Manning: I was not ‘blanked’

Prime Minister Patrick Manning says he was not "blanked" by Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow, who said their countries were not interested in the proposed political union between Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries.

They did so as Manning met with Golding and Barrow in Jamaica and Belize respectively, when he visited those countries on Monday, as part of a two-day trip which saw him visiting the Bahamas and Suriname, to discuss the proposed political union.

"Nobody blanked Manning or any such thing. We never asked anybody to sign anything you know..." Manning said during his first news conference at the new Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair Wednesday, where he sought to address what he said was "misinformation" in the media about his trip.

Manning said he did not conduct negotiations with any of the heads of government he met with to sign the Memorandum of Understanding he signed with Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia on August 14, for the establishment of an economic union by 2011 and a political union by 2013.

"We are putting together a coalition of the willing. It is those who are willing to go in this direction who will come to the table," Manning said.

And although Manning said no decision has been taken on the exact form the political union would take, he noted the options available were a unitary state, a federation, a confederation, or a commission similar to the European Union "that pools some elements of the sovereignties of the states."

As for the calls from the Opposition for a referendum on the issue, Manning said the people will be able to express their support for or against the initiative in the next general election due in 2012, which is one year before the 2013 start-up deadline for the proposed political union.

Manning said the proposed union "is not going to be a movement of leaders" but "has to be a movement of the people."

"The word ‘referendum’ has a technical and legal connotation. I chose not to use it. If we consult the people in a general election and this is made an election matter, then if we win the elections, we have the endorsement of the public. That’s how it works," Manning said.

On Monday, Golding told Manning of his administration’s concerns that the implications of the proposed political union on Caricom and the OECS needs to be carefully examined.

Wednesday, Manning said Golding’s position on the matter was not unexpected, given Jamaica’s decision to pull out of the West Indies Federation after that country held a referendum on the union in 1961.

"And at that time, the Jamaican population spoke and the Jamaican government formulated a position that has not changed," Manning said.

As for Barrow, Manning said while he made it clear Belize was holding off any decision to participate in the proposed political union, the government there had not been aware that talks on the initiative had progressed to its existing stage.

(Trinidad Express)