THE SEARCH for a new secretary general and an improved governance system for the Caribbean Community have come at a very challenging time for some Heads of Government of the 37-year-old regional economic integration movement. In Jamaica, Prime Minister Bruce Golding, chairman of the Community until February 2011, felt compelled to go on the offensive against a new wave of sharp criticism of his government’s earlier involvement with a United States law firm to help ease pressure in Washington for the extradition of the infamous don of Tivoli Gardens, Christopher “Dudus” Coke.Faced with an ongoing battle in defence of his credibility as prime minister, Golding has chosen to ignore the call by the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) for an independent commission of enquiry into the government’s involvement in Coke’s extradition case and to engage, instead, in countrywide meetings with various communities and stakeholders to correct the misrepresenations.It is doubtful that having acknowledged mis-steps by the government in handling the extradition controversy in the first place, Golding can succeed in evading an independent probe into the whole affair; moreso in the wake of recently published email correspondence between Jamaican attorneys and the law firm of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips.Dominica: Across in the Eastern Caribbean, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and his Minister of Education Peter Saint Jean were informed by High Court Judge Errol Thomas that they would have to face trials on charges claiming that their parliamentary seats won in last December’s general election should be declared null and void.Skerrit is faced with the charge of having contested the December 18 poll in the Vieille Case while holding dual citizenship (French) which is forbidden by Dominica’s constitution.Saint Jean, on the other hand, has been advised that the claim made against the results of his election for the La Plaine constituency by the opposition United Workers Party leader, Ron Greene, “deserves to be heard” in court.
Antigua: As Dominica’s Prime Minister and his cabinet colleague await a date for their respective court trial, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer, and two of his cabinet ministers remain quite anxious about their own future in government.In the case of the Antiguan trio, their political fate hangs on a judgment to be delivered by a panel of judges from the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal.The judgment will be in response to a ruling on March 12 this year by Justice Louise Blenman to declare vacant the seats of Spencer; his education minister (Jacqui Quinn-Leandro) and that of the tourism minister (John Maginley). Judge Blenman’s ruling resulted from a series of petitions filed by the Opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP), challenging controversial resuts of the March 2009 general election at which Spencer’s United Progressive Party (UPP) won nine of the 17 parliamentary seats.Should Justice Blenman’s ruling be upheld by the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal, there would have to be either three by-elections or, more likely, a new general election.Barbados: In this Community state there continues to be deep national concern over the health of Prime Minister David Thompson. He felt compelled to announce on July 1 a two-month leave from official duties to undergo major surgery in the United States.Apart from the domestic situation, Thompson’s illness is also impacting on progress of CARICOM’s flagship project – the Single Market and Economy (CSME) – for which he shoulders lead responsibility among Heads of Government.Suriname: Then there is the challenge of dealing with the appointment of a new CARICOM secretary general, to succeed the retiring Edwin Carrington, while simultaneously preparing to work in the councils of the community with Suriname’s newly inaugurated President Desi Bouterse, long a controverial public figure in the politics and governance of that former Dutch colony.An immediate concern is whether Suriname’s scheduled turn to assume the chairmanship of CARICOM in July next year should not be deferred to February 2012 to facilitate some perceived needed adjustments for both the incoming new secretary general as well as President Bouterse for the rotating six-month chairmanship.This issue may be finally determined at the first CARICOM Inter-Sessional Meeting for 2012 scheduled for Grenada next February and hosted by Prime Minister Tilman Thomas, who will serve as chairman until the regular annual summit in July 2012. That, under normal circumstances, would have been Suriname’s turn to host and assume chairmanship. It is a matter to be resolved. Currently, there remain concerns about the approaches by the Community’s Heads of Government to find the most suitable successor to replace 72-year-old Carrington who has been serving as secretary general for 18 years.
