Towards a Commission or Executive Authority for the Community

• Author: Roderick Rainford
• Pages: 78-87

78 NEW CONCEPTIONS OF REGIONAL GOVERNANCE

THE CONCERN AND RATIONALE BEHIND

THE IDEA OF A CARICOM COMMISSION

After first being proposed in the West Indian Commission Report of 1992,

and after being put on hold at that time by the Community’s political

directorate, the concept of a CARICOM Commission, as a prominent

component of the structure of Caribbean Community governance, is once

more under active consideration.

This has emerged out of an initiative of the CARICOM Heads of

Government, launched in early 2003, to identify and pursue strategies for

strengthening governance in the Community. A sub-committee of the

Heads, chaired by the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines,

was established with a mandate to develop proposals on the matter for the

consideration of the Conference of Heads of Government. The Sub-

Committee, in a report to the Twenty-Fourth Meeting of the Conference,

proposed, inter alia the establishment of a CARICOM Commission, broadly

along the lines originally recommended by the West Indian Commission

some twelve years previously. The Conference accepted the Sub-Committee’s

report in principle, and requested that further work be undertaken to

elaborate the basic proposal. Accordingly, a further report on the matter in

response to this request is to be considered by the Conference.

If the Community actually makes the concept of a CARICOM

Commission a reality, this would constitute a major institutional innovation

in the Community’s governance structure and processes. But major

institutional innovations in human affairs are not things that are

undertaken lightly. Nor are they undertaken in a vacuum or for their own

sakes. They are, or should be, undertaken in response to deeply felt needs,

usually to correct an all pervasive mischief that undermines system

resilience or poses a serious threat to system viability and effectiveness.

What then, is this debilitating mischief in Community affairs which

the contemplated CARICOM Commission is expected to correct? Of the many

TOWARDS A COMMISSION ORTOWARDS A COMMISSION OR

TOWARDS A COMMISSION ORTOWARDS A COMMISSION OR

TOWARDS A COMMISSION OR

EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY FOR THEEXECUTIVE AUTHORITY FOR THE

EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY FOR THEEXECUTIVE AUTHORITY FOR THE

EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY FOR THE

COMMUNITYCOMMUNITY

COMMUNITYCOMMUNITY

COMMUNITY

Roderick Rainford

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