If we needed any more evidence of how far behind the Caribbean pacesetters we are - or more appropriately how far ahead of us they are - then Barbados provided the perfect example last week. For the first time ever - whether in the Caribbean or elsewhere - the World Bank is lending Bridgetown US$15M over five years to treat its HIV/AIDS patients. Previously, World Bank funds could only be used for HIV/AIDS infrastructure, coordination efforts and awareness programmes but not directly for patient treatment. According to a Reuters report, that stricture has now been lifted in Barbados' case and the loan will permit the island's HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Project to procure more anti-retroviral drugs for its treatment programme.

It is true that Barbados under the leadership of its PM Owen Arthur has invested heavily in the AIDS fight given the considerably greater resources at its disposal. As a matter of fact, Barbados has ploughed US$50M into its war on AIDS. It's another example of the country's and Arthur's outlook on the need to invest money into human resources. The PM put it in perspective when he said "we are resolute in our conviction that expenditure on this programme, on the scale required and on the scale envisioned, represents a necessary investment in human capital upon which the strengths of our future economic and social progress must fundamentally depend". It is a firm commitment to keeping the HIV/AIDS afflicted in Barbados alive and functioning in society rather than allowing them to waste away as many poor, developing countries are forced to do.

While the scale of Barbados' outlay would have been a contributory factor in the World Bank decision, it wasn't the pivotal determinant. What cinched it was Barbados' political and economic stability. According to Orsalia Kalantzopoulos, country director for Barbados and Guyana "when you look at Barbados, the way the country's being managed, you could really go ahead, in some areas we had never done before, which was treatment ... and we (are trying this) in Barbados for the first time in the entire world". It is a high accolade indeed for Barbados - spared the ethnic and political divisions that we face here - and its HIV/AIDS programme.

Big strides have been made in Guyana recently in the fight against HIV/AIDS with the arrangement for New GPC to produce anti-retrovirals inexpensively. But the Barbados first has a greater lesson here for the decision makers and those who would like to hold the reins of power. Political quietude and economic stability are enormous advantages to struggling developing countries like Guyana. They provide a built in advantage over other countries. It's like starting a 100-metre race at the 15-metre mark.

So while the main political parties skirmish with each other and political, trade union and social upheaval are seen as the instruments of choice in pursuing grievances, Guyana is floundering in shallow waters while some of its fellow CARICOM colleagues in the deep Caribbean Sea shoot way above it.

Early in the new year, it should be a sobering thought for our political and other leaders.

The continuing impasse over the constitution of a number of parliamentary committees is a prime example of the deadening syndrome that afflicts Guyana and contributes to political instability and turmoil. A badly expressed constitutional provision has provided irresistible opportunity for the political parties to stalemate, prevented Parliament from functioning properly, paralysed the critical service commissions and other constitutional bodies waiting to be composed and led to anxieties over a possible constitutional crisis. The major responsibility for getting this resolved rests with the governing party although other stakeholders also have a role to play.

We have to strive for the political and economic calm that Barbados has carefully nurtured otherwise we will deny ourselves important opportunities to move ahead.