CARICOM’s ‘survival’ challenges

KINGSTON, Jamaica - THE first in a series of planned consultations, across this region, for the introduction of a Five-Year Strategic Plan for CARICOM had a low-profile start in Barbados last Wednesday. First official news on the beginning of the consultative process came from the Georgetown-based Community Secretariat and, at best, media coverage was quite patchy or, worse, absent. No surprise really, as the original decision to have the national consultations came at last July's Heads of Government Summit in Haiti amid lingering cynicism and disenchantment pertaining to the administrative structure and governance system of the 15-member Community faced with a serious implementation deficit challenge in this its 40th year of existence.