ST. LUCIA HOLDS CGF ACCOUNTABILITY WORKSHOP At the Caribbean Growth Forum (CGF) Regional Event held in The Bahamas in June 2013, CGF countries issued The Bahamas Consensus CGF Communique in which they committed to start Phase 2 of the CGF by implementing the action plans and report openly every six months. To date, three countries (Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Saint Lucia) have reported on their progresses and delays in implementation for the period August 2013-February 2014, through National Accountability Workshops. The workshops helps to communicate progresses, highlight critical areas that deserve further support and engage the broader constituencies in finding constructive solutions to current challenges. In this newsletter we share a summary of St. Lucia's successes as we have done in the past with the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. St. Lucia held its first Accountability Workshop on March 6th, 2014 in the presence of approximately 75 persons who listened attentively to St. Lucia Prime Minister Kenny Anthony who made a plea for accountability to be a culture. "...a way of life that promotes accounting at all levels of society, not just at the ever visible mountain top of the political directorate." He was joined by Sir Dwight Venner, Governor of the East Caribbean Central Bank who remarked that: "We now come to a very critical part of the process, that is, accountability. In this particular area, I would like to say up front that we do not perform very well in this region. We are not very good at assuming responsibility and even if we accept it, or it is thrust upon us, we take the opportunity to blame others for anything that goes wrong." He further added: "This leads to a lack of trust in our societies which is exemplified by a saying in some of our islands that - 'Partnership is a leaky ship'. Making this statement should be regarded as a treason felony as it fundamentally undermines the collective approach to development which is so critical in our small countries. It is for this reason that I welcome the continuity and specificity of the CGF in beginning this stage of the process." |