A Chat with Dr. Armstrong Alexis, CARICOM’s Deputy Secretary General

Chadia Mathurin: Thank you. Since we’re talking about stories before we explore other things, let me just hop on to this question. Can you highlight some – maybe not more than three – encouraging developments in the sphere of Caribbean regional integration? These are stories that you think that CARICOM citizens are unaware of but they should be aware of.

..The very CARICOM, as a regional integration movement, is the oldest regional integration movement on earth. How many people know that?

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Dr. Armstrong Alexis: I think one thing that we don’t focus on sufficiently is that we have a world class, world-standard education system that is assessed through an indigenous Caribbean Examination Council. We probably take it for granted that there is CXC but CXC is a success story in the Caribbean because not only is it a robust institution, it is globally recognized. There are no doubts anywhere in the world when someone shows up with CXCs. And this is not a CARICOM Secretariat but a regional success story that we need to sing the praises of. This would be one.

The second one for me in terms of CARICOM is that the very CARICOM, as a regional integration movement, is the oldest regional integration movement on earth. How many people know that?

Chadia Mathurin: I didn’t know that.

Dr. Armstrong Alexis: I didn’t know that until I got to the Secretariat.

Dr. Armstrong Alexis: It’s the oldest. It’s the oldest. When the EU was being formed they studied CARICOM. When ECOWAS was being formed they studied CARICOM. So we have the world’s oldest regional integration movement; anywhere in the world. [This is] something that we need to be proud of. Now, of course the average person trying to feed a family will tell you so what, eh [chuckles]. So that’s the question of how do we make those things relevant to people’s ordinary lives. I remember Minister Alva Baptiste saying at a meeting, “If we think CARICOM is useless, try a Caribbean without CARICOM”. And that’s probably when we’ll really appreciate the value of CARICOM. So these are two things I think we can present.

The third one for me, is an area that CARICOM has become known for – but again, maybe we tend sometimes to throw baby and bath water in the Caribbean – is CARIFESTA. We have a system where the arts are celebrated through CARIFESTA. We have had problems, of course, with CARIFESTA, but it is one of the engagements of the Secretariat – of the region – that brings people together on a regular basis and that promotes the arts, culture and creatives of the Caribbean. So these are three that I can think of, off the bat that I can share with you.

Chadia Mathurin: Excellent. Now I’m going to go back a bit with this next question. What would you like for your legacy in the post of Deputy Secretary General to be?

Dr. Armstrong Alexis: When I joined the Secretariat, I presented some of my ideas to the Secretary General and the staff and I had a hashtag that I’ve not been using, #MakeCARICOMTrendAgain. I would love to know that the average citizen is a lot more aware of, and appreciative of, the interventions of CARICOM. So when I spoke earlier about people knowing what we do but also ensuring that we do things that are meaningful to the lives of the average citizen, that is what I would love to see as my legacy; that we created a regional integration movement that people appreciate and they see the relevance of regional integration to their daily lives; in respective sectors. So what might be of value to someone like yourself interested in the arts would probably be a more fortified approach towards CARIFESTA, what might be of importance to a business person might be open and free trade, what might be of relevance to a university graduate might be free movement to be able to take up jobs anywhere in the region. So it might not necessarily be an overall, all-encompassing appreciation of what we do, but in the respective sectors, those [in those] sectors can fully appreciate because they can see the relevance; it impacts their lives directly. If we can achieve that in the next 5-10 years, I would say we would have gone a long way.

The other important thing for me is if we can address, what we have been calling in CARICOM, the implementation deficit. In other words, when we make decisions we’re able to implement these decisions within a particular time frame and not leave it as self-paced implementation; because as it is now implementation is self paced. Saint Lucia moves at one speed, Barbados moves at another speed, Dominica at a different speed, Jamaica has its speed, and therefore things linger quite a bit because we don’t have a proper implementation framework that is time-bound. I think if we can achieve those things in the coming 5 years I would certainly be very very happy and I would consider that to be, whether it is my legacy or some thing that I would have contributed to, but certainly it would be in that direction.

One other issue for me with legacy would be that we have a Secretariat that is nimble, fit for purpose, that is up and running as a 21st. century institution in all its facets. And by the way, one that is considered to be employer of choice, that we attract the best and brightest in the region to come and work with CARICOM. If I am able to do this in 3-5 years, I would be very happy.

Chadia Mathurin: Since we’re on the subject of employer of choice, what would you say the human resource demographics at CARICOM are like? Because it is based in Georgetown, are the majority of employees Guyanese? Is there any campaigning to get young people from other CARICOM countries to join in on the work of the Secretariat?

Dr. Armstrong Alexis: Currently, the Secretariat is dominated by nationals of Guyana. The Secretariat is based in Guyana and there are more Guyanese working here than any other nationality. We are just in the process of now, as we speak, putting together the list of underrepresented countries with the intention of writing to those underrepresented countries for us to inform their governments and to encourage them to have their nationals apply. We’ve not been pushing it enough. I have to admit that we’ve not been pushing it enough. But we’re moving in that direction where we want to push to have, in accordance with the Treaty, every country adequately represented on the staff of the Secretariat. So that is something that I am consciously aware of and we’re taking steps to address as we speak. And that would include young professionals, because we want people to come in at an age where they can give of their best.

Chadia Mathurin: Sounds good. I’m looking forward to seeing that part implemented.

Dr. Armstrong Alexis: Yes.