00:00Dr. George Brathwaite says that even though Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamala
00:04Passad-Bissessa is within her rights to question the reappointment of Dr. Carla Barnett as
00:09Secretary General of CARICOM, he is questioning her motive and agenda for doing it in such
00:15a public manner.
00:16Given that the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago is so concerned with the process
00:23and the procedures, as may be her right, I think to wash dirty linen in public, I think
00:32it's detrimental to the fabric of CARICOM.
00:39Moreover, I think that given other contextual statements over the last few months, one has
00:50to question motive and agenda, and not the CARICOM agenda, but what is the Prime Minister
00:57of Trinidad's motive and agenda.
01:00She does not appear, to my mind, from all the public shenanigans, to be operating in the
01:11best interests of CARICOM, nor Trinidad and Tobago.
01:16Given the geopolitical tensions and uncertainties throughout the region, and the pressure coming
01:21from elsewhere in the hemisphere, Dr. Brathwaite is wishing that tones would be tempered so the
01:26ruckus would just blow over, because it can affect the present and the future.
01:30Well, it would be nice if persons had tempered the tone and let it just be something that
01:43will blow over.
01:44But that's not the case, because you are going, I think the Prime Minister of Trinidad and perhaps
01:52some other person speaking on the sidelines, I think they are going against the pragmatism
01:58that is needed at a time where we see the geopolitical uncertainties that are unsettling the region.
02:09We are at a time where we see that Hispana is thrown into the mix, and the Hispana is coming
02:18from up north, in various robes, and yet we're playing with trouble, we're playing with our
02:29destiny, we're playing with the current and future generations.
02:33And to me that is wrong.
02:35Dr. Brathwaite says that the regional bickering will not bode well for CARICOM and warns that
02:41leaders need to focus on the bigger issues facing the region.
02:44But when you get this shown across the Caribbean Sea and you are diminishing what CARICOM can
02:54do in terms of resilience, resistance, and recognizing the threats that confront us, then you realize
03:07that CARICOM is in trouble in terms of the spirit and in terms of the leadership not recognizing
03:17that there, as you were saying, there are bigger issues out there that hurt, confront, threaten
03:24the very people that they intend to serve or are supposed to be serving.
03:31Dominic Ramroop, TV6 News.
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