Hon. Tillman Thomas Prime Minister Prime Minister’s Office Ministerial Complex Tanteen St. George’s Dear Sir, Re Recent Agreement Economic and Political Union Greetings Hon. Prime Minister! I do feel constrained to write to you to offer my comments on the recent news that the Heads of Government of Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago had entered into agreement to pursue economic union by 2009 and political union by 2013. While I do consider myself a regionalist who believes that the long term salvation of our islands lies in genuine co-operation and integration, I must express my concerns about PROCESS. It is less than two (2) months since the decisive July 8th elections which blew in the “wind of change” National Democratic Congress into office. We the people voted for change and a new approach to governance. I am therefore at a loss to understand how our representatives can go signing agreements of such far reaching consequences when this new Parliament had not even been convened!! I do not recall economic and political union being a platform issue. I have perused your party’s manifesto and while it does state a commitment to “deepening of the OECS and CARICOM integration movement” it does not shed further light on this matter so we the people are in the dark as to your party’s position on this issue. The people, have not been informed, much less consulted!! Hon. Prime Minister, please do not permit your administration to make the same error as those who have been in office for a much longer period – they have forgotten that the integration of the region is about the PEOPLE of the region. It is this attitude towards we the people of the region, the most important stakeholders of the integration process, that has stymied progress. As Political Leader of the Congress party, none better than you, Sir, must be aware of the great hope and expectations of the Grenadian people as they took a very deliberate decision to place the stewardship of the nation into the hands of your party. You, on behalf of your party, promised, inclusion, transparency and accountability. It is therefore of great concern to we the people that less than one month of being in office our representatives should be signing agreements of such far reaching implications without informing, much less consulting, we the people. It is the considered opinion of we the people that a new administration which has spent 13 years in opposition and which has an enormous “clean-up job” to take on should spend its first month in office properly settling in - familiarizing itself with and assessing the situation which it has inherited and setting its short term priorities. These priorities ought to be communicated to we the people along with the proposed strategies for addressing them. As part of the regional family, we the people do recognize that the new administration will have commitments in this regard but first things first!! Trinidad has money, something which Grenada badly needs at this time. But we the people would like to counsel “Hasten slowly!” Prime Minister Manning has been in office well over two terms. He has things “under control”. The new administration needs to truly “settle in “. Your administration should also note that over the last 13 years, Port-of-Spain established itself in St. George’s and since then has been expanding rapidly throughout the island and in Carriacou. Indeed, during the period of the Agency for Reconstruction and Development (ARD), Port-of-Spain even flourished in the Ministerial Complex and real estate business increased significantly. Therefore we the people are wary of any new arrangements which can potentially further marginalize us. That is why we need to know what our leaders have signed up to and what it really means for us. Indeed, we would expect to inform any decisions to be taken by our leaders on our behalf. It would do well for our leaders to also recognize that over the last 35 years of the integration process, the region’s leaders have put the “cart before the horse”. They have also reneged on their commitments to the region and narrow political expediency rather than principle have guided their decisions. How else could have so many CARICOM leaders ended up with a Petrocaribe deal which left Trinidad out in the cold? Why is it that Caribbean leaders made deals which permitted Air Jamaica, BWIA and Caribbean Star to almost destroy LIAT? Why is it that over the years LIAT’S operations seemed to have been dogged by decisions based on political expediency? There appears to be a particular haste in respect of initiatives regarding gas and oil. We the people are aware that members of the former administration entered into ill-advised deals with unsavoury characters in respect of our gas and oil resources and that there are legal matters surrounding some of these deals. What is the status of these matters and who/which institution is advising the new administration? For the last 13 years, we the people have been short—changed and ravaged by the decisions of those we put in charge of our affairs. For the moment, we do not doubt the noble intent of you and your team but we wish to remind you of the commitment to inclusion, transparency and accountability and a change in the approach to governance. As you yourself stated at your swearing-in ceremony at the Grenada Trade Centre on July 9th, the people’s prayers played a significant role in your party getting into office. Now that it is there, Sir, we the people trust that Ministers will continue to implore the people’s prayers for wisdom in the conduct of the nation’s affairs. Kind regards! Yours respectfully, Sandra C.A. Ferguson Inside Grenada News