The Caribbean is creating many of its own biggest obstacles, according to Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholar Rahym Augustin-Joseph, who argues that outdated bureaucracy and unnecessary red tape are preventing CARICOM from delivering the regional integration it has promised for decades.
Speaking on The 1461 Podcast, the Saint Lucian scholar, who earned widespread praise for his keynote address at the Opening Ceremony of the 51st Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in Saint Lucia, challenged regional leaders to move beyond political rhetoric and embrace practical cooperation that delivers real benefits to Caribbean people.
“We’re maintaining systems that no longer serve us,” was the central message of his discussion, as he questioned why citizens and businesses continue to face unnecessary barriers despite decades of regional integration.
One of the clearest examples, he said, is the maze of administrative requirements Caribbean nationals encounter when travelling or conducting business across the region.
“For God’s sake, I can’t go to another country and I have to be able to then get a driver’s permit and then pay a whole set of money and then have a validation of a license to be able to drive a rental for one day or you have to be able to go across and you have to re-register your company in another country and then re-register it again in another country and then you have to be called to the bar 10 times. All these things are just figments of our imagination that we create because we want to maintain some traditional stamps… The stamps, it has to be a problem,” he said.
Augustin-Joseph argued that Caribbean governments must stop accepting inefficient systems simply because they have existed for generations.
“We have to challenge the idea that things must remain a certain way just because ‘that’s how it’s always been done.’ Ideas have to serve people and fix real problems,” he said.
While critical of the region’s bureaucracy, the Rhodes Scholar also outlined what he believes is a practical path forward. Rather than each CARICOM country attempting to build and fund the same institutions independently, he proposed the creation of specialised Centres of Excellence across member states, allowing countries to share resources and develop world-class capabilities in areas where they already excel.
He pointed to specialised healthcare and elite sports development as examples, suggesting that Jamaica’s internationally recognised track and field infrastructure could serve athletes from across the Caribbean instead of every country trying to duplicate similar facilities.
“We don’t need 15 different small countries trying to do every single thing on their own when we can pool our resources to build world-class regional hubs,” he said.
Addressing concerns that stronger regional integration could weaken national identity, Augustin-Joseph rejected that notion outright.
“You can be St. Lucian while still being a West Indian. These two things are not in conflict,” he said.
He warned that unless Caribbean governments confront institutional complacency and remove unnecessary barriers to movement, business and professional mobility, the region will continue to hold itself back from achieving the economic growth and opportunities that deeper integration promises.
