In the wake of a damning report warning that the community could be brought to its knees and disintegration, Caricom leaders meeting in Paramaribo, Suriname have agreed that the restructuring of the Secretariat will begin with the hiring of a change facilitator.
In a communique tonight, the Heads of Government after two days of deliberations said the Bureau of Conference would work with an internal group from the Secretariat to improve governance and implementation and the outline of a five-year strategic plan would be drawn up for the Heads to consider in July.
The communiqué said:
“Heads of Government received the Report on the Review of the Secretariat. The Report which they had commissioned in July 2010 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, was carried out by independent Consultants and supervised by a Project Management Team comprising representatives of Member States.
“They considered in-depth, the recommendations of the Report as well as recommendations by the Community Council on that Report and agreed that the Report would be made public.
“Heads of Government were of the firm view that the integration movement has continued to make great strides ever since the signing of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
“Heads of Government agreed that the Secretary-General would begin the process of restructuring of the Secretariat through the recruitment of a change facilitator to support him in that exercise and the strengthening of the corporate functions in the first instance. In a parallel exercise, the Bureau of Conference would work with an internal group from the Secretariat to facilitate improving regional governance and implementation. This process will involve the drawing up of the outline of a five-year strategic plan in time for consideration by Heads of Government at the Thirty-Third Meeting of the Conference in July.”
The Landell Mills report which has been reported on extensively in this newspaper has sent waves of concern through the region and generated questions about the future of the integration movement.
Critics have said that many of the same things pointed out in the report have come up routinely in the last few decades. They point to the report of the West Indian Commission chaired by Guyanese Sir Shridath Ramphal, the Rose Hall declaration and similar documents.
The means of implementing decisions and the need to bolster the powers and financing of the Secretariat have often been pointed out as vital.
And according to a press release from the Caricom Secretariat, Chairman of the Conference, Suriname’s President Desi Delano Bouterse told journalists today at the closing press conference of the two-day meeting that Heads of Government had accepted in general, some recommendations of the Landell Mills Report, but would seek clarification on others.
He said the Conference had directed the Secretary-General to move immediately to recruit the change facilitator who would help him to steer the implementation process and bolster the corporate functions of the Secretariat in the first instance.
Bouterse noted that in a parallel exercise, Heads of Government would work with an internal group from the Secretariat to facilitate improving regional governance and implementation. This process would involve an outline of a five-year strategic plan in time for consideration by Heads of Government at the Thirty-Third Meeting of the Conference in July.
“All in all it was a most productive and fruitful Inter-sessional meeting and as Chairman I am looking forward to moving urgently with the Secretary-General to see the initiatives through,” the CARICOM Chairman told journalists.
According to the Secretariat press release, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Dr Kenny Anthony gave support to the President’s statement and explained that there would also be changes made to the Conference regarding its agenda, structure and approach to meetings.
He agreed that the 23rd Inter-sessional was a purposeful meeting and that every member of the Conference present understood quite clearly that the people wanted change now. It was not a question of postponing or feet-dragging. It was vital that that change process commenced immediately, he said, according to the press release.
