CARICOM OR CARILEF - Vernon Derby

It seems as if our Caribbean neighbour Trinidad, has redefined CARICOM. CARCOM now means, “Carry Yu Money Cum, But Wi Can Do Wid out Yu”. Many Jamaicans have been treated poorly when they visit Trinidad. This has been reported in the media. Jamaicans visiting Trinidad are seen as a burden to the Trinidadian state. Jamaicans are now not sure if they are CARICOM or CARIGO. Should we now replace the strong call for CARICOM to call for CARILEF.

I cannot believe that the Trinidadian government has been subsidizing fuel for their manufacturers for a number of years now, while we are buying their fuel at a premium price. So the Jamaican people have been subsidizing the Trinidadian manufacturing sector while our manufacturing sector has been falling apart?

We have been big on CARICOM but small on JamaicaCom and we have paid dearly for it. We are big on the Caribbean Court of Justice but our justice system like an old broken down and dilapidated building is still waiting for that great overall to take place.

We go to CARICOM to have big talk yet we are not communicating with our people enough. We talk and talk about CARICOM and yet very little attention has been paid to crime in Jamaica. Our parliament is yet to come up with a comprehensive plan to deal with this challenge.

Trinidad has approximately 1.2 million people while Jamaican has 2.7 million people. Trinidad has one of the highest per capita income in the Caribbean while Jamaicans struggles near the bottom of the economic ladder in the Caribbean. Jamaica has a large market which Trinidad has made the best of.  Jamaica still continues to go down the road of poverty while Trinidad continues to climb the hill of prosperity. Trinidad is certainly having a carnival while we prepare for a nine-night. What a life, what a country. 

Jamaica Land we love.