe the Caricom Secretary-General needs to now have the Secretariat move beyond hopes that the CCJ ruling will have positive implications for the “way business is done” across the block, and begin demonstrating an aggressive, no-nonsense reformist approach to his work, which we all expect from this new dispensation of CARICOM leadership.
In the context of the Myrie decision and in the context of Prime Minister Stewart’s reported comments post-CCJ ruling, the CARICOM Secretariat needs to provide answers to nationals, as to why the CSME Secretariat is still being hosted by Barbados, while the host member state continues to flout every provision of the revised treaty of Chaguaramas with regard to freedom of movement.
It is a well-established principle across the Region, that nationals ought to be given a six-month stay in any of the member states that have ratified the CSME free-movement article, in order to allow adequate time for a Skill Certificate application to be processed, particularly where the moving national expressly indicates to the immigration authorities upon entering, his/her intention to pursue skills certification in that jurisdiction. Yet, and remarkably so, Barbados which is host to the CSME Secretariat, practises as a matter of policy, as reinforced by Stewart in the comments attributed to him (post-CCJ ruling), a three-month maximum stay without the granting of extensions, thus implicitly disallowing CARICOM nationals the fundamental prerogative of pursuing Skills Certification on the island, within the ambit of the provisions for which Barbados is ironically the custodian.
My experience with Jamaica was a most pleasant and commendable one. I indicated my Skills Certification intention to the immigration authorities at the airport upon arrival, and was facilitated with adequate time of stay without question (six months). My application was professionally treated by the Labour Ministry and a senior officer at the immigration headquarters exercised professional pride in placing the “unconditional” stamp in my passport after the Certificate was granted. Interestingly, this was under a JLP administration which is historically known for a two-faced approach to Caribbean integration.
I recall a press conference here in Guyana several years ago by the Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie, who emphatically indicated his country’s non-assent to the Free Movement article because “the Bahamas is for Bahamians”, he said. I was mortified as an unrepentant regionalist, but I respected the fact that at the very least, he had the intestinal fortitude to take a ‘black and white position’ on the matter.
Maybe, someone with the Myrie spirit should now deliberately pursue Skills Certification in Barbados, and again drag them before the CCJ, and let’s once and for all dismantle their integrationist hypocrisy.
It would seem that Barbados is fertile ground for a CARICOM spring.
DARIO A.X. MCKLMON
Guyanese Citizen/CARICOM National

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