Can you hear a distant drum,
Bouncing on the laughter, of a melody?
And does the rhythm tell you come come come,
Does your spirt do a dance,
To this symphony?

Calypso Music,
David Michael Rudder

Dr. Gordon Rohlehr, respected academic, researcher and writer on calypso describes the artform “as a mirror that reflects, and as a lens that either magnifies or reduces the phenomena on which the nation’s restless and excitable psyche feeds.” Calypso emerged at a particular historical conjuncture in Trinidad and Tobago and was once considered by some to be the province only of those who belonged to a certain class. Today, due recognition and honour are accorded to an outstanding calypsonian whose music has delighted the hearts and uplifted the minds of untold millions across the world.

This living genius exploded onto the musical and social landscape of Trinidad and Tobago in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and over the decades it has become evident that his talent and impact have no limit. This master of the Artform is a proud son of Trinidad and Tobago and a giant of the Caribbean Community.

From the very first note, a Rudder song captures the soul and never lets it go. Mr. Rudder has given us the anthem that rallies West Indians near and far. He beseeched us to appreciate our neighbors and to empathize with them in their times of struggle. With his unique and timeless lyrics and melodies, he calls attention to the plight of the common man and conveys the power we wield when we ‘stand up and send a message.’ He strives continuously to elevate the Caribbean consciousness and gave us the key to living harmoniously in a multi-ethnic society – ‘let you be you, and I’ll be me’.

Mr. David Michael Rudder is the very definition of a cultural icon. A name synonymous with Caribbean pride: pride in the heritage, diversity and beauty of the peoples inhabiting these countries of our region.

Born on May 6, 1953, one of nine children, David Michael Rudder grew up in an area commonly known as Freetown in Belmont, Trinidad. His childhood seemed to map the influences that would guide his conscience and colour his music. He was baptised three times: as a Baptist by his grandmother, as an Anglican by his mother and as a Catholic in school and thus, he is amiably called Reverend David Rudder by many of his followers. He lived in close proximity to a pan yard and a Shango yard, elements that would be at the foundation of his work. Those vibrations gave us the sound that is distinctly his. Indeed, Belmont is the cradle from which many who excelled in the arts originated. Belmont was the incubator, the place where the commingling of diverse influences nurtured gifts that must be acknowledged as divine.

David Michael Rudder is the consummate creative – having interest and talent in visual arts such as painting and sculpture as well as in performing arts. He was an apprentice to the late Ken Morris, a master craftsman known for his copper work and exquisite Carnival designs.

David Michael Rudder’s musical trajectory can be traced back to his participation in singing competitions at school, where at the age of nine, he was already able to enthrall audiences, confirming, for those who were paying attention, that something great was in emergence. Eventually even those who were not paying attention would find themselves riveted, transported. At the age of eleven he sang with a group called The Solutions. In 1977 he joined the pioneering calypso band, Charlie’s Roots, originally as a temporary replacement for the great Christopher “Tambu” Herbert, but then he stayed on as a co-lead singer. In Charlie’s Roots, Mr. Rudder demonstrated his burgeoning talent in both composing songs and performing on stage.

While earning a living as an accounts clerk at the Public Transport Service Corporation, Mr. Rudder was a very good backup singer in the calypso tent run by Lord Kitchener who is rightfully revered as “the Grandmaster.” Mr. Rudder worked behind the scenes in calypso tents and studios, year after year, before his cataclysmic 1986. In that year, his album “The Hammer” smashed its way into the consciousness of our people. It gave timeless hits such as “The Hammer” and “Bahia Girl” and enabled him to be the very first artiste to capture the three major competition titles in the same year – Young King, Calypso Monarch and Road March King. One of his compositions was also used by the steel band that won the Panorama competition that year.

In the year 1992, Mr. Rudder was awarded the Trinidad and Tobago Humming Bird Silver Medal in recognition of his unfailing contribution to uplift the roots of Calypsonian culture. And in 1996, he was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Development Programme.

Through his music, Mr. Rudder has played a most significant role in exporting Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean to the wider world. He was also one of the pioneers of soca music, which is a prominent feature of carnivals within our region and far beyond. The band Charlie’s Roots accompanied Peter Minshall’s Carnival Band on Carnival Mondays and Tuesdays and Rudder’s music was essential to the unique performances of the masqueraders in those costumes. Mr. Rudder has also been featured in magazines, journals and features, such as the British Sunday Observer and Guardian, the Barbados Nation, the Jamaican Gleaner, Germany’s Berliner Morgenpost, the Los Angeles Times, Stern Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Billboard magazine, Class, Ebony Magazine, and Newsweek. He has performed in just about all of the historic venues across North America, Europe, and Japan. His repertoire even transcended the calypso stage into the film industry. He starred in a television drama entitled Sugar Cane Arrows, which was a pioneering Trinidad and Tobago drama aired in the United States of America. He also wrote songs for the Hollywood movie Wild Orchid.

Aside from winning prestigious awards and being featured in myriad shows and in the print media, David Michael Rudder has been studied by music critics and academics alike. In 2015, he was awarded a Doctor of Letters honoris causa by The University of the West Indies, for his outstanding works and contributions to society.

Mr. Rudder is an icon who poetically chronicled much of our region’s struggles, such as the problems arising from the World Trade Organization’s ruling against the concessions offered under the Lomé Convention; he also immortalized the West Indies cricket team, giving them an anthem.

David Michael Rudder was given the moniker “King David” by the Mighty Sparrow, a fitting connect to the biblical King David’s acclaim as the great musician.

David Michael Rudder’s, contribution has marked the people of the region. His life’s work is enduring and he continues to inspire the people of the Caribbean Community to see ourselves for who we are, and to reach for what we must become.

The early years of CARIFESTA were captured from the Newspaper clippings collection sourced from The National Library of Guyana.  The CARIFESTA collection currently covers information emanating from all the CARIFESTAs held to date.   The Collection is supplemented by contributions from the Directorate of Human and Social Development through its Culture desk which liaises with the various  Directors of Culture in the region and with the Secretariats of the Host Country.

The Collection includes consultants’ and country reports, articles extracted from  magazines, correspondence, press releases, information leaflets, presentations at  Symposia, programmes, various CARIFESTA themes; posters, photographs and  newspaper clippings.

Explore CARIFESTA through the years

His cross-national Caribbean identity is born out of Grenada, his birthplace, and Trinidad and Tobago, his homeland since the early age of two.

The Mighty Sparrow, in his 48 years as a singer of the uniquely Caribbean art form of Calypso, has delighted and entertained on various world stages winning numerous Calypso Monarch titles, and the King of Kings competitions both times he competed in 1985 and 1988.

His songs speak to the multifaceted dimensions of the Caribbean experience, its political culture, its history, its peoples way of life and struggles, satirising and even admonishing in its social commentary. His music has achieved worldwide recognition, touching on issues of international significance.

Sparrow’s colossal collection of recordings has earned him numerous awards and commendations from various Caribbean Governments, including the Chaconia Gold Medal for long and meritorious service, Trinidad and Tobago’s second highest honour, honours from several North American cities where he performed, and the conferral of the Honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of the West Indies.

This legendary and iconic Caribbean artiste soothes the Caribbean’s soul through his music and forged a Caribbean cultural identity worldwide through the excellence and profundity of his performances.

The career achievements of this loved son of the Caribbean soil are captured succinctly in this extract from the citation presented at the conferral of his OCC award. “Sparrow has been rebel, warrior, the aggressive life force beneath the very foundations of Caribbean society, pushing down walls, transgressing boundaries of race, colour, class and caste, defining freedom”.

Dr. Demas’ career spawned tenures as Secretary-General of CARICOM and President of the Caribbean Development Bank, Chancellor of the University of Guyana and Chairman of the CARICOM Inter-Governmental Ministerial Conference reviewing the function and structure of the University of the West Indies.

Within the international community, Dr. Demas was renowned for his brilliance and expertise as an Economist and Development Specialist for which he was elected to serve on several United Nations and Commonwealth Committees and Groupings.
A true and shining example of the excellence of the Caribbean, he was undoubtedly one of the most avid supporters and advocates of the Caribbean integration movement, charting its direction through his signal contributions to the regional economy and trade policy.

The name William Demas is synonymous with Caribbean development and regionalism, a fact borne out of his untiring service to the Community, not just in mapping the path of its evolution but setting the stage for its survival into the twenty-first century.

He is revered as one of Trinidad’s outstanding political leaders whose vision and dream was for the political emancipation of his people from the grips of colonialism and their social and economic well being. For this, ANR fought throughout his political career which evolved from his membership of the People’s National Movement, under which Trinidad and Tobago proclaimed political independence in 1962.

ANR was Deputy Political Leader, Minister of Finance, Minister of External Affairs under the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government. His political career encompassed participation as First Chairman of the Tobago House of Assembly, and on his return to politics in 1986, as Leader of the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR).

Victory at national elections secured for him the position of Prime Minister which he held until 1991. He continued to serve as a Member of Parliament and became President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in 1997.

His contribution to the Caribbean Region began with his involvement in the Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation as Parliament Representative for Tobago.

Since then, ANR has been a vocal supporter of the regional movement and has at various regional fora presented strong positions on the need for deepening the process of integration and for the greater involvement of the people of the Region in the movement.

Kamaluddin Mohammed, former Trinidad and Tobago cabinet minister and ambassador to CARICOM, is this year’s recipient of the region’s highest award, the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC).

The Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, at its 33rd Regular Meeting in Saint Lucia, conferred this honour for the decisive role Mohammed played in the’ Replanting of the Caribbean Vineyard.’

The OCC is awarded to Caribbean nationals whose legacy in the economic, political, social and cultural development of Caribbean society is considered phenomenal.

The Award was established at the Eighth Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government in 1987 and its first recipients were Trinidad and Tobago’s William Demas, Guyana’s Sir Shridath Ramphal and Saint Lucia’s Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott.

Mohammed’s political career has spanned 30 years, during which he has served as the head of various ministries, as well as in the capacity of acting prime minister in Trinidad. He is also the recipient of a Doctor of Letters honoris causa from the University of the West Indies (UWI) and his country’s highest award, the Order of Trinidad and Tobago.

In a citation read by Ambassador Colin Granderson, CARICOM Secretariat Assistant Secretary-General, Foreign and Community Relations Directorate, Mohammed was singled out for his contribution as Minister of West Indian Affairs, especially in relation to his contribution to the forging of Caribbean economic cooperation.

The Citation stated that his role in the early integration movement earned him the moniker’ Mr CARIFTA’ which was no misnomer, and given the Community’s trade and economic cooperation structures including the Single Market which have been built on the foundations that he played such a leading role in’ planting’, makes him most deserving of the Community’s highest accolade’

Mohammed is now entitled to affix the letters OCC behind his name. He also received an 18 carat medallion and a miniature version of the CARICOM insignia in the form of a lapel pin. He joins the ranks of 24 other Caribbean stalwarts.

Described as “economist, politician, publicist, political commentator, philosopher and ‘doctor of doctor politics'”, Lloyd Best developed an intimate relationship with the University of the West Indies, beginning his illustrious multifaceted career as a Junior Research Fellow in 1958 at the Institute of Social and Economic Research of the UWI in Jamaica.

This relationship solidified with his tenure at the St. Augustine Campus as a Lecturer in Economics.

Known for his radical non conventional philosophies, Lloyd Best was not the passive participant in the Region’s status quo, daring to disagree and advance cogent alternative viewpoints about the political, economic and intellectual realities of Caribbean society. This earned him the title “doctor politics” which by no means captures the brilliance, tenacity and fertile intellect of a great West Indian social philosopher and thinker.

Lloyd Best, in the 1960s, co-founded the New World Group of independent thinkers who theorised and philosophised about the economic, social and political systems of their time.

This intellectual giant of the Caribbean stimulated a rethinking of accepted models and practices in institutions of politics and economics and development as a whole, giving direction to the principles that support the establishment and continuity of the Caribbean integration movement.

He is said to have “bestrode the regional intellectual world like a colossus” and it was for his contribution to the Region’s intellectual advancement that he was deservedly inducted into the membership of the prestigious OCC.

Ms. Patrick’s early passion for social work and the social development of individuals inspired her pursuit of tertiary education which spanned the West Indies, Europe and North America. She attended the UWI in its formative years as the University College of the West Indies, in Mona, Jamaica and subsequently proceeded to the University of Bristol and

Wales in the United Kingdom. These institutions provided the opportunity for her to receive professional training in Social Work, Child Care and Social Development, Policy and Planning. Being raised in a family which valued education and which espoused personal achievement, Ms. Patrick broadened her university experience to include Columbia University and Pace University in the United States from which she graduated with a B.A and MBA in Professional Studies respectively.

Her participation in the first World Conference on Women held in Mexico in 1975 provided the stimulus for a life dedicated to public service and advancing the social and economic development of women. Working for and with the mentally challenged was an immense source of satisfaction and joy for her, translating into an unprecedented commitment to serving their interest and maintaining their placement in the public and regional agenda. She served as President of the Caribbean Mental Retardation Association. The Caribbean Women’s Association (CARIWA) owes its existence to the pioneering work of Nesta Patrick and her fellow co-founders. Retirement is no deterrent to her loyalty and dedication to the condition of women and children. She still contributes her time and experience at the Rape Crisis Centre in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and working with youth.

Nesta Patrick is a true model of excellence and inspiration for all Caribbean women. Her outstanding career and lifetime achievements merited several honours and awards including the Government of Trinidad and Tobago National Award Public Service Medal of Merit for Community Service bestowed on her in 1979; the Caribbean Award for Mental Retardation in 1978 and the Award for Community Service by the Business and Professional Women’s Club in 1992.

Nesta Patrick’s dream is the attainment of a more even gender balance in society and she admonishes the region’s “educated progressive men and women” to become involved and committed in order to create a gender balance that is lacking in our society.

Attaining a Doctorate in Applied Sociology in 1984 at the University of Amsterdam, she served as a Research Fellow and Associate Lecturer at the Institute of Social Studies at The Hague before returning to the Region in 1985, where she was appointed Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine.

Professor Reddock has distinguished herself as an academic, administrator, and international consultant, who has dedicated her scholarship and teaching to women and development in the Caribbean Community and has been unstinting in her promotion of Gender and Development Studies as an important discipline in its own right. The pursuit of this cause has been arduous and she has been assiduous in her advocacy in support of the development of regional programmes in Women and Development Studies.

Professor Reddock’s advocacy in this area emerged at the Institute of Development Studies at the Hague in the early 1980s where she was instrumental in the development of the Master’s Degree specialisation in Women and Development which, at that time, was one of the first of its kind in the world. She later championed the cause in the Caribbean Community where she played a major role in the conceptualisation and introduction of Women and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies. This effort contributed significantly to the establishment in 1993 of a Centre for Gender and Development Studies. Professor Reddock’s professional, academic and administrative expertise were rewarded in 1994 when she was appointed the first Head of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies at the St. Augustine Campus.

As a leading authority on development issues especially as it impacts on women, she has authored numerous publications and is best known for her work ‘Women, Labour and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago: a History’ which has been named by Choice Magazine as the Best Academic Book for the year in which it was published. This book and her other publications on Women’s History have gained regional and international recognition and acclaim.

Professor Reddock has served and continues to serve with distinction in numerous international, regional and national Organisations, such as, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food of Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the Commonwealth Secretariat, the European Union, Stitching HIVOS, the Inter-American Co-operation in Agriculture (IICA), the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and academic institutions throughout the world.

Professor Reddock’s involvement in CARICOM’s preparation of the Fourth World Conference on Women contributed, in significant measure, to the highly acclaimed success of the Region’s efforts in this area.

In paying tribute to the outstanding contribution of this year’s awardee, one must refer to the fact that Professor Reddock has been an inspiration and mentor to the younger generation of Caribbean feminists.

In espousing the cause of women and development, she has pursued this interest with rigorous scholarship and so distinguished herself that in 2001 she was presented with the University of the West Indies’ Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Administration, Research and Public Service.

Salutations,… I present, Professor Rhoda Reddock, Awardee of the Seventh CARICOM Triennial Award for Women.

Of particular importance to the Caribbean Community was the fact that changes in the scope and speed of the financial world and the phenomenal expansion of trade were occurring at unprecedented rates. The Community seemed in danger of potential marginalisation. In fact, the then Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. A. N. R. Robinson warned of the Caribbean becoming “backwater” of global events.

The Caribbean Community was therefore constrained to examine the relevance of its institutions and the particular structures and strategies which were necessary for adjustment and survival. In 1989, therefore, at the 10th Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community in Grand Anse, Grenada, the leaders of the Caribbean Community recognised that not only was the Community in need of institutional and structural reform but also decisions had to be made to bring it in line with global economic and political developments. More particularly, the West Indian Commission was appointed to look into the ways in which the Community could be strengthened and reformed to accommodate the rapid and fundamental changes which were occurring at the time.

At the Regional level, important developments were also occurring. The Region was celebrating the Centennial of Columbus’ Arrival. And these celebrations helped to dramatise the need for the Community to project its unique cultural values and channel the consciousness of the people into areas and programmes which could lift the profile of the Community and its peoples. Dr. Carrington’s tenure therefore coincided with major global and Regional developments.

The West Indian Commission which were to recommend major institutional and structural changes, that would ensure that the Community could participate in a dynamic globalised economy. This was not all. At the century’s end, the scourge of AIDS and the problem of terrorism have raised their dreaded heads.

These were the challenges which confronted Dr. Carrington when he assumed the position of Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community. But an examination of his academic and professional experience would indicate that he would be adequate to them. He had acquired the intellectual competence, managerial strengths and experience which stood him in good stead as he took up that position. Four factors are important in considering what aptitudes

Dr. Carrington brought to the position of Secretary-General: firstly, he had had a long association with a number of intellectuals who had studied West Indian economic development and Caribbean integration; secondly, he had acquired valuable experience as the Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Secretariat, where he had responsibility for managing that tri-Regional body, and mobilising resources for it; thirdly, he had previously served as a technician in the CARICOM Secretariat; and fourthly, he had studied the experience of Europe seeking to intensify and deepen its own integration.

Dr. Carrington’s period of study at the University of the West Indies was also to influence his outlook on the Region. The University experience enabled him to understand that the Caribbean people are one. He said he had “gone to the University of the West Indies as a national of Trinidad and Tobago and came back as a West Indian.”31

Spending sixteen years in Guyana, the Headquarters of the Caribbean Community, is also an important consideration. What must also be mentioned is the influence and encouragement that Dr. Carrington received from those two great Integrationists, Mr. William Gilbert Demas and Sir Alister Meredith McIntyre: “I have always said to people that Mr. Demas and to a certain measure Sir Alister McIntyre grounded me in Regional Public Service and against that background I would claim probably to have had the best teachers.”32 Then there is the guidance and mentorship of Professor Kari Levitt, the brilliant economist, who ” taught me at McGill and taught me a very important lesson – how to translate academia to practical operations.”33

As the tenure of Dr. Carrington began, a number of important institutions were recommended by the West Indian Commission in its Report and subsequently ratified by some of the Heads of Government: the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians (ACCP), the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and the Charter of Civil Society. The most important of these new institutions are the CSME and the CCJ. The latter was integral to the successful functioning of the CSME.

These institutions were not only intended to facilitate greater participation of the people of the Region in the Integration process but also to enable it to cope with the requirements of a global economy and major Regional economic developments. During his tenure he has been successful at bringing those instruments on stream, even though he has expressed dissatisfaction at the pace of implementation.

Dr. Carrington has stated that given the changes and adjustments required, the institutional restructuring mandated by the Heads was a matter of singular importance to the long-term viability of the Community. There is need for continuous adjustment to meet the changing times in both political and institutional terms: “CARICOM needs to be flexible and nimble and cannot rely on structures which have remained virtually unchanged for over 20 years.”34

This restructuring of the Community also helped the Secretary-General to carry out his functions. In addition, some Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community and those involved in the advancement of the integration process have tendered valuable advice in relation to the restructure and other activities of the Community. In this regard, Dr. Carrington singled out the advice and help of such people as Sir Shridath Ramphal and Sir Alister McIntyre.35

The leaders of the Community had been constrained to identify implementation as its “Achilles heel”. The question therefore was how quickly and effectively the identified new structures of the Community could be made to come on stream. It would be Dr. Carrington’s responsibility, among other things, to ensure that these institutions became functional. He would apply himself to this task.

The pace of implementation in relation to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) would be a source of concern. Dr. Carrington was to state the following in an interview: “When you take decisions and there seems to be too long a gap between the decision taken and the decision to implement it, you are courting trouble”.36

In the same interview, he also expressed similar concern about the pace of implementation of the CSME and the ACCP, which should have gone beyond a few meetings: “there should have been more lively debates about various aspects of the work and activities of the Community. The ACCP is a forum for members of Parliament of Member States, invariably many of them backbenchers, to give them a chance to discuss ideas more freely …”37

The completion of the CSME is not only important in economic terms but it needs to be “up and running …” (to) “give us a platform from which to negotiate a lot of the elements of the Free Trade of the Americas.”38 The question of a structure to propel the Community forward at this stage of its development recurs as a theme and a source of concern to several of the Secretaries-General interviewed or who have so expressed themselves in the public domain.

It may also be appropriate to point out that at this time of writing, the Community is once again revisiting the proposal of the West Indian Commission to oversee the implementation of decisions taken by the Heads of Governments. Reports suggest that this will be the subject of concentrated discussion and consideration at the forthcoming 24th Conference of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community.

But Dr. Carrington, in common with other Secretaries-General, felt that whatever institutions are created, or whatever sweeping economic changes were to be made, the fact remains that the Caribbean Community could only make effective and substantive progress if it was centred on the people of the Region.

Indeed, in his address to the 14th Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community held in Nassau, The Bahamas in 1993, he put the matter squarely: “A community, no matter how well structured, however, will not be able to respond adequately to the aspirations of its peoples – certainly not the West Indian people – if it does not cater for their active and fulsome involvement.”

The implementation of the Charter of Civil Society and the Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians (ACCP) were issues, which Dr. Carrington sought to implement as soon as possible. A people-centred Community is such an essential factor in the building of an integration process relevant to the demands and requirements of the 21st century that most observers believe that the Caribbean leaders must act with despatch and urgency to ensure mechanisms are in place to accommodate the knowledge and wisdom of the Caribbean people. The Caribbean people will have to play the necessary role in addressing the economic problems already identified and assisting in the process of building and strengthening the new structures identified by the leaders of the Community.

Modern economic developments is characterised by market forces. The Private Sector therefore has a special and particular role to play. One of the challenges that Secretary-General Carrington sees in the future for the Caribbean Community is to get greater commitment and support from the Private Sector of the Region. He does not believe that the Private Sector takes full advantage of the opportunities offered by the integration process.

Unlike the role of the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC) in relation to CARIFTA, the current private sector is not playing as significant a role as it should. Dr. Carrington sees the need for the Regional private sector to transform itself, so that it could take advantage of the various agreements which the Community has signed with a number of major Latin American countries. The need for the private sector to achieve a more dynamic role in the integration process especially during the current dispensation, also found resonance with a former Secretary-General, who believes that it must seek to exploit the possibilities offered by globalisation and to take advantage of technological advancement.39

Dr. Carrington is also an advocate of the potential of cross-border investment to the wider Caribbean Basin in the context of the widening of the Community. In this regard, it must be stated that the widening of the Community has been marked during Dr. Carrington’s tenure. Apart from the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), the Community has strong political and economic lines with Central America. Also, the Community’s relationship with the USA is now conducted in a mutually accepted framework.

There was emphasis too on the necessity for the Regional press to be bolder in promoting the ideas behind the integration movement and ensuring that the Caribbean people understand the dynamics of modern economic developments, the difficulties faced by the Community and the new structural and other changes which have occurred and are occurring. Resources invested in public relations and other media related activities have not yielded the expected returns. This was unfortunate, as it was absolutely necessary to get information to the people about the integration process so that they could understand precisely what is being done to better their lives.

Two other factors of importance to Dr. Carrington need to be mentioned. He is a proponent of the view that women should be allowed to realise their full potential and be involved in the developmental process. It is no accident therefore that the first female Deputy Secretary-General, Dr. Carla Barnett, should have been appointed during his tenure. Cricket too has won his attention. Cricket as an institution has been given emphasis during his administration.

Dr. Carrington has given a relatively full account of the difficulties which confront the Secretary-General in the execution of his duties.40 He has to take account of the sensitive national points of view of fifteen Member States in making any decision or seeking an adjustment to any such decision.

The Secretary-General is also under constant pressure as he is confronted by a myriad of problems relative to the work and activities of the Secretariat and developments within the Member States of the Community. But Dr. Carrington has adverted to the fact that he has been able to rely on the trusted and capable corps of officers within the Secretariat. His style of management is participative.

Dr. Carrington is also an individual, like most of his predecessors, of broad interests. Reference has already been made to his interest in cricket. He is also passionately interested in the music and culture of the Region. Dr. Carrington finds stimulation and purpose in the musical and cultural expressions of the Region.

A deep humanitarian concern has pervaded his reflections on the effects of scourge of AIDS on the societies of the Caribbean Community, particularly its young people. The final thing to be said is that Dr. Carrington is fully aware that this would be a period of implementation in order to make the Community dynamic, functional and effective.