Caption: Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Photo: T&T Parliament

 

Dear Editor,

Please permit me to publicly commend Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on her recent address at the 50th CARICOM Regular Meeting in St Kitts & Nevis.

I first want to begin by apologising to the prime minister. Unlike government Members of Parliament, state board appointees, and those still yearning or begging for a permanent senatorial appointment, my compliments are completely voluntary and hence may be hampered by an unpleasant need to acknowledge reality.

Mrs Persad-Bissessar’s speech last week was truly awe-inspiring, delivered in a lofty oratorical tone that tossed out boring calm authority for the exuberance of the rising irritation of someone searching for the TV remote while her favourite show was already starting.

What made the speech especially striking, though, was the prime minister’s masterstroke of abandoning any sense of policy clarity in favour of muddling confusion.

The prime minister spoke of commitment to the core tenets of CARICOM while chastising CARICOM for not adhering to the core tenet she clearly appears to value most: responding promptly to her emails while she was in Opposition.

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She praised regional principles such as free movement while stressing she would only adopt them when convenient to her. She stressed that Caribbean states must maintain their sovereignty while applauding foreign intervention, thereby helpfully redefining sovereignty as the right to cheer when someone else does your heavy lifting.

She condemned CARICOM members for trying to interfere in elections in other member states, while afterwards stressing that UNC members such as singer Makamillion are perfectly free to campaign in elections in other member states, as they did in St Lucia and St Vincent.

She complained that a member state broke international law in extraditing a T&T citizen, while cheering on extrajudicial killings via drones. On Cuba, perhaps the most contentious issue, she denounced CARICOM leaders for their tacit support for the regime in Havana which, she conveniently forgets, she too praised not long ago.

To paraphrase the great speechmaker Winston Churchill, never have so many words owed so much news coverage to so little of substance.

What the prime minister displayed was pure strategic genius. A clearly articulated national foreign policy with set goals only serves to embolden our enemies. Simply adopting positions based on one’s mood, personal grievances, or on what Washington asks means our enemies, who this week appear to be Mia Mottley, never know what the prime minister is really thinking because, quite often, neither does she.

In fact, one of the true highlights of the meeting was the way Mrs Persad-Bissessar completely schooled Mia Mottley over the Brent Thomas affair with her rambling, disjointed accusations. That certainly taught Mottley a lesson for disparaging international law. And for being an internationally popular woman.

One can understand the rapturous reception Mrs Persad-Bissessar received from her supporters, who applauded her as eagerly as seals at an aquarium at the sight of the bucket of fish. Indeed, one half expected the Prime Minister to start tossing treats at the Cabinet meeting when she returned.

What the nation truly has to applaud Mrs Persad-Bissessar for, though, is understanding the true nature of this CARICOM meeting. It was not, as lesser minds may have assumed, a diplomatic forum meant to strengthen regional integration. Nor was it the place to articulate her policy goals and prescriptions. No, it was really a platform for the prime minister to audition for MAGA Apprentice.

And the fact that Mrs Persad-Bissessar is now moving on to the second round in a meeting on March 7 with other regional allies of President Trump clearly shows she is winning. Whether T&T audiences may soon start switching the channel, as audiences are doing en masse in the US, remains to be seen.

Darryn Boodan

Chaguanas

 

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