It was reported on the BBC website today that Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago have been invited to join the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) by Prime Minister of St. Lucia Stephenson King. The invitation is seen as a counter to Patrick Manning’s, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago offer for Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to form a political union. After reading the BBC article we had no problem discerning the skepticism to the Manning offer by Prime Minister King. To quote PM King:
If it is going to be another LIAT I’m not interested in it. I believe that Caricom itself has mushroomed into such a massive organisation of councils that ministers and prime ministers are called upon to travel so frequently to attend to meetings. We need to consolidate what we have to ensure that what is already working, works better.
Source; BBC
The BU household endorses Prime Minister King’s position. We suspect however that he is bluffing Prime Minister Manning because the leaders of the OECS know that T&T and or Barbados will not join the OECS at the expense of CARICOM. Afterall these two countries have invested too much time and money to abandon it by joining a political union which would be seen as a rival to CARICOM. The fallout might be interpreted by Caribbean people as regional governments continuing to confuse us.
We find the invitation to be interesting because the OECS is the only political union which has achieve some of level success in our region. It is ironic that the smallest and less developed of the Caribbean islands are the ones to lead the way. Good job OECS!
12 responses so far ↓
passin thru // April 15, 2008 at 1:54 am
I see you are back linking to Notes from the Margin. He took down two of his links to the group of sites run by the same people as Barbados Free Press Exposed, but Marginal still links to other sites by the same author.
Nameley “Bajan Free Press” and “De Standpipe.”
These are still part of the same group that threatened Adrian Loveridge with death, arson etc and Ian Bourne.
To remind you, Barbados Free Press Exposed was the first, then came the others:
Bajan Patriots - Dec 23, 2007
Bajan Free Press - Jan 21, 2008
Cat Piss and Pepper - Jan 21, 2008
De Standpipe - Jan 21, 2008
The last three came online together, instantly linking to each other and sharing articles, comments etc. They have one author. The latest article on CP&P has to do with glad Ian Bourne’s pet cat is dead.
Notes from the Margin took down three links, but continues with two links knowing they are from the same author that threatened to murder, arson, rape etc.
By “forgiving” Marginal when he still supports and links to that same author, Barbados Underground legitimizes what we should shun.
Don’t do it! Don’t give your traffic to Marginal until he deletes all blogs by that author.
Let the author who threatened to murder start over and keep to the civilized behavior.
Do not be part of the legitimization of that author.
Yours truly,
passin thru
Bajan // April 15, 2008 at 5:31 am
I agree Barbados should join. Prime Minister Thompson marry to a St.Lucian woman and maybe this might be a facotor.
The People's Democratic Congress // April 15, 2008 at 6:56 am
If the report on the BBC Caribbean. Com/BBC Caribbean News in Brief website about the St. Lucian Prime Minister, Mr. Stephenson King, extending an invitation to the Government of Barbados to join the OECS (We are not particularly concerned about the affairs of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago in these kinds of matters), is true and is a correct representation of what Mr. King actually did say to the BBC Caribbean (the report did NOT state wherefrom and when he made such an “offer”), then we will be certain that this idea will be seen by many, many politically conscious citizens of the different states of our CARICOM sub-region, as being just another political idea about some form of greater regional unity from just another prime minister of our region, and that is destined for the political trash heap. And Mr. King will only have himself to blame for that premonition cum predicament, given that we in PDC and the wider CARICOM sub-region have long wanted to know about what has become of the Manning Initiative, the Assembly of CARICOM Parliamentarians by then Prime Minister of Barbados, Mr. Erskine Sandiford (now Sir Lloyd), the initiative of seeking greater political unity between Barbados and the OECS by then Prime Minister Owen Arthur, and numerous others, if they would NOT already have been consigned to the political trash heap.
Finally, it really seems to us in PDC that too many new/relatively new prime ministers of this CARICOM sub-region just wish to test their possible/political influence among their peers in this region by spewing forth undefined and ill-thought out ideas/plans for greater political unity, whether in the form of confederation/federation. For sure, though, by simply floating such ideas/plans about such forms of greater regional unity will NOT be enough at this time when we desire real political action and commitment on greater regionalization among particular states of this CARICOM sub-region, even in the face of long established failures of CARICOM political leaders to have the political will to implement many decisions that they would have long agreed upon( CARICOM Commission etc), and in the face of esp. these leaders losing much cause for greater regionalization in CARICOM (the effects of necessary parochialism/insularity sometimes, etc.), amid increasing globalization and trade, investment and currency liberalization trends and greater regionalization trends vis-a-vis-the development of trading blocs across the world - things that some social commentators in the sub-region think should force us to come together more.
PDC
Global Voices Online » Barbados, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago: OECS Invite // April 15, 2008 at 8:11 am
[...] Barbados Underground reports that St. Lucia's Prime Minister has invited Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago to join the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and says: “We find the invitation to be interesting because the OECS is the only political union which has achieved some of level success in our region.” Posted by Janine Mendes-Franco Share This [...]
justice // April 15, 2008 at 9:13 am
PDC, you really must write better. Try reading your last sentence form “For sure ,though…to “come together more”. Do you really think that people reading a blog will try to decipher this?
Linchh // April 15, 2008 at 9:17 am
David:
I have not read the BBC story but I hope to do so as soon as time permits - I am currently on a business visit to the USA.
I agree that the arrangement of a closer association between Barbados and the OECS should be examined in a serious manner. When Owen Arthur first came to power in 1994 he flirted with the ideaof a special relationship with the OECS, but nothing came of it. Indeed, I recall that he attended a meeting of the Council of Ministers that was held in Union Island in 1995. His return travel to Barbados involved an early Saturday Morning flight to Barbados to attend a meeting with representatives of an MFI. The early rising (should I say “take off”) for the short trip did little to improve his temper, which certainly did not contribute to the success of the meting.
It is to be recalled that the failure of the OECS members to meet all the requirements for adherence to the CSM(E) has been a factor in the delay in making this institution effective. Should B”dos and T&T joining the OECS be regarded as a substitute?
The cynical among us might say that this proposal look very much like an invitation to continue spinning the CSM(E) top in the CARICOM mud. Well, I understand that it has been raining quite a lot in the Eastern Caribbean recently, so there should be no shortage of mud. Hopefully, if the proposal fails to engage, none of our leaders will resort to wallowing in it, or worse yet, throwing it!
David // April 15, 2008 at 7:07 pm
It amazes us that our people do not understand that our politicians are making ‘mock sport’ at the people acros the region. Are we serious about a union or not? We are waiting too much resources chasing after mythical unions.
What are doing?
Bush Tea // April 15, 2008 at 9:02 pm
David,
If you had to give a speech every day to some organisation or the other, don’t you think that you would end up talking a lot of …. nonsense too?
…. they have to say SOMETHING.
The trick is not to take them to seriously and preferably not to listen in the first place.
You know that these speeches are penned by civil servants and speech writers and the poor politician don’t know head nor tail what he / she is saying most f the time anyway.
What union what?!?
Not even the Caribbean Credit Unions can manage to get their acts together.
Even if they managed to spend another billion dollars on top of that spent on CSME ( the Conspiracy to Spend our Money Easily) on a new gimmick with the OECS, we all know that it will reach exactly NOWHERE.
However, it will provide clueless politicians with countless hours of speech material.
David // April 15, 2008 at 9:06 pm
BT your cynicism is killing us. Are you a JW? Don’t you believe that politicians can do any good at all?
Virgin Islands Fractionals Expand On St. John & St. Thomas! | Caribbean Islands Realty // April 15, 2008 at 11:13 pm
[...] your sun screen. It is around 85 degrees down here everyday. Until next time… I am off to Barbados to check out the Crane Resort. I will report [...]
Sandie Rowe // April 17, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Like Big England in the EU, I am sure that before Barbados joins the EC, there will be the inevitable fight to retain the Bajan Dollar.
Stupse // April 18, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Rickey Singh on the money when he called St. Lucia prime mister invitation for Trinidad and Barbados to join OECS infantile. The suggestion is not worthy of consideration.
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