CSME's future

The Caribbean Single Market and Economy treaty, which generated a heated debate in The Bahamas last year before the government decided that The Bahamas would not be a part of it at this time, went into effect on January 1, 2006, with Jamaica, Barbados. Belize, Guyana, Surinam and Trinidad and Tobago as the first full members.

With the exception of The Bahamas and Haiti, it is expected that the remaining members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will soon be fully integrated into the new economic grouping. While The Bahamas' decision was a matter of choice, Haiti's reason for not signing on to CSME is because it has serious internal political problems that must be addressed before its participation is welcomed by CARICOM.

Even though CSME is being embraced by the other members of CARICOM, however, questions are still being raised in some countries of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) about its benefits. Addressing the annual awards ceremony of the Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association recently, economist Allen Chastanet suggested that CSME offers nothing for OECS countries, according to a press statement.

Mr. Chastanet, president of the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association, stressed that OECS countries need "to strengthen our existing organizations, not to join new ones and burden the Eastern Caribbean taxpayers even more." In addition to St. Lucia, the other members of OECS are Anguilla, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Obviously, if Mr. Chastenet's views are shared by a sizeable number of persons in these countries, the full integration of CSME among CARICOM nations could experience some of the same proplems that led to the dismantlement of the West Indies Federation, an ambitious effort in the early 1960s to establish 10 British West Indian territories as one entity.

Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados were the principal members of this gouping, and after Jamaica pulled out in 1961 because of the widespread belief in that country at the time that it would end up having to shoulder most of the economic responsibilities of the underdeveloped members, the experiment collapsed. Jamaica subsequently became an independent country in August of 1962, and Trinidad and Tobago followed suit later that year, as did Barbados in 1966.

The hope among CARICOM leaders is that CSME will not suffer the same fate. Nonetheless, if it does survive, the current thinking among Bahamians is that it will do so without The Bahamas being involved. Despite the strong lobbying efforts by Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell to convince Bahamians that being a part of CSME was the right thing to do, a lopsided consensus to the contrary developed that forced the government to abandon any plans it may have had to sign on to CSME.

There is still a strong likelihood, however, that the CSME issue will be revived after the next election, no matter which political party forms the government. This speculation is supported by the belief that politicians on both sides of the political divide believe that the benefits of CSME for The Bahamas far outnumber the negative consequences of being a part of the arrangement.

This being the case, voters in this country should insist that the issue be thoroughly discussed during the election campaign. Once they are on record as having taken a particular stand on the matter, it would be difficult for the politicians to change their position without leaving themselves open to the retribution generally associated with misleading the electorate.

© 2006 The Freeport News