COMMENTARY

Meeting of all regional political parties vital

by Sir Ronald Sanders, a former Caribbean diplomat, now corporate executive, who publishes widely on small states in the global community

Tuesday, May 3, 2005

Much praise should be showered on veteran Caribbean leader and Prime Minister of Jamaica, P J Patterson for his initiative to host a meeting of leaders of all regional political parties on critical issues confronting the region.

This is not the first time that this idea has been proposed. The difference this time is that the Jamaican leader has moved it from the posturing of the past and has actively done something about it.

On April 26th in the Jamaican parliament, Mr Patterson announced that he had not only written to regional leaders proposing the meeting but he had offered Jamaica as a venue before the July Summit of CARICOM Heads of Government.

The Caribbean as a whole and its constituent states individually are at a critical juncture in their development. No political party has a monopoly on intellect or experience, and the region would benefit greatly from a serious, informed and constructive discussion by all its leaders on a cluster of issues that will affect every man, woman and child.

Mr Patterson has identified some of the issues. 

He has placed the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and negotiations with the rest of the world on his proposed agenda. It would be useful to add the state-owned regional airlines which are in dire straits and are being subsidised at great cost to taxpayers. 

There will, no doubt, be objections to Mr Patterson’s initiative. Unfortunately, the tribalism of the two-party system has become so entrenched in the political culture of the Caribbean that the idea of Heads of Government sitting at the same table with Opposition leaders to discuss what essentially boils down to issues affecting the governance of the region is abhorrent to some in government. It is regarded as demonstrating weakness; an inability to produce the answers to the region’s problems, and, therefore, a lack of capacity to govern. 

This, of course, is short-sighted thinking, more indicative of political insecurity than rational policy.

The future of the people of the region and the decisions that have to be made to chart that future should be a subject of the very broadest consultation. And, since opposition political parties do exercise influence - if not power - in some instances, their positions should be taken into account quite seriously in decision-making.

The consequence of sidelining opposition parties is to encourage divergence on development goals where there may have been agreement, and to promote resistance to beneficial economic aims where there may have been consensus. Ultimately, political partisanship defeats overall good.

It is the people and the economies of the region that suffer from this failure to accept that ‘governance’ is wider than ‘government’, and that representative organisations, including opposition political parties, are legitimate voices in every society, providing, of course that they behave responsibly and within the rule of law. 

Heaven knows that there is an urgent necessity to broaden the discussion of the CSME throughout the region. 

The people of the region are being asked – not through a referendum as happened in some parts of Europe – to decide to be part of a Single Market by year end 2005 and a Single Economy by 2008.

The ramifications of this are not clearly understood by many sectors in individual states. There is a great deal of uncertainty about what it all means and how it will affect the lives of people. 

In this connection, the recent announcement by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur, that a new concept paper will be ready in three months outlining “the kind and the nature of the Caribbean economy we wish to have created by the year 2015” is very good news. It would be useful if the paper formed part of the discussion of the proposed meeting of all party political leaders 

The present uncertainties about the CSME are demonstrated every day as businesses worry about competition, within their national boundaries, from companies in other Caribbean countries. Trade unions too are concerned about the displacement of their workers if businesses collapse from competition. And, some governments are troubled by the possibility of increased unemployment with no opportunity within the Caribbean Single Market for people to migrate to other Caribbean countries to work.

These are all legitimate concerns that need to be ventilated and addressed by all political parties.

It has to be recalled that there is, as yet, no Regional Development Fund to accompany the CSME, and no government has committed itself to ‘the free movement of people’ however glibly this phrase is attached to the media publicity of the Single Market and Economy.

Without a Regional Development Fund, such as exists within the European Community, it is difficult to see how disadvantaged countries and sectors within countries will not suffer severe political fall-out from the CSME. It is self-evident that opposing political parties will blame the governing parties and their policies on the CSME for businesses that collapse and workers that are out of jobs.

And, no governing political party dare say now that it is committed to the free movement of people. Each of them is greatly fearful of the response of its opposition in a national political context. Fear of accusations that “the country will be swamped by foreigners” paralyses some political parties. 

This is precisely why all political parties – governing and opposing – need to sit down in the same room and discuss these issues sensibly. For, if the issues become the fodder of political ambition, regionalism and its benefits will be destroyed in misguided nationalistic campaigns.

Tied-up with the notion of national pride is the troubling state of the regional aviation industry which is why it might usefully be included in the cluster of issues that leaders of all political parties might consider should they actually get together.

Air Jamaica, BWIA and LIAT are all in serious financial trouble. 

In the last few weeks, Governments of the Eastern Caribbean have pumped more money into LIAT following injections of other large sums over the years. Similarly, the Trinidad and Tobago government recently gave BWIA a cash injection in the form of a $37 million loan to keep it flying until the end of June. And, Air Jamaica has lost US$30 million over the last three months after it reverted to government ownership having lost US$675 million while in private hands. Bahamas Air, which does somewhat better, is nonetheless facing stiff competition from low cost carriers such as JetBlue, Air Tran, and Song, and has to seriously consider restructuring.

It would be financially imprudent if not irrational for governments to keep on pumping money into failing airlines.

But, the regional aviation industry is crucial to the Caribbean’s future for tourism, which is now a huge contributor to regional economies, and to trade in goods and services throughout the area. Without adequate and viable air connections, the CSME will wither on the vine.

In this context, regional aviation merits an urgent place on the agenda of any talks between all the political leaders of the Caribbean. For, it would be very easy for opposition political parties to lambaste governing political parties that withdraw the present heavy government subsidies from these airlines, or decide that they should be restructured.

Yet restructured into a single merged entity may be precisely what is required to maintain a regional airline that serves the Caribbean’s interests. There is not a shortage of ideas on how this could be achieved, and recent studies are available and could be updated.

But, even with the best and most comprehensive studies, all political party leaders would have to leave narrow, national politics at the door and enter a room to contribute creatively to solving a problem which, left unattended, will hurt the region badly in the future.

This observation, of course, extends to all the issues on Mr Patterson’s proposed agenda for a meeting of political leaders.

It would be marvellous for the governance of the region, if such a meeting could take place. The region should stand behind the Jamaican Prime Minister’s initiative.

(responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com) 

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