Kevin Ramnarine
On June 23 Britain goes to the polls to vote in a referendum on its future in the European Union (EU). The desire by some in Britain to leave the EU is being fuelled by an anti-immigrant sentiment which is not confined to that country but extends to mainland Europe and the United States. Those that want to leave are questioning whether the benefits from membership are being outweighed by immigration and the surrender of sovereignty to Brussels.
Britain's question mark over its participation in the European project is called "Brexit" which is a blending of the words "Britain" and "Exit." A May 3 "poll of polls" by the Financial Times indicated that 46 per cent of Britons are in favour of staying in the EU and 43 per cent are in favour of leaving.
Leading the charge for Britain to stay in the EU is Prime Minister David Cameron. Leading the charge to leave is the former Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Johnson's successor as Mayor of London is Sadiq Khan. The new Mayor of London is a Muslim and son of immigrants from Pakistan. Following his victory, the Daily Beast website described Khan as the most powerful Muslim politician in the Western World. The Daily Beast might like to know that T&T holds the distinction of being the only country in the Western World to have had a Muslim as a head of State in the person of President Noor Hassanali.
Last month President Obama visited Britain to send a strong message that he wanted to see them stay in the EU. This message has been echoed by people from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan to Sir Richard Branson.
Here in the Caribbean we have our own version of Brexit. I'm tempted to call it Jamexit. At the heart of the matter is another flare-up between T&T and Jamaica over the matter of movement of people. Recently, there have been incidents where, Jamaican nationals have been denied entry to this country by our immigration officers. Some Jamaicans have reacted. One such person is William Mahfood. Mr Mahfood is the President of the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ). He has reportedly called for action against T&T arising out of the treatment of Jamaican nationals.
Moreover, on April 3, 2016, the Jamaica Observer reported that Jamaicans were being urged to boycott goods from T&T over this same issue. The Observer article quoted Mahfood as saying, "We need to stand up for our own rights as a country and we need to say to Trinidad, if you don't allow us access to your country, whether it is to freely move within Caricom then you won't have access to our market."
Mahfood's protestations follow on statements made in 2012 by then Opposition MP Karl Samuda who called for Jamaica to leave Caricom. Mr Samuda is now a member of the Jamaican Cabinet.
Some in Jamaica believe that the low cost of energy in T&T has made our manufacturers more competitive relative to their Caricom counterparts. If cheap energy made manufacturers competitive then Venezuela would have the most competitive manufacturing sector in the world. The reason T&T's manufacturers are competitive has little to do with cheap energy and a lot to do with re-tooling, technology and automation. I had the privilege of recently visiting one such operation in East Trinidad and saw firsthand the investment in automation that included robotics.
The Caricom project is now 43 years old. We have come a long way and there is a long way to go. In the absence of leadership vacuums are created. Thankfully filling that vacuum is Prime Minister Andrew Holness who has brought a degree of reason to the matter. PM Holness supports the Caricom project but he wants Jamaican manufacturers to play a bigger role. To this end has announced the appointment of a commission to review his country's role in Caricom with the view of strengthening its participation. This must be welcomed.
Caricom needs a shot in the arm. It is suffering from inertia. It needs to embrace the private sector as the vehicle for economic transformation. What is Caricom's strategy to build the regional private sector and what has happened to the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce?
On a promising note, it has been reported that immigration and security officials in T&T are to receive customer service training. This is good news. There are always two sides to every story. While the T&T Immigration Officers have to uphold the law, I'm sure customer service training will come in handy for some of them.
Caricom cannot survive the departure of Jamaica and the EU will unravel if Britain exits. The consequences of the latter are far more serious for the world economy. In the matter of the current T&T/ Jamaica issue there is role for diplomatic dialogue and there is role for the private sectors of both countries. We have heard from the Jamaican private sector and not yet from the T&T private sector. Whatever the solution, emotive and aggressive language serve no purpose.
Kevin Ramnarine is the former Energy Minister of T&T.