EDITORIAL - If Ambassador Irwin LaRocque is to succeed

 Dr Denzil Douglas the prime minister of St Kitts and Nevis and current chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), last week formally announced what had been whispered since the heads of government held their summit in his country earlier this month: that Ambassador Irwin LaRocque had been appointed the Community's new secretary general.

As would have been gathered from our previous comments about how CARICOM should go about choosing a successor to Mr Edwin Carrington, who retired last December, Ambassador LaRocque would hardly have been our choice for the job. Indeed, this newspaper proposed as its candidate the Guyanese president, Mr Bharrat Jagdeo, who, constitutionally, is not allowed to serve a third term in that post and has to step down when elections are held in that country later this year.

First, our position is not a statement about Ambassador LaRocque's competence or qualifications. Indeed, of the declared candidates he would probably be seen as the obvious choice.

He served in top civil-service posts in his native Dominica, and since 2005 has been assistant secretary general of CARICOM for trade and economic integration.

Caricom insider

But it is precisely why he would be favoured, including his need for a low learning curve, that this newspaper had concerns: his obvious credentials as an insider.

More to the point, we arrived at our approach for the selection of a secretary general by way of the same analysis of Mr Tillman Thomas, the prime minister of Grenada, in a document he presented to his colleagues in June.

He said: "The new secretary general should be capable of driving the regional integration project - one who is imbued also with a sense of political and diplomatic strategy, who brings to the office sufficient personal status to be a respected, courageous and independent chief executive."

It is not our contention that Ambassador LaRocque lacks these qualities. But five years - his period of service at the secretariat - is a long time, during which he would have been obliged to be deferential to the heads of government.

We had hoped, especially in the absence of an overhaul of the Community's governance structure, that the leaders would have appointed a secretary general with the political status and background that would make him almost their equal in the councils of the Community. Hence, our suggestion of President Jagdeo, and before his return to active politics, Mr Owen Arthur, the former prime minister of Barbados.

Measurable achievements

However, the choice has been made. And, perhaps, it is that Ambassador LaRocque is not saddled with the cultural legacy of Mr Carrington. In that case, he may have a clear vision for an overhaul of the secretariat and its institutions, and with the energy - which, at 56, he should have - for a consistent, unrelenting engagement of the heads of government for the fulfilment of their undertakings.

If Ambassador LaRocque possesses these qualities, he will insist for his tenure a clear mandate with a quantifiable work programme and specific timelines for implementation. He must also demand the right to speak frankly to the people of the Community about obstacles and shortcomings that impede his work. Additionally, he should perceive his job as being for a single term, into which he must cram all his work.

If he does these things, Ambassador LaRocque has a chance at success. We wish him well.

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