‘Support CARICOM’

Former Prime Minister of Jamaica P.J. Patterson is urging CARICOM members to fully support the initiatives afforded by the agreement. Speaking during his delivery of 18th edition of the Frank Worrell Memorial Lecture last week at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination at the Cave Hill Campus, Patterson spoke to the importance of the Caribbean Court of Justice.

With only Barbados, Guyana and Belize signed on to the CCJ, Patterson cited Errol Barrow by saying, “We can longer loiter within imperial premises” to strengthen his case for other territories to look to the Caribbean Court of Justice as the final appellate court for the region.

Former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Percival James Patterson (right)
sharing a light moment with former Barbados Cricket Association
President, Senator Tony Marshall, after the 18th Frank Worrell Memorial Lecture.

While speaking highly of Frank Worrell, whom he described as one of the finest cricketers of all time, Patterson took the opportunity to digress and lightly touch on the recently-concluded Shanique Myrie case. “Let me ask, how do we explain to the Caribbean people that it was permissible for foreigners to move freely within regional borders during the ICC World Cup and the same rights of access have not yet been afforded to citizens of the region?” he said.

He then went on to say that the way forward for the region is to show a united front which would see the Caribbean thriving in a time when the future held many uncertainties. “What we have to learn from our experience, is that as we face the stormy winds of economic turbulence, it is not enough to seek shelter in our separate caverns but, like the West Indies team from time immemorial, we should rely instead on the pooling of our collected strength.”

One of the longest-serving Prime Ministers in the region’s history, Patterson ended his address with an open-ended question on who would take up the mantle to take the Caribbean into the future.

“I therefore ask who is prepared to step forward now and tend properly to CARICOM, a plant which is 40 years old, but in terms of the integration process is still growing and which is in urgent need of good horticultural care and protection,” he said. (MP)