The CARICOM Skilled Nationals (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was passed in Trinidad late Friday, without amendments, with 19 votes for and 11 against.
The bill has been opposed by the main opposition United National Congress (UNC), however, Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne said he found no merit in the opposition’s arguments to stop the bill.
“We are Caricom,” he said adding that the country benefited when our Caribbean brothers donated vaccines for covid19.
Browne went on to question why the UNC would want to stop their constituents who were skilled workers, to benefit from working in the region.
He said the bill would allow for regional food security, which is something that all parliamentarians across the region should be grateful for.
He claimed the Opposition was “opposing for opposing sake” since they criticized the economy yet claimed that there would be a tsunami of workers flooding the country if the law was passed.
“What I was hearing today is alien to our region. What the bill does will facilitate the orderly, lawful, controlled movement of skilled workers,” he said as he invited the Opposition to “join Caricom.”
Browne said the internal moving of Caribbean people was part of his lineage with his great-grandfather coming from Guyana and marrying a Vincentian woman.
Meanwhile, ahead of the passage of the bill, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, criticized the UNC for “consistently taking actions to undermine Trinidad and Tobago and Caricom, in and out of government.”
The Prime Minister described an earlier contribution by the Member of Parliament from Naparima, Rodney Charles as a xenophobic presentation that sickened him to the core
According to Rowley, Charles’s statements mirrored those made in 1961 by then Jamaica Prime Minister Sir Alexander Bustamante which led to the collapse of the West Indian Federation.
“It went into all the things that would happen to Jamaica when all these (Caribbean) islanders descended upon Jamaica and Jamaica would have to find place and space for them. History has a way of repeating itself,”
Charles’ claims also reflect the actions of former UNC and UNC-led administrations which resulted in the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) not being Trinidad and Tobago’s final appellate court and TT almost being left out of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).
The Prime Minister also recalled the UNC’s initial refusal to support the CCJ as TT’s final appeal court was because there was no judge of East Indian descent in its panel.
“The UNC has been consistent in letting down the people of TT on matters of great importance.” He added that if Charles’ claims reflected the UNC’s position, “We may as well count Caricom goodbye.”
Browne also appealed to the UNC to have belief in the people of TT and support the principles of regional integration.
“Is that too much to ask? Time will tell.”
CMC
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