00:00Political analyst Dr. Bishnu Raghunath tells the Morning Edition caution must be exercised to ensure citizens do not become desensitized
00:09to the repeated use of emergency powers or to begin to view them as routine governance.
00:15It is now becoming the norm in life. And more importantly, because the way the SOEs have been implemented over
00:25the last year, what we are now seeing is simply that people are going about their lives and believing that,
00:32you know, we are yes in an SOE, but who cares?
00:37Dr. Raghunath warns that while the government may believe the move is necessary, there could be political consequences, even if
00:45the government appears unconcerned about political fallout.
00:49Addressing the Prime Minister's recent remarks at the CARICOM summit, he says, she has remained consistent in her posture, particularly
00:56in her technical positioning that CARICOM can at times be an unreliable partner.
01:02Describing her as Kamala Prasad-Bissasa 2.0, he suggests that this iteration of the leader is more brash and
01:10unapologetic in her pronouncements.
01:13And I think clearly what she did was basically use language which could have been much more diplomatic.
01:23Say what you want to say, but yes, try and be a little bit more diplomatic.
01:27But the point about it is that I have come to accept now that she's going to say what she
01:31wants to say and she doesn't care what anybody else thinks.
01:35However, Dr. Raghunath notes that CARICOM has traditionally operated on the basis that each member state should maintain its own
01:44foreign policy.
01:45While he acknowledges that the Prime Minister's participation in the shield of the America's meeting is a feather in her
01:51hat, he says, there is no certainty about what tangible benefits will emerge and cautions against dismissing longstanding regional relationships.
02:02So if we need to work with CARICOM, I think Kamala Prasad-Bissasa needs to make the effort that we
02:09sit down with CARICOM and CARICOM, the CARICOM Secretariat, I think, needs to come up with an agenda that will
02:19allow for serious discussion on where we go forward with CARICOM.
02:24Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
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