Wait, PJ get a new consulting contract???

[Willi]

NEWS

GOLDING CONGRATULATES PATTERSON ON OCC AWARD
Saturday, July 04, 2009
GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Prime Minister Bruce Golding has heaped praises on former Prime Minister PJ Patterson after he was conferred with the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC).

Prime Minister Bruce Golding (second right) and Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Ken Baugh (right) celebrate with former Prime Minister PJ Patterson (second left) at a reception in Georgetown, Guyana, shortly after Patterson was conferred with the Order of the Caribbean Community Thursday night. Also pictured are vice chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Professor E Nigel Harris (left), and director of finance - UWI Mona, Winston Bayley. (Photo: JIS)
The ceremony took place at the opening ceremony of the 30th regular meeting of the conference of Heads of Government of Caricom in Georgetown, Guyana, Thursday night.

In congratulating Patterson, Golding said he had done Jamaica and the region proud through his many years as a leading negotiator for the movement. He acknowledged Patterson's multifaceted contribution to the community's growth and the role he played in the region's integration process.

[Willi]

PJ want to sell wi out again. Time we leff dis Caricom foolishness!
Caricom system is di vampire, sucking the blood of Jamaica...

PATTERSON URGES 'ALL HANDS ON DECK' TO PREVENT CARICOM COLLAPSE
Saturday, July 04, 2009
GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Warning that a collapse of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) is not an option, Jamaica's former prime minister, PJ Patterson, has urged "all hands on deck" to ensure the sustainability of the regional enterprise.
Patterson, an acknowledged 'elder statesman' of their 36-year-old community, made his appeal in an eloquent address at the ceremonial opening at the 30th Heads of Government Conference here in appreciation of being conferred with the Order of the Community (OCC) - Caricom's highest award.
Not only did he pledge his availability to be of whatever assistance he could possibly offer, but Patterson publicly invited all previous recipients of the OCC to come forward to be of assistance at this time when the community is going through a most difficult period in its existence.
"I feel confident in speaking not only for myself," he told the assembled guests who packed the Guyana National Cultural Centre for the opening ceremony, "but also for all the others who have received your highest accolade that the Caribbean Community is at liberty to call upon each and all of us to give our experience, or share our expertise in any way that will serve to move our fellow citizens on the path of economic progress and social mobility."
Such a response, he feels, will help to "ensure the fashioning of a Caribbean civilisation, embedded in strong regional consciousness and rooted in the promotion of human dignity for those who call the Caribbean our only home."
Previous and surviving OCC recipients would include Sir Shridath Ramphal, Sir Alister McIntyre, poet laureate Derek Walcott, and novelist and social commentator George Lamming.
Emphasising the need for the region's economic integration movement to introduce a new administrative structure for effective governance, Patterson sought to revive new interest in a core recommendation of the West Indian Commission of 1992 that had urged the establishment of a high-level Caricom Commission with executive authority.
"The greatest threat to the credibility of Caricom lies squarely in the failure to implement solemn declarations and decisions made at (Heads of Government) conference after conference," he warned.
"Mature regionalism will remain a pipe dream unless authority is vested in an executive mechanism which ids charged with full-time responsibility for ensuring the implementation, within a specified timeframe, of the critical decisions taken by Heads or other designated organs of the Community," he argued.
The Community leaders are expected to take a decision today on a new mechanism that could help in redeeming the 'credibility' of Caricom.