This meeting of the Council, like that of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) that concluded here yesterday, is all part of a heavy "work programme of meetings" ahead of the 14th Inter-Sessional Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government scheduled for Port-of-Spain February 14-15

The series of technical and ministerial meetings coincide with plans by the Secretariat to mark, with the consent and involvement of member governments, celebratory activities of the 30th anniversary of the Community, launched at Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago in July 1973.

Undoubtedly there is much to celebrate. Equally true is that there continues to be serious misgivings about the pace at which the region's economic integration movement has been proceeding and lingering cynicism over failure to implement decisions unanimously taken.

The Community's hard working chief civil servant, Secretary General Edwin Carrington, currently in his third and quite possibly final term, has himself found it necessary to lament the slow pace in implementation of important decisions, as he told the opening session of the COTED meeting.

But neither the Secretariat nor the Council and the CARICOM Heads of Government themselves can escape responsibility for the failure to date to make a reality of a much talked about, sensitive and critical issue -- a review of the structure and functioning of the Community Secretariat.

Or, to put it differently, the long overdue necessary changes and delegation of authority that could make the secretariat more relevant and equipped to deal with today's regional and international demands.

The Secretariat continues to suffer from a lack of empowerment since the Community Heads, having rejected the recommendation of The West Indian Commission to create a high-level three-member CARICOM Commission, opted instead for a CARICOM Bureau, whose own functioning cries out for critical review.

Finally, resulting from their "1999 Consensus of Chaguaramas", the Community's heads of government mandated a review of the "structure and functioning" of the Secretariat.

A five-member committee of regional technocrats, headed by The Bahamas' ambassador to CARICOM, Leonard Archer, came up with a comprehensive report, some 178 pages, with some very significant recommendations, among them the perceived need for a management performance audit.

That report was submitted one year ago last month. In its own wisdom the Secretariat chose to undertake an internal "review" of the Archer-led committee's review. This was done by a committee headed by Joseph Farier, Director of Corporate Services, not exactly one of the Secretariat's more senior and experienced officers.

Probably it was considered more proper to do such an in-house "review" of the originally mandated review, rather than forwarding the Archer-led committee's report to either the Council of Ministers, if not the Heads of Government themselves.

It is felt that this could well have been done in good faith, with possibly an explanatory Note/Memorandum advising that an internal evaluation was being carried out by the Secretariat to help guide an informed decision on the recommendations for the intended restructure and functioning of the Secretariat.

Of immediate interest, therefore, is what exactly will the Council of Ministers have before them for their two-day meeting, starting tomorrow, on the agenda item "restructure and functioning of the Secretariat". Will it be the Secretariat's review of the original review?

Or, simply an "update" of what's being done about the 1999 mandated review, hopefully for consideration at this year's 24th CARICOM Summit that is to take place in Jamaica in July?

If the Council of Ministers feel they have an integral part to play in the review of the structure and functioning of the Secretariat, then perhaps they would want more than an "update".

If they have been circulated at least the draft of the internal report done on the original review for their meeting, then perhaps they would also need to familiarise themselves with the report as submitted by the five regional technocrats a year ago.

This would better enable them to make their own suggestions/recommendations about what should be forwarded to the CARICOM Heads of Government.

Now that a new Deputy Secretary General is to be appointed to succeed Dr Carla Barnett who has returned to her native Belize, it may be the appropriate time to critically examine the scope of responsibility and accountability of this number two post in the Secretariat.

In doing so, it should become evident why a general overhaul and empowerment of the Secretariat must be treated with priority.