Hurricane Seaga
Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
January 8, 2007
FORMER Jamaican Prime Minister and veteran regional politician Edward Seaga has set off a small political hurricane with his recent article, "Will CARICOM Slide?"
In the article, Seaga posits that CARICOM is barely functional as an institution and lacks committed leadership, people with "fire in their bellies".
"CARICOM is likely," sums up Seaga, "therefore, to face a slide, not a climb, in the future. One day we will look back at the days, months and years of effort that has gone into this futile ordeal to say nothing of the setback for the future, and regret the waste which could have been avoided if the lessons of the past had been taken to heart."
In a body where criticism from a former head of government is rarely ever heard, and with such a definitive tone of gloom, Seaga's article is the political equivalent of a hurricane.
It came unexpectedly, struck hard and the aftermath will be something that it will take perhaps months to deal with.
To dismiss Seaga's observations and criticisms would be to dismiss the observations and criticisms of the majority of the Caribbean people who have even bothered to deal with abstractions of CARICOM and the CSME.
And even these may be in a minority themselves – any regional poll of the average Caribbean citizen's knowledge about CARICOM is likely to show a woeful general ignorance of what it is and what it is supposed to do.
The irony is that this blissful ignorance – combined with the fragmented public consciousness of the region has allowed CARICOM to function free of consultation with the mass of its citizenry and free of their input into the decision-making process.
This phenomenon is something which Seaga in his article credits to the break-up of the original attempt at regional integration, the Federation of the West Indies,
No one doubts the sincerity of CARICOM leadership when it comes to their expressed belief that the regional integration process is the best hope for survival the region has in the current global environment.
The words "Integrate or Perish" have as much resonance today as they had thirty years ago.
However, no voice as loud as Seaga's, has hitherto come out questioning the mechanisms and processes under which the current attempt at regional integration is taking place.
When the diplomatic response – or as is more likely, the period of deafening silence – has ended, it would be advisable for those concerned to see the value in Mr. Seaga's statements.
There was a time when the idea of regional integration served as an anti-thesis to the established order, when CARICOM was seen as a sort of Ark for the post-Independence Caribbean.
Today, in the view of some, CARICOM has become the establishment, an institution perhaps indistinguishable from the colonial order in that its basic purpose appears to be self-perpetuation, arguably at the expense of the development of the people it purports to serve.
Seaga's comments are undoubtedly harsh. Their inherent criticisms, however, need to be seen more than anything else, as a much-needed call for action.