The Jeff Cumberbatch Column – The Mirage of Integration (iii)
Shanique Myrie
Trade –Britain’s links with the EU are holding back its focus on emerging markets…Leaving would allow the UK to diversify its international links…
Immigration – Britain can never control immigration until it leaves the EU, because freedom of movement gives other EU citizens an automatic right to live here…
Law –Too many of Britain’s laws are made overseas by dictates passed down by Brussels and rulings upheld by the European Court of Justice. UK courts must become sovereign again…
The Daily Telegraph –The key arguments…against staying in the EU –April 15, 2016
It ought not be thought that any culpability for the seeming reluctance in the region for a closer integration should be ascribed to the political directorate only as opposed to the people themselves. Mr (as he then was) Errol Barrow’s famous assertion that “…if we (the leaders) have failed to comprehend the essence of the regional integration movement, the truth is that thousands of ordinary Caribbean people do, in fact, live that reality everyday…” might have been overtaken by subsequent developments that have served to diminish severely the incidence of that lived reality.
So that while Mr Andrew Holness’s 2013 statement as Opposition Leader in the Jamaican Parliament that Jamaica should consider suspending its relationship with CARICOM on the ground that “Jamaica’s interests were not necessarily being fully served by CARICOM” may be regarded as symptomatic of the former, the reaction of some individual commentators on this extended essay (that they have clearly misunderstood as a cheerleader for integration as opposed to an objective analysis of its current status) would suggest that it may not now be as popular or as lived among CARICOM nationals as Mr Barrow assumed it was in 1986.
Indeed, one submission went so far as to belittle the importance of the three major examples of regional unity; predicting the imminent demise of UWI, suggesting the mostly compelled existence of the cricket team and proclaiming the inutility of CARICOM itself.
But no development appears to have rankled some regional nationals [and not all ordinary citizens] more than the Caribbean Court of Justice’s (CCJ) observations on the rights of CARICOM nationals on arrival in another regional jurisdiction and, especially, the constraints on a refusal to permit them further access into the host jurisdiction.
As may be recalled, these dicta were uttered in its October 2013 judgment in the case of Shanique Myrie v Barbados. There, their Lordships, principally on the basis of Article 45 of the Revised Treaty (RTC) and a 2007 Heads of Government Conference Decision, determined that a CARICOM national was prima facie entitled to be granted an automatic six months stay upon arrival into a host regional jurisdiction.
It should be noted that this decision was not met with immediate popular acclaim. Some, in vain, questioned the CCJ’s finding of the facts, although this was exclusively within its jurisdiction. Others suggested that the decision was an instance of judicial activism intended to bolster regional integration, Few, however, disputed the legal foundation of the decision which would have been equally useless, given that there can be no appeal from its judgment.
And it was not that the Court held that this right to freedom of movement was absolute. The CCJ did indicate that the host jurisdiction retained its rights to deny entry to individuals on the bases of undesirability –posing a substantial threat to public morals, national security and national health; and their liability to becoming a charge on public funds – possessing insufficient means or having likely access to sufficient funs to support themselves for the requisite period.
Neither of these substantive grounds infringes the sovereignty of the State to determine who should be permitted entry and, to the extent that they may, any blame should lie squarely with the head(s) of government who acceded to the relevant instruments, rather than the Court that was simply interpreting the clear purport of the 2007 Agreement and the signed undertaking in Article 45 of the RTC.
However, there appears to be a populist notion in the region that sovereignty, especially over border security, cannot be diluted even by voluntary state agreement and therefore, while the substantive limitations might have been grudgingly accepted, the procedural requirements on their exercise seem to have proven distasteful.
First, according to the ruling, the state official should inform the refused entrant in writing “not only of the reasons for the refusal but also of his or her right to challenge that decision”. Second, the Court noted, it would also be reasonable to allow refused visitors to consult an opportunity to consult an attorney or a consular official of their country or, in any event, to contact a family member.
“Nah…at all”, one can almost hear the anguished cry of some, “too much trouble in that. How dare anyone tell us who should trespass on our borders and how?”
It is this same sentiment that may have fuelled the current constitutional litigation in the US against President Obama’s plan to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation and to allow them to work in the country legally under his Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents programme [DAPA]; that might be one of the reasons for Britain’s desire to exit the European Union; that might account for the phenomenal popularity of Donald Trump among Republicans; and that may explain the recent alleged treatment of a number of Jamaican nationals in Trinidad & Tobago. It clearly did not inform the Pope’s recent treatment of the Syrian refugees in Lesbos.
In the present context, the time may have come for a referendum on the future of CARICOM. I am fully aware that this call amounts nearly to heresy for some and I sincerely wish that it did not have to come to this. However, my cynical instincts tell me that despite its successes, regional integration, as foreseen by the founding fathers over five decades ago, has now been so substantially altered as a felt imperative as to warrant a popular plebiscite on its continued existence in its present form. The sentiments in the epigraph may not be far removed from a sizeable body of regional opinion. So unless we can have some soonest recommitment to the process, a renaissance of regionalism if you wish, then I fear we will continue merely to talk the talk. And this from an unrepentant regionalist.
Barbados Underground 
Without the intervention of politicians the people of of this region would have integrated without any fuss. Take me for example, two of my children are also Guyanese; my wife drew her first breath in St. Lucia; one of my best friends is Trinidadian; and one of the lawyers that I prefer to do business with was born in Jamaica.
Political independence of individual countries and politicians ruined any chance meaningful integration in this region. Remember one from ten leaves nought.
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@Jeff
There was always opposition within Britain to its membership in the EEC so it is no surprise that its coming to the fore once again with the English worry about loss of sovereignty, terrorism and a general feeling that we don’t need Europe, Europe need us and a nostalgic Rule Britannia.
In the Caribbean there is also a fear of loss of sovereignty and a general feeling that one country is better than the other and if the regulations regarding movement of people are relaxed some countries will be overrun by people who are fleeing one economic hellhole in search of a mythical better existence. Then there is the understated notion that every politician wants to be the dominant fish is his local pond and a resurgent Caricom will diminish his/ her star.
Recently I was speaking with a Nigerian friend and she told me that they (Nigeria) had to expel the Ghanaians because they were so many in Lagos that they were afraid they were going to take over the country. Nigeria just happens to be the most populous country in Africa so the number of Ghanaians wouldn’t have made an impact in Nigeria (don’t forget Barbados also expelled Ghanaians).
Your arguments for the benefits of regional unity don’t mean squat when they are against a mindset which is the same as the Nigerians, we are one and you are the other never the twain shall meet, history, economic, political and social realities be damned.
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I too am a bred,born,educated and lived regionalist……we live in cycles and the time will come again as it did in the days upto the expiration of the Federal Palm&Maple when we were very close,when individuals would hop on a schooner and settle in another island as has happened here by the hundreds/thousands……….cometh the time,cometh the happening.
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@Caswell
What you have referred to has not stopped. It is putting formal arrangements to facilitate trade, settlement, common airspace, governance for pan Caribbean companies etc.
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David
What I am referring to has stopped. We have become xenophobic and has made life extremely difficult for people who we refer to as foreigners, especially black foreigners from the Caribbean.
Sent from my iPad
>
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But David, your 1:43 PM post is exactly the dilemma: position A (Caswell’s comments) does not rationally or smoothly lead to position B ( …formal arrangements to facilitate trade, settlement, common airspace…).
As has been said here in a different context re Grenville’s rhetoric: one cannot run a country as one may run a company. So indeed one cannot manage personal affairs as one would manage those of nations!
And as an aside, as a boy growing up I actually thought that in order to be PM of this country one had to be married to a non-Bajan (LOLL)….and then for a a time I thought it had to be a Jamaican non-Bajan.
But many have explored Caswell’s form of regional integration … some with the same distressing Caricom disruption too!!!
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Oh dear, my remarks referred to Caswell’s 7:18 AM remarks…
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RE And as an aside, as a boy growing up I actually thought that in order to be PM of this country one had to be married to a non-Bajan (LOLL)….and then for a a time I thought it had to be a Jamaican non-Bajan.
HOW BETZPAENIC!
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@Dee Word
That was the influence of Mona?
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Indeed David that it might…the Mona Lisa smile has befuddled men for centuries (smile)…but the place of academia also had an impact too no doubt!
Certainly after travelling to Jam and visiting places like Dunns River falls I clearly understood the beauteous, bewitching charm of the country.
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@ Jeff,
I do have a major problem with your article. You and those many technocrats appear in a hasty rush to railroad Caricom into becoming one political entity. Yet you fail to realise the elephant in the room: the Negro man and the Negro woman who reside in the Caribbean.
You may have noticed that this demographic constitutes the majority population throughout our region; and that a fair percentage of these wretched people have not progressed since the independence of their respective islands.
No conscience effort has been made by Caribbean governments to lift there Negro population out of poverty. There has been no legislation passed which has attempted to remove the assets of those whites and their light-skinned Negro family members who would have benefitted from the exploitation of their dark-skinned Negro population throughout the ages.
How can we talk about further integration when we refuse to discuss the plight of dark-skinned Negros. How in God’s name will these people be better of should we form closer ties with our neighbours.
Jeff,
I had placed this link in another post:
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2010/04/2010427122334575952.html
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”
Story of cities #9: Kingston, Jamaica – a city born of ‘wickedness’ and disaster
When the devastating earthquake of 1692 ripped through Port Royal, aka the ‘richest and wickedest city in the world’, a very different Caribbean capital rose up in its place. But could Kingston’s rigid grid plan impose order after the chaos?”
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/24/story-cities-9-kingston-jamaica-richest-wickedest-city-world
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Mr Exclaimer, you amaze me. How could you deduce from my article above that I want to “railroad” anyone into anything? Did I not suggest a referendum? Or did you not read to the end? I may be an “unrepentant regionalist” but I am also a democrat. Hence my suggestion.
Also, perhaps I am perhaps not clever enough to catch your argument but, are you saying that you are against regional integration because no government has made “a conscious effort” to lift their Negro population out of poverty? And you think that if they stay apart, this will be accomplished by each of them? Or is it that you do not see it ever happening at all?
Then, my friend, us “Negroes” had better look out for ourselves!
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@ Jeff,
I’m making a simple and a valid argument that we should abandon all talk of integration with our neighbours until we resolve the plight of the Negro throughout the Caribbean. It is a disgrace that even in a country like South Africa which practised the apartheid system over a number of years that the Negro post-apartheid is making more rapid progress than his counterpart in Barbados.
Coming from the UK, I fail to understand why this problem of race that you have in Barbados is never discussed. What a disgrace!
I have said several times before that we should get our house in order before we attempt any integration with our neighbours. Further integration will have the effect of marginalising farther the Negro masses.
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How many years has it been, Exclaimer? And you really think that we will one day resolve “the plight of the Negro throughout the Caribbean? Like the kingdom of God, resolution of that plight is within you yourself, my brother!
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@ Jeff,
I may have a strong constitution. I praise the Lord that my Mother and Father did well and rescued me from what would have been a difficult live if I had been conceived on that island. Besides this is not about me our you. It is the plight of our brothers and sisters that we should be discussing.
Sadly your answer does not offer any hope to the many disenfranchised.
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Mr Cumberbatch
As a graduate of UWI, I would not belittle its importance. However, the trend is clear. The three campuses are moving apart. I fear that Cave Hill maybe doomed given the population size and encroaching poverty of the country (both of finance and of ideas). The same forces would tear our cricket team apart but for the fact that India is not going to be interested in playing say Grenada. As for CARICOM, I like your word “inutility”.
It is possible that the problem may be one of definition. Just what does integration mean? I am all for functional cooperation (UWI, CDB, CXC, CDEMA, CCJ etc) but a supranational Caribbean government seems like a waste of time and money.
I would like to propose a really radical idea. Barbados should like Malta or Cyprus seek to become part of Europe. If Martinique can be part of Europe why not Barbados? Think big!! LOL.
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At the mention of CDEMA BU notes heavy mention of this regional organization last week in the media by the AG about the constant need to beg for money to pay salaries.
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Ping Pong, Martinique is part of Europe because it is an overseas department (extension) of France.. Are you suggesting we become a colony of England again? This t’ing serious! We should have a referendum
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Martinique and Guadeloupe belong to the French republic. Which should be regarded as an anachronism especially in a region where the majority of these islands are independent and some like Barbados are looking to become a Republic.
In Jeff’s previous post, I mentioned that we should look at forming new relationships with other countries. I cited Norway, Haiti, some African countries, et al.
Why would Barbados want to align herself with a declining, old, racist, slave-owning Europe. Am I missing something?
Why not go the whole way and ask Britain to recolonise our island!
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@ Jeff,
Ping Pong presented a good reason why the UWI should be scrapped! LOL.
I
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Both Malta and Cyprus are small, independent, island republics, commonwealth countries and part of the EU. I only mentioned Martinique because it’s in our neighborhood so geography is not a limitation. I want to be part of something big, not a collection of pissant cul-de-sacs. If Barbados is going to integrate then let’s at least integrate with something useful.
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@ Jeff,
I believe passionately that Caricom is a busted flush led by pygmies. Let’s seek new alliances. Time for others to join this debate. I need to retire to bed.
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By the way, Exclaimer do you know the expression “tongue in cheek”?
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@ Ping Pong,
Both of these countries are going through extremely difficult times. They are viewed as low hanging fruit and are held in low esteem by the larger nations. Why would a small tiny nation want to ally herself with the big-boys. She will never be taken seriously.
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Just curious why would any Black person of West Indian descent want to remain in “a declining, old, racist, slave-owning Europe(an) ” country like the UK?
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Interesting article by CTL.
Just wondering when these small island establish all these different relationships, what will they be exporting? Or will we be looking for larger countries to invest and set up businesses/industries in these islands? This would be good as it would employ local people, but who will be our market?
We will become a dumping ground for products from these larger countries or even worse; become importers of cheap stuff, stamp a “Made in the Caribbean” sign on it and then try to send it to the US. Outmaneuvered/outfoxed again; some smart foreign business make use of our relationship to the US to make money for his country and its citizens
Sometimes, I wish we would get away from doing things because that what is what governments do and instead put some concrete information on the table. Most of our islands are too small, or lack natural resources, or manufacturing industries or new technologies that allow us to mutually benefit from these treaties.
At some stage, we have to take a hard good look at ourselves; we have to identify our capabilities and our limitation and work in that framework. At times, we are just going through the motion and making local news. Our inflated egos make us appear delusional or a actors in a lousy political play.
I may appear negative at times, but that is because a lot of what is said and done sound like white noise and not a course of action.
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*some smart fioreign businessmen making use of our relationship ….”
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Good question. I neither hate nor love the UK. There are many things that I admire and many things that turn me off with this country. No country is perfect. For the record I have interests in Africa and plan to spend periods in that continent in the near future.
I am a Pan-Africanist and care deeply for my Negro brothers and sisters wherever they reside. For me the Caribbean is a black-hole. Her people are rootless, cut off from their ancestors and not in the least bit interested in trying to reach out to discover more about their African side.
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@ Gazer,
“At some stage, we have to take a hard good look at ourselves; we have to identify our capabilities and our limitation and work in that framework. At times, we are just going through the motion and making local news. Our inflated egos make us appear delusional or a actors in a lousy political play.”
You are talking my language. Why is this view not shared by our politicians and the masses?
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@Exclaimer
The next generation in the Caribbean identify with their Euro-centric heritage. As a Pan Africanist it appears you will be a frustrated man.
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@ David,
From the amount of fingers down that I’m receiving I believe that you are stating the obvious!
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@The Gazer, thanks for your comments. I understand your cynicism but remember exporting is not just about goods but services as well. I also believe, and I mentioned in the article, that there are opportunities for greater cultural industries trade between ourselves and the East. The fact is that we cannot afford to keep focusing on trade with the US, Europe and Canada exclusively. We need to strategically explore new markets as we have begun to do.
Of course, it is one thing for our governments to create market access opportunities and relationships. But Governments don’t trade. Businesses do. So it will be up to business people and firms to capitalise on these opportunities. Some of this is already happening. I know of someone who is doing business with a Japanese company over the internet. Unfortunately, much of this services trade is unable to be captured in official data so we underestimate the potential that exists.
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@Alicia
CARIFORUM paints a picture of the current state of things.
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Look I was just practicing shite talk.
Don’t mind that our health care is declining, our economies are faltering, our natural environments are becoming polluted, our education and training prospects are diminishing, our infrastructure is crumbling, crime and violence is increasing, illicit drugs and human trafficking are increasingly seen as job options for our people, corruption is rife in both public and private sectors and that life in these islands is becoming increasingly nasty, brutish and short for the common man …. let’s indulge in some pompous talk about integration etc. I wish I was a wordsmith and shite talker. These are the people who are living the sweet life, with their tax free salaries, gorging on the rich food and drinks of the many conferences, producing nothing but hot air, making sure their children are educated in the “declining, racist, slave owning countries”, possessing their dual citizenships of the same old declining racist etc countries while looking down their noses at the “poor black man” that they all say they care so deeply about.
Man leh we talk bout integreyshun and referrendum.
“His ways of counter mobilization have been very simple: wine down and touch your toes; wine back and jam; hand in the air, get on bad. Come clean and basic. We simply do not trust your pretensions to civilizing, scientific or edifying mission. You offer us free education and places in schools but everything else you say and you do serves only to make us wonder. – Lloyd Best, Laventille Man: Wine and Jam (newspaper column Trinidad Express, 06 November, 1994)”
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@David, there is a lot to that CARIFORUM dynamic. Not to mention that CARICOM countries’ relationship with the DR has had strained not just because of fears that the DR’s products would swamp our markets but also the political situation between the DR and Haiti.
Aside from that, we need to stop being so insular. It is killing us. I am a regionalist and don’t apologise for my views. I believe we are stronger together than apart. Insularity is not doing us any favours.
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http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/2015/7/blood-sweat-and-sugar-trade-deal-fails-haitian-workers-in-dr.html
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@Alicia
No need to defend your position. Many will ask why islands with a common heritage find it so difficulty to cooperate on the low hanging issues, trade, governance, settlement etc. A legit question.
Why has the RNM struggled to close out the CARIFORUM CAN?
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@David, unfortunately I am not aware of all of the details but from what I understand there were fundamental differences between CARICOM and Canada on key aspects during the negotiations. The negotiations are now stalled. I suppose since CARIBCAN’s waiver has been extended by the WTO’s membership we are still guaranteed unilateral preferences for some time, unless the Canadian government decides to end them. Either way, the main value added for us would have been the market access openings for our services providers to the Canadian market, as CARIBCAN only covers goods not services.
As to your first point re our failure to cooperate in some areas, it all comes down to mistrust among each other and a misguided view that we are losing sovereignty. A study conducted by IIR a few years ago found overwhelming support for regional integration among the Caribbean populace. The problem was that people were becoming jaded over the slow pace of integration and also the failure by our governments to follow through with the reforms. Some of it is lack of political will. The other has to do with limited capacity.
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@Alicia
Maybe you are right, who knows. A clear signal to the BU household we cannot be serious about regional cooperation/integration is to observe how the vast number of Caricom members have spurned membership in the CCJ. This should given horrific insight.
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@David, I forgot to mention that COTED met this week and CSME was one of the topics discussed: http://today.caricom.org/2016/04/22/our-people-want-to-see-results-caricom-deputy-secretary-general-on-csme/
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@David, agreed. It is quite shameful that more than a decade after its establishment only Barbados, Guyana, Belize and Dominica have signed on to the CCJ’s appellate jurisdiction.
In some countries where a referendum is needed to replace the Privy Council as their highest court of appeal, the CCJ has been used as a political football by the opposition. Besides partisan politics, there is a lot of misinformation about the CCJ and let’s not forget that sadly there are still many Caribbean people who believe a UK judge can render a better decision than a Caribbean judge. Judging from the fact that some still espouse the view that we would have been better off as colonies of the UK, just shows me we still have far to go in the decolonisation process.
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@Alicia
As a side point, didn’t minister Innis promised to carry the beer issue with St. Lucia to COTED? Do you know the outcome?
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@David, I haven’t heard anything about it since. If I recall correctly, they had placed a levy on several Barbadian products, not just beer. Their argument was that they were justified to do it since they are an lesser developed countries per the RTC. I am not sure if the duty is still being imposed but seeing that the local private sector hasn’t raised it recently (to my knowledge), it could be that it no longer is in place. I will ask a question.
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*a lesser developed country
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Thanks Alicia, this is part of the problem we have in the region, no follow through with the intent by public officials and media to keep citizens informed. It was blasted all over the media when the issue dropped and like many of the issues allowed to fade. They should be keeping us updated to status, resolved or not.
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In the English-speaking Caribbean, at least five states — Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad, Antigua and Grenada — can now be described as criminal enterprises, where corruption and lawlessness have become pervasive, and cynicism has replaced decency and sincerity in the lives of ordinary citizens.
Barbados should be doing everything in its power to save itself by parting company with these societies. But we have stubborn elites, many of them educated at the UWI, who believe their career prospects are best served by the Regional Project. Many of these people are lawyers, who are certainly better off with a regional system of justice, but we must not allow these people to pursue their self-interest at the expense of the rest of us.
The typical Trinidadian from Caroni is not my friend. Ditto the typical Guyanese. To the contrary, they see me as an enemy, and they will tell anyone who asks that we “oppressed” them in the past. The typical Jamaican is an embarrassment. Too aggressive. Too likely to work around the law. Don’t let me get started on the Antiguans and the Grenadians.
Get out while you can, Barbados.
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Re: trade agreements…generally a bunch of political hogwash. Photo ops and lots of work for the paper pushers.
Canada, as one example, has more hidden barriers to trade than one can imagine. NAFTA? It may have removed duties and some taxes…but…
In chemicals as one example, where they are used say in a variety of building products one has a whole bunch of Canadian Standards and Codes. It is called protecting Canadian jobs and manufacturers. One has CCMC, NRC and more regulatory bodies than one can count on the fingers of your hands and mine. It is 3 years plus $400,000 in testing for several fairly basic products. You might be able to pay to avoid a few by “engineering assessments”, then they hit you with a $150,000 1-1.5 year Advanced Weathering test for which there is no equal. A concoction of some PhD in a government Department in the name of “protecting the consumer”, for which they accept no liability whatsoever.
And the USA isn’t much better, they too have a myriad of “approved bodies” beginning with the Army Corps of Engineers.
So they shake hands, sign agreements, say a few nice words, and take a few pictures. What they lose in duties, they ding you for elsewhere.
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“Besides partisan politics, there is a lot of misinformation about the CCJ and let’s not forget that sadly there are still many Caribbean people who believe a UK judge can render a better decision than a Caribbean judge. Judging from the fact that some still espouse the view that we would have been better off as colonies of the UK, just shows me we still have far to go in the decolonisation process.”
Isn’t that view also widely held by some very senior members of the legal profession (QC’s included)?
The de facto chief legal adviser to the Bajan PM is on record for showing his consternation and pouring scorn on the CCJ’s ability to be the ‘final’ arbiter in regional jurisprudence.
If these so-called big-up legal luminaries have little or no faith in their own homegrown project why should the ordinary citizen?
At least a British judge would display much greater efficiency. He or she also would not be politically appointed by a bunch of corrupt politicians and easily susceptible to bribes or political manipulation.
Barbados’s move to full-blown republican status will certainly eliminate any chances of it ever ditching the CCJ and a return to the fold of the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council.
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@Chad with all the 9s
How do you think people would describe the “typical Bajan”? And to what end this FACILE generalisation?
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@ Jeff Cumberbatch April 25, 2016 at 4:11 AM
That Chad of Five of Nine is a “typical Bajan”.
It seems your call for a Referendum on this whole Caricom project is merited.
A good dose of devaluation should put the “typical” Bajan into his puffed up breeches and back into the modern world of the real Caribbean.
Those “typical” Bajans, (like Chad 9×5) have to take note of Chalkdust’s prescient calypso:
“All we got is sea water and sand”!
‘And the day the tourists don’t arrive at GAIA crapaud smoke ya pipe, Mr. Fumble or Ms MAM’.
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“It clearly did not inform the Pope’s recent treatment of the Syrian refugees in Lesbos.”
The Pope does not have a country to run and the reality of the problems European leaders like Angela Merkel has to face so the Pope can grandstand and fool who he like with his token acceptance of a select few to his Vatican Compound. If the pope wants to be credible in my view ; he should seek to tackle the cause of the Syrian refugee problem which have killed millions of Syrians and uprooted untold millions from their homes seeking refuge elsewhere to the detriment of themselves and others. He should be Pope enough to cast the blame where it lies and perhaps those responsible for the conflict and its barbaric aftermath will listen.
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“The Pope does not have a country to run…”
Vatican City State is governed as an absolute monarchy. The Head of State is the Pope who holds full legislative, executive and judicial powers.
The Pope is elected by the Cardinals who are under eighty years of age. He becomes Sovereign of Vatican City State the moment he accepts his election as Pope.
http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en/stato-e-governo.html
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“The CCJ did indicate that the host jurisdiction retained its rights to deny entry to individuals on the bases of undesirability –posing a substantial threat to public morals, national security and national health; and their liability to becoming a charge on public funds – possessing insufficient means or having likely access to sufficient funds to support themselves for the requisite period.”
An example of Jeff’s above comments is now being demonstrated by the current ongoing “political impasse” between Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, whereby Jamaicans are seeking to challenge T&T’s immigration laws at the CCJ and calling for a boycott of T&T goods, in retaliation for Jamaicans being refused entry in T&T.
On March 21, Immigration officers at the Piarco International Airport in Trinidad refused entry to 12 Jamaicans. T&T’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses explained that the Jamaicans who tried to enter the country were sent back home because they were LIKELY to become a CHARGE on the PUBLIC PURSE.
Interestingly, the Opposition parties in both islands are SUPPORTING their RESPECTIVE GOVERNMENTS on this issue. Jamaica’s Opposition spokesman on foreign affairs, Anthony Hylton, called on the Holness led government to take the matter before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). While Trinidad & Tobago’s former minister of national security, Gary Griffith, urged the Rowley administration not to be intimidated by calls out of Jamaica to seek legal action regarding the deportation of Jamaicans from T&T.
Griffith has claimed that there are over 20,000 Jamaican Nationals living ILLEGALLY in T&T, who used the “CSME angle to enter for six months, but then refuse to leave after that six-month period…These 20,000 Jamaicans alone [are] costing the State over TT$500 million (US$75.4 million) per annum in loss of State revenue.” The former minister has also linked the escalation of serious crime in T&T to CSME.
“Griffith said that, as a result, some remain unemployed or turn to a life of crime; those who work are abused by their employers and paid below the minimum wage because they are in the country illegally, ‘hence taking a job away from a bona fide TT citizen who is unemployed”; and they get full use of State resources such as education, healthcare and other social services’…….” [Source: Caribbean 360, April 24, 2016]
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I am not defending Trinidad & Tobago’s C&I department but as someone who travels to Trinidad frequently for business and leisure I know that their immigration officers are very meticulous in regards to the questions they ask. If you can’t tell them the hotel where you are staying or the name and contact info of the person with whom you are staying, your reason for visiting T&T etc then you will be in for a rough time. I always make sure I have all my documentation I.e. hotel invoice, conference letter etc. I think the issue comes with people who can’t give satisfactory answers to these questions and documentation of same. They also tend to be very wary of people who have one way tickets. It is no different from the questions immigration officers ask when one travels to the US or UK. At least that is my experience.
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@Jeff C
Vatican City State is governed as an absolute monarchy. The Head of State is the Pope who holds full legislative, executive and judicial powers.
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I get where “Balance” is coming from, but you are correct as to the Pope’s power in Vatican City, which brings me to another point apart from moral suasion what power does he have in the rest of the world or as Josef Stalin said to Churchill, “The Pope? how many divisions does he have”?
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@Miller
The de facto chief legal adviser to the Bajan PM is on record for showing his consternation and pouring scorn on the CCJ’s ability to be the ‘final’ arbiter in regional jurisprudence.
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Wasn’t that a case of sour grapes when things didn’t go his way? When you have a client who presumably pays good money in the hopes of securing a verdict favourable to their cause and it unravels someone has to be the scape goat, a different verdict, a different statement.
That’s the problem with Bajan “luminaries”, they are legends in their own minds.
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I like Dame Billie am of the era when roaming the alleys and lanes of Bridgetown was an excursion into the unknown;gambling,propositioning,cursing,peeing,drinking etc greeted the inquisitive and innocent observer of ‘life in the city’.Bridgetown was a city then of accents.The schooner trade brought fruits and vegetables as well as natives of the various islands including Jamaica and the the Guyana mainland.All were accepted,many made Barbados their home.
Fast forward to the 21st century and “independence” and we have Jamaicans jumping on every airline and jumping off at the first stop,demanding their rites.I say to hell with that nonsense.Since that Myrie incident,and her belligerent demeanour as well as the same for the likes of Hylton,my unsolicited advice to the Jamaican authorities is to make your country safe and prosperous so that your citizens do not see the need to seek greener pastures.Jamaica has been a monumental failure,much of it to do with its political thuggery.Guyana has been a monumental failure,much of it to do with its thieving,corrupt,politicians both Afro and Indo.I am aware some of our very pleasant folk come from both countries.Regretably so do the ghetto types.
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Chadx9….Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana, Brabados, Antigua, Grenada, that is the list.
You did not fool anyone but yourself by omitting Barbados, being biased will not make it any less true, pretending it does not exist will not make it go away…..reality.
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Let me revert to a comment made by Caswell at the top when he said : ‘Without the intervention of politicians the people of of this region would have integrated without any fuss.’ That sounds so wonderfully true but is founded on the type of ‘false’ narrative that always permeates these discussion on Caribbean trade integration or as @Northern noted “…Re: trade agreements…generally a bunch of political hogwash…What they lose in duties, they ding you for elsewhere.” As in real life these discussions become intellectual jousts and exercises in semantics.
We all know that there is a combined six million plus population across the Caribbean and we most surely would know that is an absolute blimp on the economic radar for trade deals. Individually or collectively we really do not have the base to be serious players. This is understood.
Put another way : By the end of the day over 5 million people will have used the NY subway system…the population (+/- 1000) of the Holy See (the Pope’s country) will barely fill one long train of 10 cars at rush hour. One train. One trip.
I too am an avowed regionalist but there is no likelihood of significant strides towards greater collaboration. The areas which can benefit from collaboration are already well entrenched (UWI, Security to name two)…and one can (should) expect those areas to utilize the advantages of size to reinforce and expand their competencies.
But the world is fast moving to one-on-one marketing and customization and in many areas there is no greater efficacy for collaboration as ‘efficiency’ can be achieved by going it alone.
Example: Any of us can go to the Alibaba site and with a few dollars an idea and a plan we can import from China…
That is the context which is many way precipitated the practical ‘forced integration’ by leading regional commercial entities (the Massys of our world) ; and it is the exact context, one can argue, that drives the opposite argument for regional government integration.
For us regionally the best example of that goes back to Jeff’s previous essay on the impact of citizenship by investment programs…and we see it strongly manifested in the immigration issues highlighted now regularly. Governments are protecting their one-to-one relationships and do not seek or see upside to a unity platform.
So if I may return to Caswell’s remarks and our wistful thoughts of personal integration. It is a dream only. Take us here on BU for example. This is a Barbados site principally. Do we delve into regional topics with the same verve as our local issues….Does Trini Alfa Raymond get endless discussion on the meaty issues he presents…
And do we see comments and input from persons who identify as non-Bajan!
Or do we often read comments like ‘that does not apply to us’ and so on.
So we can intellectualize all we want but as usual when the rubber meets the road the track marks do not reflect that the driver is integrating his actions and his plan ‘without any fuss’…
Just saying, folks. Just saying!
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Many people in this discussion do not seem to understand how unique Barbados is in the English-speaking Caribbean, and there have been some ignorant comments about me as a puffed-up Bajan.
So let me cite some statistics. In Barbados, there are about 25 murders a year. In Trinidad, there are about 400 or 500, and in the Jamaica, more than a thousand. Kidnapping is rare in Barbados, commonplace in Trinidad. Virtually every large construction contract in Trinidad and Jamaica involves acts of fraud and deception. The political parties in Jamaica are tied to gangsters, etc.
I could go on, but hopefully some of you get the point. We are not talking about small differences here. There are FUNDAMENTAL differences in mentality and behaviour between Barbados and the rest. Barbados would never elect a semi-literate like Portia Simpson (Mama P) to the office of Prime Minister, nor do we have the poisoned racial politics of Trinidad and Guyana.
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But ya gotta admit that there is corruption of the political kind in Barbados affecting Bajans and not the other people of the Caribbean, this destruction causes invisible damage to the psyche of the people, more destructive than the gun viloence in Jamaica or the endless murders in Trinidad…destruction of the mind is life long and ongoing, generation after generation….after….Chadx9
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@ chad99999 April 25, 2016 at 12:18 PM
“We are not talking about small differences here. There are FUNDAMENTAL differences in mentality and behaviour between Barbados and the rest. Barbados would never elect a semi-literate like Portia Simpson (Mama P) to the office of Prime Minister, nor do we have the poisoned racial politics of Trinidad and Guyana.”
What does it say about Bajans when they allow themselves to be culturally controlled by people who elected “semi-literate Portia Simpson” as their Prime Minister?
Bajans like to call themselves the most educated people in the Caribbean (if not in the whole wide world) yet they find themselves electing a total arrogant incompetent jackass as their leader. Now who is the real idiot here? The Jamaican or the Baje?
Why don’t you check out the behavior of young Bajans and see the source of their musical cultural expressions?
Barbados is a pygmy on the world stage compared to the same Jamaica you so ‘fondly’ denigrate. I guess you would also consider Marley and Bolt to be also semi-literate.
If there is a Caribbean country that really punches above its weight globally, it would have to be Jca. Just watch the international athletics or listen to music and you would get a feel of what we are talking about.
You can hazard a guess that 99% of businesses owned by Afro-Caribbean people in the Diaspora are in the control of Jamaicans either by birth or descent.
Where are the docile subservient risk–averse Bajans in all of this?
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Yet I did not even mention the damage political corruption causes to an island’s economy and infrastructure. Chad mentioned it when he referenced Guyana, all one has to do to see infrastructure damage in Barbados, is take a walk around Bay Street and view the dilapidated buildings.
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@ Chad
Many people in this discussion do not seem to understand how unique Barbados is in the English-speaking Caribbean,
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Boss, even YOU may not understand how unique Barbados is in this whole WORLD….far less the English-speaking Caribbean.
We take many, many things for granted. But take a step back from the rhetoric, and assess the FACTS all around…and you will see the many undeserved BLESSINGS…that make us unique.
Surely…
You will come away with a much deeper appreciation of the ‘brass bowl’ mentality.
Think of born princes, with access to all the blessings of their father the King, who, in total ignorance, yearn instead after the trinkets of the lost and misguided….
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@ caribbeantradelaw,
It is clear that you and I would never make good bed partners.
I fail to understand your obsession with Caribbean integration. It defies logic that you find it so difficult to acknowledge that there is something terribly rotten throughout the Caribbean region. Why fail to acknowledge that our history has left a particular group in limbo; unable to accede the first step of the ladder. How will these groups develop and progress as functioning human beings within our society? Do you not agree that this should always be a critical point of discussion?
The link below is a fascinating documentary on Kingston, Jamaica. It puts into perspective the nonsense of Caribbean integration. We tend to forget that even at the most basic domestic level that the needs of certain groups are not being met by their government.
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@Exclaimer
Slap, Slap, Slap..
Why? You deserve it.
@CTL
‘exporting is not just about goods but services as well’
The devil is in the details. What services?
English is the native language of the British Caribbean. We lie just south of the US, and yet American companies would prefer to establish work sites in Asia. Why?
Sometimes one has to translate the English being spoken at some call centers in Asia. Surely we could persuade a few US companies in the US to use our people instead of going to Asia. Why do they prefer to go there?
Aren’t our labor costs higher than costs in Asia?
Banking services? How many people will be employed?
Legal services? How many people will be employed?
Technical expertise? What about Intel Corporation? They were attracted to Barbados, but because of factors external to Barbados they pulled up roots and ran. How do we attract and keep these companies in the Caribbean?
I am looking forward to visiting your site when your post… The West Indies Vs India: It’s not about cricket. A case for doing business in the Caribbean.
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Gazer
Perhaps Asia is not as unionized as the Caribbean islands are.
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Why the Americans do not come a calling in this neck of the woods? Perhaps for the same reasons we no longer have Intel, CorCom,Tansitor, Ward Leonard, TRL, and all the other many US electronic and manufacturing factories which once dominated the many industrial estates across Barbados.
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Bush Tea April 25, 2016 at 3:20 PM #
Well said and never truer words written…….hence our duty/responsibility to lead the charge for a unified Caribbean entity,one which can lead the world.
I recall reading many years ago about Ikael’s dream of this region leading the world….it may yet come to pass.
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@The Gazer, there is scope for a myriad of services to be traded between the Caribbean and Asia/ME, the cultural industries and tourism come readily to mind. In terms of Bollywood for instance, T&T has already been used as a filming location and there is scope for more of that. We just need to market ourselves. But judging from what I read so often on this forum, we apparently have nothing to offer the world but corruption I suppose… Luckily most Caribbean people don’t feel that way. As I said, I have a friend who is doing business with a Japanese company as we speak. There are opportunities out there.
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@ Vincent
Well said and never truer words written…….hence our duty/responsibility to lead the charge for a unified Caribbean entity,one which can lead the world
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Wait Boss …. you still up in the Queen’s place loitering…? LOL …cause you are not allowed up at that kinda time…. 🙂
V ..Sometimes you worry Bushie… by the way that you can see that two plus two equal four, while being completely UNABLE to grasp that one and one equals two.
Bushie has NEVER been against Caribbean unity…. or even the thought that Barbados can lead in this and even bigger unions. That is 2+2.
HOWEVER, unity is an BOTTOM-UPWARDS process, where things are sorted out at the base levels (1+1=2); then at the second level (2+2=4); and on to the more complex higher levels.
Wunna fellas want to get unity from the TOP-DOWN, …but that only leads to chaos….
CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME.
…get that right, and you can expand to your neighbours; your community; your country; the region; and perhaps the world…. a forest CAN begin with a single healthy seed….but if you throw around thousands of shiite seeds ….all you will get is rot.
Barbados has been blessed in ways that are unparalleled in history…
Any casual research will quickly show the extent to which we have been spared the tragic experiences of almost every other country on Earth…it is almost as if ‘someone’ has a special interest in our well-being…..
…and how have we responded? by being an example of wisdom and level-headedness?
NO!
But by the very exemplification of brass bowlery….
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@ CaribbeanTradeLaw,
Please accept my apologies for using such language. It was uncalled for.
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Bush Tea April 26, 2016 at 7:22 AM #
We have never disagreed on the fact that it is a bottom up approach,I have said time and time again that our leadership by acts of ommission and commission are responsible for the lack of a union…….cometh the time,cometh the happening.
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What if the people that the idiot Tea refers to as “albinos” just turned off the tap? What percentage of otherwise irremoveable mediocrities on the Hill would then have to kiss their prolixity-laden careers goodbye?
For certain, the bit of the Hill that teaches Bajans as much as they can absorb about international trade (and that’s not a lot) would simply disappear.
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Actually if the people that the idiot Tea refers to as albinos (mainly because that is EXACTLY what they are…) were to ‘turn off the tap’, our world would quickly become a much better place in which to live….
…but that is not a fact that could be easily grasped by albino-centric thinkers….
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Its just not only Barbadians with short memories, but Caribbean people in general.
From Dominica News Online
Floridian Diaspora April 26, 2016
The fact is that if there was a project in Barbados that was needed to be undertaken by a foreign company, Dominica would be the last place they would have looked as they would view us as insignificant and incapable. Love is a two way street. Why feed them if they would never even consider feeding you??? Makes no sense to me. Defiance is the word best suited to describe Skeritt in all his fake glory. He knows what he is doing is wrong but yet still he’s trying to sugarcoat stuff and make it sound nice as if he could fool anybody besides himself and his disciples. Labor in action!!!
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The small minded tit for tat mentality that Caribbean people seem incapable of rising above as it relates to eavh other, they will never hold the same sentiments and that includes Barbados against those countries responsible for enslaving their ancestors or making their lives miserable re trade agreements and self enrichment projects for decades, post slavery.
The minds of idiots on display.
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@Bush Tea April 26, 2016 at 7:22 AM
“Barbados has been blessed in ways that are unparalleled in history…
Any casual research will quickly show the extent to which we have been spared the tragic experiences of almost every other country on Earth…it is almost as if ‘someone’ has a special interest in our well-being…..
…and how have we responded? by being an example of wisdom and level-headedness?
NO!
But by the very exemplification of brass bowlery….”
Your proclivity for making outlandishly jingoistic claims never ceases to amuse.
From the statement above it only be concluded that you put Bim on par with Israel and just like the Jews Bajans are your Yahweh’s chosen tribe.
Now come on Bushie, your BBE in the sky just cannot have ‘two’ favourites on one planet.
Now make up your mind BT, who is it? The God-chosen Jews ousted from the Garden of Eden only to find refuge in the imaginary Promised Land and whom you see only as rapaciously materialistic albinos; or the “black” exports from Ghana whom you classify as pure-gold brass bowls?
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I want to remind Bajans that Barbados really is different from most of the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean, and that we are at risk as long as opinion leaders like Jeff and his friends are pushing us to remain in CARICOM:
From the JAMAICA GLEANER
‘Horrible deaths’ – Bodies of American missionaries found in St Mary
For 14 years, building houses and serving the medical needs of vulnerable Jamaicans were just two of the critical acts of service American Christian missionaries, 53-year-old Harold Nichols and 48-year-old Randy Hentzel, carried out before they were killed in the northeastern parish of St Mary on the weekend.
Police found the bodies of the men almost 24 hours apart in the Albion Mountain region.
Taking note of the incident last night, the United States Embassy in Kingston said it was hoping the local police will conduct a speedy investigation.
“We are saddened by the horrible deaths of the two American missionaries. They’re not just visiting, but have been pillars of both communities for years,” Joshua Polacheck, counsellor for public affairs at the embassy, told The Gleaner. “The ambassador has been in contact with the highest levels of the Jamaican security apparatus, and we are hoping for a speedy resolution to this matter and that the killers are found and brought to justice.”
Nichols’ body was found late Sunday afternoon during a search involving support from the Canine Division and residents. His colleague was found face down in bushes on Saturday with his hands bound to the back.
Dwight Powell, deputy superintendent of police and acting head of the St Mary Police, told The Gleaner that no motive had been determined.
“Marks of violence were seen (on Nichols’ body) … . These persons are missionaries and they would have been in Jamaica for over 14 years doing a lot of humanitarian work. They were assisting people with houses and with a regular medical team that comes down from abroad,” he told The Gleaner.
“The kind of support that (Nichols and Hentzel) got from local residents, especially from Huddersfield [and] Mango Valley, was overwhelming. We had a search party and over 70 residents came out and assisted with the search. I was really heartened.”
Powell said members of the Police High Command visited with Nichols’ wife, Teri.
Trying to come to grips with her husband’s murder, Teri Nichols said he had left on a motorcycle Saturday to examine the foundation for a house being built.
“He’s building a house for a woman in a week. And he went to check to see if the foundation was finished and to check on the woman it was being built for. I believe Randy wanted to take care of somebody that was in his Bible college who was in dire need of a house. They were gonna go look at her situation yesterday (Saturday) morning,” she told RJR News.
“They went and they just never came back.”
Powell has issued an appeal to the public and, especially residents in Albion Mountain, for information to help in the investigation.
Nichols and Hentzel were part of the US-based TEAMS for Medical Missions and have been in Jamaica since 2002.
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