THE?DUST MAY?HAVE?SETTLED ALREADY after Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s battering and bruising of the sensitivities of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). But the point has to be made that the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago needs once and for all to state soberly where her country stands – and what it truly stands for.
It is not unknown that a Trinidad and Tobago, under a different dispensation, was so accommodating as to be considered a godfather of sorts, and therefore any sudden and drastic deviation from Samaritanism will be noted – no less Mrs Persad-Bissessar’s ungracious remarks that her twin republic should not be seen as an ATM machine.
Trinidad’s Opposition Leader Keith Rowley would naturally take umbrage at the prime minister’s statement in Jamaica before Caricom leaders; there are political points to score. But playing to the gallery or not, Mr Rowley is right. Mrs Persad-Bissessar’s mouthings were an insult.
Mr Rowley’s melodramatic lamentation of that insult costing many Trinidad and Tobago citizens their jobs we however take with a pinch of salt. For the one common thread between the two is the consolidation of business at home.
After all, Caricom is the largest market for manufacturers of Trinidad and Tobago. But unlike Mr Rowley, Mrs Persad-Bissessar doesn’t think Caricom neighbours are doing Trinidad any favour when they buy its products over their own.
Why else would she be again out of place before a Caribbean audience?
No help for Caricom countries hit by Tropical Storm Tomas unless Trinidad and Tobago will be benefiting by it – or so everybody thought her to mean last week.
As we understood it, Trinidad and Tobago would be ready to assist its Caricom neighbours, but any aid would come only after discussions with her cabinet colleagues – and for good measure, or worse, Opposition Leader Rowley.
Mrs Persad-Bissessar said she had received a call of distress from Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent, and her Minister of Foreign Affairs Suruj Rambachan had been talking with his counterparts in Barbados and St Lucia.
if there is housing assistance, for example, Trinidad and Tobago builders could be on site. Mrs Persad-Bissessar is strikingly lucid: “. . . Whatever money or assistance is given, redounds back in some measure to the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”
What is not so clear is Mrs Persad-Bissessar’s administration’s policy on Caribbean integration – even Caribbean neighbourliness. Or what indeed is the counsel of her advisers on this.
What seems to be Mrs Persad-Bissessar’s declared wish is that it won’t be business as usual. What is not clear is Trinidad and Tobago’s new modus operandi. Maybe, when Mrs Persad-Bissessar does consult with Mr Rowley, the melodrama and the condescension between them can be thrown into the Caribbean Sea, and we can get on with the forging of the Caribbean Community.
