Former Prime Minister, the Most Hon. P.J. Patterson, has called on Caribbean
nations to work together to protect their interests, similar to
what countries, which fought wars for years, are now doing in the
European Union (EU).
Mr. Patterson, who was speaking at a celebratory banquet in his honour
on February 4, at the Round Hill Hotel, in Honover, also
pressed for the regional integration process to move forward.
“The challenges which we face oblige us, not just out of a question of
sentiment, but of shared necessity, to pool our collective strengths and
combine all our resources in the development of the Caribbean to which we
belong,” he told the gathering.
He argued that the questions surrounding the Caribbean Court of Justice
(CCJ) have been answered, and the countries within the region should embrace it
as their final appellate court. “We have already paid for the Caribbean Court
of Justice in full, whether or not we use it as our final appellate court, so
let’s embrace it. We have also had consultations now for nearly 20 years about
the move from a Monarchy to establishing a Republic, where we choose as head of
state, somebody with an embodiment of the highest pinnacle of achievement,” Mr.
Patterson said.
Guest speaker at the function, Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Hon. Dr. Kenny
Anthony, said the Caribbean states should coalesce at every possible juncture
to pursue those “strategies which will yield the most benefits to our region
and its people.”
“Now more than ever, we need to be unified in our enterprise of building not
just a single market and economy, but a single Caribbean civilization. What
this suggests is that our pre-occupation with day-to-day undertakings,
grappling with pressing problems and immediate imperatives of these difficult
times, we politicians, academics, journalists, business people and ordinary
folk are all in danger of losing sight of the significant, strategic, the
heroic subject in the bigger picture,” Dr. Anthony said.
He called for an end to squabbling among islands, and for the people
to be part of, and be able “to feel regional coming together.”
“All our accomplishments along the road to Regional integration, all of our
triumphs and successes will go un-cherished unless they are celebrated by all
our generations in a manner that the very people in whose name we work, can
see, hear, feel and understand the full significance of our progress. Our
pre-occupation with the insignificant will render |