PORT-OF-SPAIN – As he gets ready to take over the leadership of the Guyanese-based Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, Irwin LaRocque knows the next three years will not be easy for him and the regional integration movement.
More than six months after Sir Edwin Carrington stepped down as the secretary general of the 15-member CARICOM grouping, regional governments have given the nod to the 56-year-old Dominican national to become the seventh person to hold the top public servant in the Caribbean.
Ever since he was named as the new Secretary General, the soft spoken LaRocque has been receiving congratulatory messages from near and far, including one from José Miguel Insulza, the secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS).
“You have been an active participant in some of the more recent discussions for the strengthening of the regional integration movement, one of the oldest in the world, and that I am therefore confident that you will bring a new and refreshing perspective on advancing the CARICOM integration process in the 21st century,” he said.
But the Jamaica Observer said despite the inevitable flurry of perfunctory letters of congratulations, it is sure LaRocque “is fully aware that his honeymoon, if it can be called that, will be short-lived”.
The paper said in an editorial: “His first task will be to gain the confidence of the political leadership and senior officials of the region. What nobody has said openly is that in the leadership of the region there is widespread concern ranging from disappointment to resignation.”
Since 2005, LaRocque has been serving as the Assistant Secretary General for Trade and Economic Integration at the CARICOM Secretariat.
“I am humbled and privileged for this opportunity to continue my service to the Governments and people of the Caribbean Community,” he said in a brief statement.
“I think it is no secret a lot of things are said about CARICOM and what it means and does not mean and what it has achieved and not achieved and I think there are a lot of expectations so a number of these issues will have to be taken into account and at the end of the day see how we can continue with the integration of the community.”
LaRocque has promised that his tenure would be used to deepen the integration process, since “the future of the region lies with integration”.
LaRocque told state-owned Dominica Broadcasting Service (DBS) radio: “In this world it is very difficult to go it alone and the more the region can do together to serve the development and to face the onslaught from the larger world, I think the imperative must be addressed.”
When he announced the selection of LaRocque from a field of five candidates, the CARICOM Chairman and St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas said his colleagues believed that the new man “possesses the requisite skills of visionary leadership, courage and commitment required to guide the Community at this time of change and uncertainty”.
Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said he was confident that his fellow national would do well in addressing the major challenges facing CARICOM.
“The Community requires a tremendous overhaul and we have been saying as heads of government that we need to have a restructured CARICOM to respond to the present challenges.
“While the core functions of CARICOM will remain, there are certain issues and challenges that the Secretariat must appear to be mindful of,” Skerrit said.
Douglas has already made it clear that the pace at which the region moves forward will be determined from the results from a number of the analyses of the 38-year-old 15-member grouping.
“That is why, to a large extent, we have insisted to the consultants who are doing the review of the Secretariat ‘get your work done as quickly as possible’, because we are at the point where maybe a crisis is unfolding and we need to be able to stop it in its track and move forward with some new vigour, some new action especially on the part of the people of the region.” (CMC)
