Saving Caricom from its deathbed

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

The search for a new Caribbean Community (Caricom) secretary general should, we believe, be guided by a few principles starting with a selection panel made up of people of appropriate stature and experience.

This will send a signal to the world that this is a matter of the highest priority for Caricom and bring to the task people who are qualified to interview and select a shortlist of candidates. It will also encourage only qualified persons to apply, since serious people are not prepared to be interviewed by persons below the rank of secretary general.

We recommend a search committee of the following distinguished Caribbean persons: Mr Percival Patterson, former prime minister of Jamaica; Sir Shridath Ramphal, former secretary general of the Commonwealth Secretariat and chairman of the West Indian Commission; Sir George Alleyne, chancellor of the University of the West Indies and former head of the Pan-American Health Organisation; Sir Alister McIntyre, former secretary general of Caricom and vice-chancellor of the UWI; Professor Vaughan Lewis, former prime minister of St Lucia and former secretary general of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States; and Dame Billie Miller, former deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Barbados.

The group could be chaired by Mr Patterson and, in addition to vetting applications, should be empowered to "head hunt", given that some highly placed people may not want to be seen to be applying for any number of reasons, including the sensitivity of their current posts.

Once this committee has drawn up a shortlist, a special meeting of Caricom Heads of Government or a sub-committee of the Heads should be convened to interview those shortlisted.

The Heads should bear in mind that it is essential that the successful candidate must have some exposure to, and experience in Caricom affairs; must be in his or her prime; and have a track record of leadership, management skills and be politically savvy. For we hold that genuine leadership is of paramount importance and cannot be learnt on the job. Therefore, Caricom cannot simply pick persons who have some relevant experience but no demonstrated capacity for leadership and political acumen.

But even as we believe that quality is important in the choice of a new secretary general, it is only a part of what needs to be done to save Caricom from its current deathbed.

For in addition to being given a free hand to select his or her top deputies, the new secretary general must be required to spearhead a management audit, using a management consulting firm of international repute, to restructure the Caricom Secretariat, including its decentralisation.

We anticipate that some will argue that decentralisation will increase the cost of operation. However, that can be avoided if Caricom — like every modern organisation -- makes more use of technology, including e-mail and teleconferencing. An added benefit of decentralisation would be that the reallocation of staff would save us the unpalatable issue of whether the Caricom Secretariat should remain in Georgetown.

Finally, the Heads of Government need to decide on a new governance structure to become operational simultaneously with the assumption of office by the new secretary general. If this structure is the Council of Ambassadors, then they must be delegated sufficient authority to make decisions, otherwise they will become another costly parallel layer of bureaucracy.

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Saving Caricom from its deathbed