Prime Ministerial differences in CARICOM
By Rickey Singh
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CANA - Efforts were underway yesterday to defuse differences of opinion that had threatened to create a crack in the wall of unity and harmonious relations existing among heads of government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). At the centre of the differences was claimed lack of proper consultation over a proposal emerging from the South Summit in Cuba in April for the creation of a South Coordinating Commission. The problems were also said to be related to the roles of the CARICOM Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on External Negotiations and the Community's Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM). Involved in the differences are the Prime Ministers of Jamaica, Percival Patterson, and Barbados, Owen Arthur, ministerial sources told CANA yesterday. Patterson is also head of the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on External Negotiations and Ramphal, former head of the West Indian Commission, chairs the RNM. Both Prime Ministers Patterson and Arthur, known to have personal good relations and the confidence of their counterparts within CARICOM, have confirmed the exchange of correspondence between them but declined to go into details. Arthur told CANA that he was not in the habit of discussing through the media private correspondence to a fellow head of government but he was mindful that the "issue at hand is resolved on the basis of harmony and consensus in the conduct of our external relations". He stressed that "this has nothing to do with any personal antagonisms with either the Prime Minister of Jamaica or the Chairman of the RNM whose contributions to the Community are well recognised". Prime Minister Patterson, on the other hand, told CANA in a brief telephone conversation from his official residence yesterday, "Now that we have exchanged letters on the matter of concern, we will together seek to resolve the differences in the interest of the Caribbean to which we are committed". The RNM chairman, Ramphal, declined to offer any comment stating that it would not be proper for him to say anything as he was not the originator of any correspondence currently involving, as he understands it, two CARICOM heads of government. Patterson's letter of May 17 to Arthur reportedly raised questions about the accuracy and nature of criticisms at the recent meeting in Port-of-Spain of the Community's Ministers of Foreign Affairs that alluded to the Jamaica Prime Minister and the Chairman of the RNM chairman. Prime Minister Arthur had mandated his Foreign Minister, Billie Miller, to raise during the CARICOM Foreign Ministers meeting, the issue of the relevance of a proposed South Coordinating Commission, particularly in the context of the current role and functions of the RNM. But questions have been raised about "the emotional language and mood" at the discussions and that it should have been done in the presence of officials and special guests at that meeting. Chairing the caucus was host Foreign Minister, Ralph Maraj of Trinidad and Tobago. Maraj declined to comment on the discussion at the Foreign Ministers meeting that raised questions about reported lack of proper consultation in the initiative to have a South Coordinating Commission with the RNM chairman as Special Adviser but at no expense or disadvantage to the RNM. The Secretary General of the Community, Edwin Carrington, who attended the forum, also said he could not offer any comment on the matter. But the current chairman of CARICOM, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas of St. Kitts and Nevis, told CANA that having been made aware of the letter from Prime Minister Patterson, he has requested information from both Carrington and his own Foreign Affairs Ministry. "It is more than likely that the matter will now engage the attention of the Community's heads of government when we meet in July in St. Vincent," said Douglas, stressing that "no differences must be stronger than our will to resolve them at this crucial period involving our external negotiations". Douglas was among CARICOM heads, including Patterson and Arthur, who participated in the South Summit. Patterson is also one of five members of the Bureau of South Summit that represents at least 137 member states. Prime Minister James Mitchell of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who will host the forthcoming CARICOM Summit in July, confirmed his own awareness of "the problem as it arose out of the Foreign Ministers meeting". He said he has "no doubts about our ability to address the problem, either before or when we meet in July".
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