Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 10, 2008 Editorial
It was noted in passing that one of the dignitaries present at the recently-concluded CARICOM Heads of Government summit was the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, His Excellency Kamalesh Sharma.
For most of our citizens, the Commonwealth is now an organisation that elicits very little interest, even though we are supposed to be observing “Commonwealth Day” on the second Monday of March, each year.
It appears, also, that this oversight might be true for our leaders, and this is unfortunate.
In this era of globalisation, where economic linkages are being forged at a dizzying pace within and amongst nations, there is an urgent need for smaller countries such as ours, (and we mean for all our CARICOM partners) to utilise any and all opportunities to market themselves.
The Commonwealth is an organisation with a unique spread of membership that presents quite a diversified collection of markets or investors, whichever way our development needs demand that we look at them.
We should reacquaint ourselves with the Commonwealth, or the Commonwealth of Nations, as it is formally known.
There are some fifty-three independent sovereign states, all of which are former colonies of the British Empire – in addition to Britain – in the Commonwealth. Zimbabwe has been suspended for violating the democratic norms that the members are supposed to uphold.
In 1926, it was established informally as the “British” Commonwealth and the modern Commonwealth began in 1949 with India’s Independence creating a new dynamic for membership.
The Commonwealth, of course, is not a political union and the UK cannot exercise the power over the affairs of the organisation’s other members that it used to do in the days of the Empire.
It is now primarily an organisation in which countries with diverse economic backgrounds have an opportunity for close and equal interaction.
The primary activities of the Commonwealth are designed to create an atmosphere of economic co-operation between member nations, as well as the promotion of democracy, human rights, and good governance in those nations.
And it is here that as card-carrying members, Guyana and the rest of CARICOM can leverage their membership to further the interests of their countries.
Recently, most of the Commonwealth activities have been focused on the area of “good governance” and the organisation was involved, for instance, in furthering discussions between our government and the opposition to diffuse tensions earlier in the decade.
It has also taken firm action against the violations of democratic norms in Fiji, Pakistan and most recently Zimbabwe.
But the thirteen members of CARICOM that were once colonies of Britain and are now in the Commonwealth have the critical mass in voting power and or moral influence to place economic matters more prominently on its agenda.
Recently, President Jagdeo pointed out that Jamaica should play a more pro-active role in working towards the reduction of debt of middle-income countries by engaging the G-8 group of the most developed nations.
Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding asserted to reporters that he was already in the midst of doing that with the British. Something is amiss here.
Firstly as members of CARICOM, there should have been greater co-ordination within that grouping on initiatives of this sort: President Jagdeo was very forthcoming in offering Guyanese experience in the debt-reduction process but was obviously not aware that Jamaica had already moved unilaterally.
As members of the Commonwealth, CARICOM could have lobbied that body on the issue if there were the requisite communication.
The UK is a member of G-8 and one would expect that within the ambiance of the Commonwealth’s office, where the “special ties” could be stressed, the UK may be more amenable to picking up cudgels on Jamaica or other middle-income countries’ behalf.
India and South Africa are two other members of the Commonwealth that should command some influence on the thinking of the G-8’s leadership.
The point we would want to emphasise is that we as a nation, and as members of CARICOM, have to maximise the benefits available to us from membership of other organisations such as the Commonwealth.
We have been stressing the need for CARICOM to take a greater responsibility in this area – because it does appear that the CSME, and the attendant benefits, may be moribund for a while longer that all of us thought: especially if Jamaica keeps marching to its own drum, once again.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
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