The Peoples Empowerment Party (PEP) would like to publicly congratulate veteran Barbadian calypsonian, John King, on placing second in the Calypso Monarch competition with an outstanding composition about the power, beauty and value of our Caribbean integration movement. John has performed the very laudable service of calming and reassuring the Barbadian people, at a time of tension and apprehension about the relatively large number of CARICOM brothers and sisters who have migrated to Barbados in recent years.
Put simply, John King has helped Barbadians to distinguish the proverbial ‘baby’ from the ‘bath water’! The reality is that whenever there is a substantial inflow of migrants to any country - no matter how useful and valuable those migrants are to the receiving country - there is always a period of tension, uneasiness and sometimes even conflict. But John King’s calypso helps us to look at the bigger picture and to recognise that we are fundamentally all members of the same Caribbean family, and that feelings of tension and uneasiness will pass away as we steadily and progressively embrace each other.
The PEP shares John King’s fundamental optimism about and commitment to the Caribbean! Furthermore, as a Barbadian political party, we are also very proud about the tremendous contribution that Barbados has made to the development of our Guyanese brothers and sisters in recent years.
The reality is that when a country, for whatever reason, finds itself mired in a long and self-perpetuating cycle of poverty, it tends to require some form of outside stimulus or intervention to assist it to break out of that predicament. And Barbados has provided Guyana with the very effective intervening factor of migration and access to a variety of jobs in Barbados’ construction, agriculture and service industries.
For us in the PEP, Barbados’ accommodation and support of a significant number of Guyanese nationals in search of a better life, is something that Barbadians should feel extremely proud about. Barbados has shared its resources and has made a significant contribution to realizing the concept of a ‘Caribbean Civilization’. Let us therefore see our people-to-people relationship with Guyana in a positive light, rather than constantly harping on the negatives!
It is against this background therefore that the PEP has urged the new Democratic Labour Party administration of Barbados to acknowledge and respect the policies of the previous Barbados Labour Party government in relation to intra-CARICOM migration.
Our view is that even if the ‘new’Government wishes to discontinue the old ‘five year amnesty’ policy for CARICOM nationals, and to replace it with a one-off ‘eleven year amnesty’, that they should still extend some special consideration to all those CARICOM nationals who would have qualified for the ‘five year amnesty’ prior to the public announcement of a change of policy on 5th May 2009.
All those undocumented CARICOM migrants who came to Barbados after 1st January 1998 (the cut off date for the new amnesty) but who have resided in Barbados for at least 5 years should be given a guarantee that their applications for status will be seriously considered on merit, and that they will be entitled to remain in Barbados throughout the entire decision making process - inclusive of their right of appeal.
This is the PEP position, and it seems to us that as the national debate continues in Barbados that we are generally settling upon this as the official policy of our country!
The PEP also feels quite strongly that the Barbados government should establish an official, state run ‘Guest Worker Programme’ within the Ministry of Labour that will take the confusion out of the system of issuing short term work permits to CARICOM nationals.
August 4th, 09
