The government of The Bahamas may have already signed on to the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), said President of the Bahamas Public Services Union John Pinder.
Mr Pinder’s statement shocked a Bahamian forum meeting last week, which included a group of concerned citizens and legal and financial services experts.
He said he received credible information that the government might have signed the country on to CSME on Dec. 21, 2004.
“I have received some information that they have already signed on to this thing. I got this information that they already signed as far back as December. And I want to say that is part reliable source, because the persons who would have said that to me are credible persons,” he said.
“I hate to believe that the government would have committed to CSME without wide consultation.”
He further noted that Foreign Affairs minister Fred Mitchell had indicated earlier that The Bahamas’ signing on to CSME would be a cabinet decision.
Mr Pinder continued, “If we could discover that the government has already signed, we certainly know what would happen. We certainly know what would happen. In 2007, they would pay the price.”
However, Mr Mitchell is not on record as saying The Bahamas signed the agreement but rather that the country would derive some economic benefits from it.
Brain Moree says Gov’t must come clean
Senior managing partner of Mckinney, Bankcroft and Hughes, Brian Moree, participated in the debate as a panellist with Mr Pinder.
Mr Moree said it was “high time” for the government to come clean on the CSME issue, adding, “I think the government should answer a simple question and that is: What did they decide in December of last year? It’s a very simple matter.
“Why leave the entire Bahamian public to speculate and argue about it. They either decided to sign the treaty or they decided that subject to consultation, in principal we will sign the treaty, but we’ll have to wait and see what the Bahamian people would have to say about this. It’s either one or the other.”
Mr Moree further noted that the controversial Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas would require legislation within CSME member states to be merged, forcing The Bahamas to overhaul its laws.
“Regardless of the reservations, we would have to go through a very significant exercise of amending our laws to bring then in line with harmonised regimes in a whole range of areas, including Customs, competition policy, consumer protection, banking and securities, intellectual property rights, standards and technical regulations, regulations in labelling of food and drugs and the list goes on,” he said.
Several other concerned citizens voiced their opinions on the CSME issue, including members of Bahamians Agitating a Referendum for Free Trade (BARF), former Governor of the Central Bank Sir William Allen, former politician Dr Elwood Donaldson, Immediate-past president of the Chamber of Commerce Winston Rolle and lawyer Pericles Maillis.
BARF members told the group that it was important for the country to continue the debate on CSME. BARF Chairman, Paul D. Moss, who was in Freeport on Thursday, called Island 102.9 FM and said The Bahamas could not agree to sign the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and then decide it would not follow certain sections in it.
By: MINDELL SMALL, The Nassau Guardian
