The BU family should know by now that we have been a staunch advocate of Barbados pursuing an immigration policy which is structured and organized. Simply put our obligation to conform to the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, Articles 45 and 46 must fit snugly into our national policies. The fact that our position on this issue conflicts with the so-called regionalists and liberals like former Junior Minister in the former government Kerrie Symmonds, and Peter Wickham who of late has been bleating on all issues facing Barbados is healthy to generate good debate.
At his first CARICOM Summit in April 2008, the newly crowned Prime Minister of Barbados sounded a warning to his colleagues that Barbados because of its limited resources, but managing a relatively vibrant economy which is an attraction to immigrants, Barbados WILL move to institute safeguards in the interest of sustaining our current standard of living. Over the weekend Prime Minister David Thompson in his strongest address to the issue of imported labour reported in the Nation Newspaper he warned, “the private sector against employing non-nationals in preference to Barbadians in the face of “an unsatisfactorily high level of unemployment in Barbados”.
The statement provoked a response from Prime Minister of St. Vincent Ralph Gonsales as follows:
“…it cuts across both the spirit and letter of the revised CARICOM treaty pertaining to movement of community nationals,” said Gonsalves, one of the most publicly outspoken leaders of the 15-member Community. He argued that to accept the rationale, as advanced by Barbados’ Prime Minister, to satisfy a current domestic unemployment problem, could lead to “serious problems for the Community’s single market of which Barbados is currently the major beneficiary”.
Prime Minister Gonsales went on to support his call by quoting from Articles 45 and 46 contained in the Treaty of Chaguaramas. BU can unequivocally state that Barbados when compared to our CARICOM neighbours have demonstrated over the years, beyond a shadow of doubt, that we are committed to CARICOM. Should we bother to list the initiatives we would have participated to make the point?
Prime Minister David Thompson is a politician whose longevity in office depends on his popularity among Barbadians. BU warned on earlier occasions that with the slowing down of our economy we would begin to experience some problems linked to the open immigration policy we have pursued under the last administration. Even before this government had settled 100 days in office, Barbadians have heard the litany of comment by members of the government regarding overcrowding of our schools, hospital, housing, polyclinics etc. Our physical plant and social services continue to burst at the seams. The economists like Clyde Mascoll and pollster Peter Wickham, who has become a social commentator of late, tell us that the unfettered movement of people in the region will be absorbed by the ability of the Barbados economy to create capacity. Our Prime Minister in waiting Mia Mottley has also echoed this position by stating that the Barbados economy is understated i.e. there is significant GDP which is not captured in the statistics, we have carrying capacity we think it is called.
We will not repeat ourselves on this blog. A simple search of Barbados Underground using the word ‘immigration’ will pull-up several articles we have written on the issue of managing our immigration policy in the context of limited resources. Our favourite call-in moderator Dennis Johnson asked the question recently: why should Barbados and others have to pay the price of signing the CARIFORUM/EU EPA and President of Guyana not sign? In the meantime Guyana is the country in the Caribbean which benefits more than any other country by exporting labour within the region. How can CARICOM leaders continue to divorce decision-making?
Prime Minister David Thompson as the leader of Barbados must be concerned that the standard of living which the country has enjoyed will become compromised if we continue along the current path. Free movement of labour in the region cannot be at the expense of Barbadians, there is a social cost to this approach. The other point is the fact that Barbados is rapidly becoming de-bajanized. Is it not obvious that Barbados given our development would be more attractive to our Caribbean brothers and sisters?
This being the case don’t we have to manage the immigrant inflow as part of a startegy to ensure sustainabilty of our economy? Is this rocket science?
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.