Caricom to consider including opposition leaders
Stabroek News
July 15, 2004
Caribbean Community leaders will be canvassing the region on a proposal to work out arrangements to allow elected parliamentary opposition leaders to participate in the councils of Caricom.
This was decided at the 25th Meeting of the Heads of Government in Grenada, where Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer called for the initiative.
"Parliamentary Opposition and its leaders are key entities of civil society and should no longer be treated as though deemed personas non grata by Caricom," he is quoted in a statement issued yesterday by Antigua and Barbuda's Office of the Prime Minister.
"I submit that the role and obligations of Caricom would be well-served if all sectors of civil society in the West Indies, including Opposition leaders in Parliamentary systems, were participants in the regional integration process," he added.
It was agreed that one key element is resuscitating the Association of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians (ACCP) with a central role for parliamentary oppositions.
Also, the recommendations out of the public consultations will be submitted to the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Governance for its review. Caricom Heads of State will decide on the proposals at the inter-sessional meeting of the conference due early next year.
Spencer's recommendations will be among the proposals that are to be considered by the leaders at that meeting.
He recommended that the Caricom Secretary General should convene a Conference of constitutionally-elected opposition leaders before every Heads of Government Conference. Also, that all the documents considered by or originating from Heads of Government Conferences or in between meetings should routinely be forwarded to the elected opposition leaders.
He proposes too that opposition leaders should be allowed access to the Caricom Secretary General on issues of regional scope including developments incompatible with the Charter for Civil Society or the overall goals of Caricom.