Opinion
- Editorial
Rickey
Singh:
Golding out of step with Caricom's mood
AS
Bruce Golding anxiously eyes his chance of becoming
Jamaica's next prime minister, he should reflect
on the pragmatic position of Prime Minister Patrick
Manning's government in facilitating the right of
this country and other Caricom partners to be involved
in the Venezuela-initiated PetroCaribe project.
Such reflection would be politically correct in
view of the very surprising claim by the Jamaica
Labour Party leader last weekend that the People's
National Party administration is in danger of selling
out Jamaica's foreign policy interest for a few
barrels of oil from Venezuela and being part of
an assumed anti-USA brigade in this hemisphere.
Golding's
attempt to delink Jamaica from a current attempt
by Venezuela to secure - in the face of mounting
hostility by the George Bush administration - one
of the non-permament seats in the UN Security Council
in September, seems a throwback to a degrading period
in this region when some Caricom leaders were shamelessly
competing to win the favour of 'Uncle Sam'.
Or
is the JLP leader simply out of step with the mood
of today's Caricom governments and, worse, the region's
peoples?
The Trinidad and Tobago prime minister, who was
in Kingston last Friday as part of a curious whirlwind
tour of four Caricom states - an issue discussed
later in this column - presides over Caricom's most
healthy economy, fuelled by oil and natural gas
exports and, relatedly, with a commanding surplus
in intra-regional trade.
Neither
the government of Trinidad and Tobago, for which
the USA represents its single largest natural gas
market, nor that of Jamaica has anything to gain
from involvement in playing an ant-America card.
Nor should support by Caricom states, including
Jamaica, for Venezuela's bid for a UN Security Council
seat - once held by Jamaica - be opportunistically
translated by domestic opponents as a "sell
out" for oil concessions from the government
of President Hugo Chavez.
True,
as the sole oil and natural gas exporter within
Caricom, Manning's government, as well as that of
Barbados' Prime Minister Owen Arthur, did not climb
aboard for last year's inauguration of PetroCaribe
that offers special concessions to signatory countries
in the Greater Caribbean at this period of galloping
oil prices.
But with the passage of some months, Manning, whose
government continues to strategise over the upgrading
of the state-owned oil refinery at Point-a-Perre
with likely Venezuelan crude, has made the commendable
gesture to cease applying Caricom's Common External
Tariff (CET) against petroleum shipments, under
the PetroCaribe project, to participating Community
partners.
Within
Caricom, Jamaica currently stands out as a major,
if not primary, beneficiary state of the PetroCaribe
project. Further, as Mr Golding should know - even
before Prime Minister Simpson Miller's recent official
visit to Trinidad and Tobago - the Manning administration
had left no doubts about maintaining good relations
with both Kingston and Washington, while continuing
to distance itself from ANY hostility directed at
the Chavez government.
If
not unanimity, overwhelming support for Venezuela's
bid to secure one of the non-permanent seats on
the UN Security Council is expected to be considered
at next month's Caricom Summit in Basseterre, St
Kitts, at which the Community's relations with the
USA will be among foreign policy matters to be discussed.
Curious
Manning Mission
THIS
brings me to the matter of Prime Minister Manning's
fleeting visits to four Caricom states last week,
starting with Guyana and climaxing in Jamaica, as
his unique way of ending his stint as outgoing chairman
of Caricom.
Originally,
the Community Secretariat in Georgetown had announced
that Manning would be undertaking a five-nation
"mission" of Caricom states as outgoing
chairman - Guyana, Suriname, Barbados, Belize and
Jamaica.
But
by Wednesday, when he was expected to show up in
Barbados, the Secretariat said in another media
release that Manning had visited Guyana and Suriname
on June 14 and would continue with visits to Belize
and Jamaica on Friday (June 16).
No
mention was made why Barbados was no longer on the
list.
Whether an unofficial allusion to "scheduling
problem" developed in Port-of-Spain or, expediently,
in Bridgetown remained a mystery as arrangements
were being finalised for Manning's presence in Jamaica
on Friday.
Beyond
the public relations photo opportunities, the exact
nature of Manning's "mission" to the chosen
four countries was not stated. Is he planning a
"mission" to other Caricom countries later?
If so, why was it not explained in the first official
announcement?
In
less than three weeks, Manning will be handing over
the chairmanship to Prime Minister Denzil Douglas
of St Kitts and Nevis, host for next month's 27th
Caricom Summit in Basseterre.
So why did a seasoned veteran of Caricom politics
like Manning, who was elected chairman at last February's
Inter-Sessional in Port-of-Spain, wait until now
to pursue his selective visits?.
Significantly,
while he opted to travel to Central America to meet
with Belize's Prime Minister Said Musa, Manning
did not find it convenient (at this time?) to include
any member country of the Organisation of Eastern
Caribbean States.
There
is nothing wrong in choosing the countries he did
for his "mission", it is just that in
the absence of any specific reason for so doing,
one is left to speculate, maybe unfairly to him,
about the real purpose of the "mission",
as described by the Community Secretariat.
His
meeting with Prime Minister Musa would have exposed
him to how strongly the Belizean government feels
about being harassed by the United States State
Department over alleged failure to take effective
actions against human trafficking.
Coincidentally,
Belize happens to be one of the countries in the
Caribbean/Latin American region openly supporting
Venezuela's bid - in preference to Guatemala's candidature
- for the UN Security Council seat for which the
Guatemalan government has Washington's canvassing
support.
The
problems of human trafficking facing Caricom states
and the unilateral application of punitive ratings
by the USA for claimed inadequate corrective actions
are also expected to be discussed at next month's
Heads of Government Summit in Basseterre.
Rickey
Singh a
Caribbean jornalist is a well known Caribbean opinion
and commentary writer. Petroleumworld not necessarily
share these views.
Editor's
Note: This commentary was published by The Jamaica
Observer, on Sunday, June 18, 2006. Petroleumworld
reprint this article in the interest of our readers.
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Petroleumworld
05 25 06
Copyright
© 2006 Rickey Singh.
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