In this column last Sunday, I had cautiously suggested to keep expectations low on the outcome of the two-day 19th inter-sessional meeting of CARICOM heads of government in The Bahamas that was then concluding on Saturday evening.

RICKY SINGH

I did so while hoping to learn of new initiatives to advance progress towards the promised realisation of a single economic space with the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) by 2015.

Well, happily, after a series of technical and ministerial meetings leading up to the March 7-8 summit in Nassau, there were no open rows, and a spirit of camaraderie prevailed with the promise of two more meetings of our community leaders between April and July.

The unpleasant news is that no progress of significance was achieved in Nassau on ANY of the burning issues of regional importance: CSME; crime and security; regional air transportation; free movement of even skilled nationals; or on programmes for poverty reduction and enhancing food security at a time of galloping food prices and general rising in cost of living.

Indeed, at the opening session of the Nassau inter-sessional event, the Community's Secretary General, Edwin Carrington, felt constrained to sound a warning that the deadline for inauguration of the CSME, seven years from now, may not be met since some member governments were lagging behind in required readiness arrangements.

Such fears were raised previously by others, among them the former Barbados Prime Minister, Owen Arthur who, until two months ago, had been shouldering, for some 14 years, CSME-readiness responsibility, now assumed by his successor, David Thompson, with the rise of the opposition Democratic Labour Party to power.

What is particularly disconcerting, though not surprising, is that Carrington should have to signal such discouraging news in 2008--the target year for completion of the "framework" arrangements for the CSME.

And this uninspiring scenario in the face of no new initiatives to get on track the establishment of a long-promised administrative mechanism, empowered with executive authority, to help provide effective governance of the Community's business which the Community Secretariat in Georgetown is evidently not currently structured, enabled and mandated to undertake.

The CARICOM Commission, proposed some 16 years ago by the West Indian Commission, and subsequently subjected to reviews and recommendations of how it could function to expedite implementation of decisions unanimously taken and, in the process, held to improve governance in the best interest of the Community, is by no means an attempt to introduce political integration through the 'back door', as some expediently misrepresent.

This sort of misrepresentation coincides with a perception that CARICOM may be losing its momentum when the challenges of our time cry out for a more vigorous pursuit of the primary goals of the 35-year-old regional integration movement.

It would not have escaped the attention of monitors of CARICOM affairs that, following concern expressed last week by Carrington, there came, as if to compound problems and fan new fears about the CSME, a puzzling declaration from Jamaica's Prime Minister, Bruce Golding.

While participating in the Nassau meeting, he chose to use the occasion of media reports out of Port-of-Spain some two weeks ago on 'talk' by the prime ministers of Trinidad and Tobago (Patrick Manning) and St Vincent and the Grenadines (Ralph Gonsalves) about political unity, to re-introduce that familiar refrain of past leaders of the Jamaica Labour Party he currently heads: "There is no interest by us (Jamaica) in political union.." he said.

Mr Golding is sufficiently experienced in national and regional politics and the culture of "ole' talk" by politicians on political integration, to know that whatever may have been the mood of mutual admiration at their meeting in Port-of-Spain, both Manning and Gonsalves are aware that neither really has any plan to pursue political union in any form during their respective current term in government.

Truth is that neither has plans to even end the dependent relationship with the Privy Council and access, instead, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as their final appellate institution.

What is more worrying about Golding's unnecessary warning than the "talk" by Gonsalves and Manning about political unity, is that he should have expediently linked this far-fetched development with current efforts to achieve a single economic space, via the CSME. He said that this could be a moment for Jamaica's withdrawal (under his JLP administration of course) from the process because it would also require political integration.

Let me quote the Jamaican prime minister as reported by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) out of Nassau on March 9, when he reaffirmed his government's opposition to political unity while, at the same time, reiterating commitment to CARICOM as "a team player". In relation to the CSME, he said: "We remain open to discussions that would seek to expand the capacity of the single market (component of the CSME). We have expressed our reservations about the single economy; not reservation based on disagreement but based on what is being proposed, but simply indicating that it's going to be considerably difficult to establish single economic space unless you have a single set of economic policies...

"Macro-economic policies, monetary policies, fiscal policy, debt management policy, and possibly a single currency. It is going to be extremely difficult to do that without a political structure and once you get there, that is when we have to get off, because we are under a mandate that we are not going there..."

It is safe to assume that Golding's frequent use of "we" could only be in reference to his JLP administration, as he would be aware that during its long period in government, the People's National Party had firmly committed Jamaica not only to a CARICOM single market, but the entire process culminating in a single regional economy with all that such a laudable enterprise entails for mature governance of a seamless regional economy.

The PNP had done so without any talk of committing Jamaica to political integration, knowing that much work is yet to be completed, including issues raised by Golding, in terms of economic, monetary and fiscal policies before the inauguration of the CSME, targeted for 2015. That will be, at best, three years before new scheduled general elections in Jamaica.

In the September 2007 general elections, the JLP was finally returned to state power after 18 years in opposition, its parliamentary victory margin of four seats was obtained with a plurality of less than 3,000 popular votes that amounted to less than half of one percent of the overall percentage of votes cast.

I cannot recall whether a specific mandate was sought from the electorate on Jamaica's involvement with the CSME, though I concur with Mr Golding that, as a few reputable regional economists have previously stated, political integration is an essential ingredient in the process of achieving a single economic space.

It seems that different strokes are being played on different occasions by some, while all of our Community leaders keep reassuring us of their "commitment" to CARICOM and its objectives in vital areas like trade, economic and social development; functional cooperation and foreign policy coordination.

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