Gya: After 30 years, what else is new?

The failure of Caricom Heads of Government to finalise the key options for governance as recommended by a technical committee has led to a number of other decisions taken in the 2003 Rose Hall Declaration not being fulfilled during the past year.

Among key decisions not taken and which hinged on the declaration was the reform of the Caricom Secretariat to enhance its effectiveness as the administrative and technocratic arm of the community and the automatic resource transfers for the financing of community institutions.

Jamaica's Prime Minister PJ Patterson at the last Heads of Government meeting in Grenada confessed to "feeling a deep personal disappointment" that the Heads had not achieved the targets set in the Rose Hall Declaration, among them being consideration of the various options for governance.

The Rose Hall Declaration was adopted last year in Montego Bay, Jamaica on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the founding of Caricom.

Although a technical group was formed and recommendations made, they were never discussed publicly and no decision was taken.

A significant aspect of the declaration was meant to improve governance for the purpose of deepening the integration process but a source close to the Caricom Secretariat told Stabroek News that to date the failure to disseminate widely the three reports from the technical committee on the issue of governance was one of the setbacks.