Pushed on the defensive to explain why he was involved in an act that had the effect of undermining the country's immigration act, it has turned out that what Arthur referred to at a media briefing during the recent 14th Inter-Sessional Meeting of CARICOM heads of government occurred in 1992 when he was an opposition Member of Parliament and not as Prime Minister.

This dimension to the controversy over his involvement is ultimately to be resolved as a matter for Barbados. It is, however, to be noted that what both Prime Minister Arthur and the major opposition Democratic Labour Party share in common is a commitment to fair and just treatment for Guyanese and all other CARICOM citizens who visit the shores of that member state of the Community, whether or not to work.

More importantly, is the reaffirmation last week by Mr. Arthur and the President of the DLP, Senator Clyde Mascoll, of support to hasten the process of regional economic integration and, specifically, the realisation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). Mr. Arthur has lead responsibility among CARICOM heads of government for the CSME.

From our perspective, fundamental to the current efforts to create a single economic space with the creation of the CSME is for governments to treat with the utmost seriousness and urgency the freedom of CARICOM nationals to experience more than just hassle-free travel within the Community.

Their right to live and work must be seen as no less important than the free movement of capital and goods if, indeed, the CSME is to become a "lived experience" in regional economic integration, as Mr. Arthur himself has reminded.

The ‘ordinary folk’
In criticising a policy that focuses on facilitating intra-regional migration for educated and skilled nationals, but with layers of problems and hurdles for "ordinary CARICOM folk", the Barbados Prime Minister has touched on an issue of widespread concern among the peoples of the Community.

Equating this approach as discriminatory, Mr. Arthur said that it was high time for all CARICOM governments to bring an end to the practice of one set of migration being treated as "respectable" within the law and a larger part, involving unskilled or ordinary folks, as being "illegal".

The Barbadian Prime Minister would eventually be expected to give full clarification to his controversial assistance to two undocumented Guyanese workers. But he was forthright in declaring to a meeting of his St. Peter constituents last weekend:

"There is hardly a person in Barbados who has not had a service rendered on their behalf by some person who has come to this country who the immigration laws say should not be here. We should welcome them because the CSME should not just be for a formal structure. It should be a welcoming environment where every Caribbean citizen feels that he or she has a space..."

Earlier, Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago, had run into some media criticism for his own declaration, during the Inter-Sessional Meeting, that his government would push ahead with plans to expand the categories of CARICOM nationals who should also be facilitated the right of intra-regional freedom to live and work, among them carpenters, masons and other artisans.

The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves had left no one in doubt before his departure from that same Inter-Sessional Meeting of his own deep concerns over what he criticised as "hostile" immigration policies that were running counter to discussions and decisions at ministerial and heads of government meetings of CARICOM.