Caribbean News
CDB Addresses Food Import Bill
October 18, 2024
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has been actively working with regional and international agencies to assist with CARICOM’s 25 by 2025 initiative which seeks to reduce the region’s rising food import bill, improve intra-regional trade, and create wealth and economic opportunities for the members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
The recent pandemic and climatic events have impacted agricultural productivity with hurricane Beryl and others contributing to deepening social inequalities with Grenada, Jamaica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines suffering massive losses. In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the banana and plantain industries suffered losses of up to 98 percent, while Jamaica’s agriculture sector incurred USD 15.9 million in damages, affecting over 45,000 farmers.
Grenada saw 98 percent of its infrastructure on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique destroyed. These events have slowed progress towards the regional shared goal of reducing food imports by 25 percent by 2025. The new food security programme will, through a
series of projects ranging between EURO 400,00 – 570,000 for national projects and up to 670,000 will support agri-MSMEs and producers by providing access to finance, fostering innovation, and improving distribution systems to enhance competitiveness and resilience.
According to Felipe de La Mota of the EU, the project forms part of a larger envelope of funds to augment regional efforts by CARICOM and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to clear bottlenecks related to food security.
The EU’s global gateway has allocated EUR 19 million to the Caribbean for food production and resilience initiatives. Adding that “We are working together with our implementing partners and stakeholders’ colleagues, other institutions and governments… who know the region… to identify those sectors and bottlenecks that we can help unlock,” he said
Honing in on the need for partnerships, the CDB executive indicated that: “addressing food security at a regional level is crucial, as no single member state can solve these issues alone, particularly smaller islands with limited resources. Through CARICOM’s unified market and congruent national and regional policy implementation, we can ensure that food production, supply, and consumption are sustainable and that we move closer to food sovereignty,” encouraged stakeholders to work together to ensure no country is left behind.
Manager of agricultural health, food safety and quality programme at the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), a programme partner, Dr José Urdaz, who also spoke at the event emphasized the impact of global volatility on food and nutrition security.
He highlighted current upward trends in undernourishment and food insecurity in the region and the existing over reliance on food imports. Urdaz also stated that IICA will continue to partner with organisations to improve Caribbean food security focusing on ensuring that food traded is safe. This, he added, can be accommodated through strategic initiatives to reduce non-technical trade barriers, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and by implementing capacity building.
By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media
October 14, 2025 – It’s being called political theatre — but for citizens, constitutional watchdogs, and democracy advocates across the Caribbean, it feels far more serious. Within a single week, two national parliaments — in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis — descended into turmoil as opposition members stormed out in protest, accusing their Speakers of bias, overreach, and abuse of parliamentary procedure.
For observers, the walkouts signal a deeper problem: erosion of trust in the very institutions meant to safeguard democracy. When Speakers are viewed as political enforcers instead of neutral referees, parliaments stop functioning as chambers of debate and start performing as stages for power and spectacle — with citizens left wondering who, if anyone, is still accountable.
October 6: St. Kitts Parliament Erupts
The first walkout erupted in Basseterre on October 6, 2025, when Dr. Timothy Harris, former Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader,
led his team out of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly in a protest that stunned the chamber.
The flashpoint came as the Speaker moved to approve more than three years’ worth of unratified parliamentary minutes in one sitting — covering 27 meetings and three national budgets — without individual review or debate.
Dr. Harris called the move “a flagrant breach of the Constitution and parliamentary tradition,” warning that the practice undermines transparency and accountability. “No serious parliament can go years without approving a single set of minutes,” he said after exiting the chamber.
The Speaker defended the decision as administrative housekeeping, but critics were unconvinced, branding the move a “world record disgrace.” The opposition’s walkout triggered renewed calls for the Speaker’s resignation and sparked a wider public discussion about record-keeping, accountability, and respect for parliamentary norms in St. Kitts and Nevis.
October 10: Trinidad Opposition Follows Suit
Four days later, on October 10, 2025, the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad and Tobago staged its own walkout from the House of Representatives in Port of Spain.
The UNC accused the Speaker of partisan bias, claiming she had repeatedly blocked urgent questions, ignored points of order, and allowed government members to breach standing orders without consequence.
“The Speaker has failed in her duty to act impartially,” the Opposition declared in a statement. “Parliament is not the property of any political party or Presiding Officer.”
The dramatic exit was seen as a culmination of months of rising tension and frustration, with opposition MPs arguing that parliamentary rules were being selectively applied to silence dissenting voices.
Political analyst Dr. Marcia Ferdinand described the twin walkouts as “a warning sign that parliamentary democracy in the Caribbean is teetering on the edge of performative politics.”
“When chairs become political shields rather than constitutional referees,” she said, “democracy becomes theatre, not governance.”
A Pattern Emerging
While St. Kitts and Trinidad are very different political environments, both incidents point to the same regional fault line: the perception that Speakers — the guardians of parliamentary order — are no longer impartial.
In Westminster-style systems like those across the Caribbean, the Speaker’s authority depends not on power but on public confidence in fairness. Once that credibility erodes, parliamentary control collapses into confrontation.
Governance experts say the implications are serious: eroded trust between government and opposition, declining public confidence in state institutions, and growing voter cynicism that “rules” are flexible tools of political advantage.
Why It Matters
Parliamentary walkouts are not new in the Caribbean, but what makes these recent events different is their frequency and intensity — and
the regional echo they’ve created. Social media has amplified images of lawmakers storming out, with citizens from Barbados to Belize questioning whether the same erosion of decorum could be happening in their own legislatures.
Analysts warn that if this perception takes hold, it risks diminishing the moral authority of parliamentary democracy itself.
“Once opposition MPs believe the rules are rigged, and once citizens believe Parliament is just performance,” said one Caribbean governance researcher, “you’ve lost the most valuable currency in democracy — trust.”
Restoring Balance
Political reformers across the region are calling for tighter Standing Order enforcement, independent parliamentary service commissions, and training to strengthen Speaker neutrality. Civil society leaders say the public must also play its part by demanding transparency and refusing to normalize partisan manipulation of parliamentary procedure.
Whether these twin walkouts become catalysts for reform — or simply another episode of Caribbean political theatre — will depend on what happens next inside those chambers.
For now, democracy watchers agree on one thing: when opposition leaders feel the only way to be heard is to walk out, the entire democratic house — not just its Speaker — is in danger of collapse.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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