Today I revisit the issue of the coming get-together in Castries of leaders of governing and Opposition parliamentary parties, having managed to receive a copy of the draft agenda for the July 2 encounter.

Rickey Singh

The six-item agenda offers no path-finding initiative and in a way underscores my earlier observation that while not much should be expected, the real significance of the meeting lies in the fact that it IS taking place.

Indeed, despite all the rhetoric on "consultations" and "good governance" this is the first time such a meeting since the birth of Caricom 32 years ago.

The agenda has been drafted for what one prime minister described as "ensuring structured dialogue and to avoid getting involved with emotional domestic issues that could prove counter-productive for both sides".

When questioned whether Opposition leaders have had any inputs in the draft agenda, one government spokesman noted that since the initiative for the meeting was one by the Community's Heads of Government, care was taken to provide the oppostion representatives the opportunity to raise any "specific concerns under any other business", ahead of closing remarks by the chairman.

Following opening statements by the chairman and host, Prime Minister Kenny Anthony of St Lucia, and Opposition leader and former prime minister of Dominica, Edison James, there will be three lead presentations to generate discussions during the day.

Barbados' Prime Minister, Owen Arthur, will deal with the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and its "significance for the region's future development".

Secondly, Jamaica's prime Minister P J Patterson - whose initiative led to the arrangement for the encounter in Castries - will addresss the "significance" for CARICOM of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Guyana's Opposition leader, Robert Corbin of the People's National Congress/Reform, is to make a presentation "on the way forward for the continuation of the regional dialogue".

Neither former prime minister and current Opposition leader of Trinidad and Tobago, Basdeo Panday, nor the new Opposition leader of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, is listed for a formal presentation. But they will be among the Opposition leaders in Parliament who are expected as participants for the meeting.

When last year's 25th CARICOM Summit took place in Grenada, Opposition leader Tillman Thomas of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), appealed in a national broadcast for the Community's leaders to move their discussion on "transparency and good governance" from being just a broad set of desired principles, and to "convert them into a real and living Charter, legally binding on all member states..."

This issue is expected to surface in the general discussions, as well as Panday's stated anxiety for "overall constitutional reform instead of expedient tinkering with constitutional amendments".

When he first publicly addressed the issue of consensus-building by CARICOM achieve essential objectives of the region's economic integration movement during the closing session last April of an OAS - sponsored Forum of Political Parties, Prime Minister Patterson had noted:

"Whether Opposition parties ever achieve the position of government or not, they do command the support of significant portion of the population in our respective countries."

Consequently, as Patterson sees it, as CARICOM seeks to bring the integration movement closer to the people, "it is very necessary not only to involve the political parties, but to embrace the wider civil society as well".

The expectation, therefore, is to have some foundation laid, some mechanism fashioned in Castries to continue the dialogue and to build the widest possible support for the goals of CARICOM, including, of course, the Caribbean Court of Justice to serve, ultimately as the final appellate court for ALL member states of the Community.

Opposition leader Golding who, like his Trinidadian counterpart, Panday, has been a persistent advocate for constitutional reform and separation of powers, is expected to also raise for discussion an issue currently engaging bi-partian political consideration in Jamaica - state financing of political parties to overome recurring complaints/allegations of corruption in private funding of candidates.

While it is more than likely that some Opposition leaders will seek to use the encounter to inject aspects of their domestic politics, whenever the opportunity presents itself, any call for "shared governance", however limited a period, but not based on an electoral mandate, is expected to be a non-starter in Castries.

But it could be useful should opposition delegates come forward with suggestions on how to make more relevant the Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians, inaugurated in 1996 as a deliberative, people-focused forum, but which is yet to have any significant impact.

Also, in pointing to initiatives for creation of independent regional mechanisms to have a supervisory role in the functioning of national bodies dealing with the conduct of elections; judicial and police services commissions, as well as working to make legally binding the CARICOM Charter for Civil Society in the interest of improved governance.

Let's see what results from this first-ever structured dialogue between CARICOM Heads of Government and parliamentary Opposition leader in Castries.

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