Minister On Caricom Public Consultation
The public consultation on the Green Paper on Caricom membership closes on Sunday [May 31], Minister of Home Affairs Alexa Lightbourne said, adding that at the close of this consultation phase, the Ministry will review all feedback received and “then prepare a White Paper that sets the Government’s settled position.”
Speaking in the House of Assembly today [May 29] the Minister said, “I rise today to report to this Honourable House on the public consultation the Ministry of Home Affairs has conducted on the transition from Associate to full Membership in CARICOM. That consultation opened earlier this year with the tabling of the Green Paper, The Story of US, and the launch of the public campaign.
“The public consultation on the Green Paper closes on Sunday, 31 May 2026. Until that date, members of the public may review the Green Paper, complete the survey, and submit feedback through the dedicated portal at togetherforcaricom.gov.bm. Every submission received will be reviewed by the Ministry.
“Should this step advance, the decision does not rest with Bermuda alone. Each Member State of the Caribbean Community will need to accept Bermuda’s application. That is the standard accession path under the Treaty, and the Ministry has engaged regional counterparts in that spirit.
“At the close of this consultation phase, the Ministry will review all feedback received: from the public, from stakeholders, from the Legal Affairs Committee, and from the United Kingdom. The Ministry will then prepare a White Paper that sets the Government’s settled position. That White Paper will incorporate the consultation feedback and the legal review of the forty-two Treaty reservations identified for Bermuda’s specific constitutional circumstances. Final terms remain subject to negotiation with the CARICOM Secretariat, to the agreement of all full members of the Community, and to the agreement of the United Kingdom under existing entrustment arrangements. The White Paper will be tabled in this Honourable House for the consideration of every Member.
“Some have asked why the Government pursues a regional position while families face the cost of living at home. The answer is that the Government does both. Investment continues in healthcare, in affordable housing, in education, in social protections, in infrastructure, in cost-of-living relief, and in job creation, through the Ministry of Finance and the annual Budget. The regional engagement runs alongside that domestic delivery. It does not compete with it. Responsible governance carries both at once.
“We will continue to receive feedback on togetherforcaricom.gov.bm and invite members of the public to submit their feedback before the survey ends on May 31st.”
Update: For the full statement, you can access the written version provided by the official Parliament website here [PDF] or listen to it via the Government media. The text above was extracted from the statement released by the official Parliament website.
Minister has made it very clear that neither she nor the government are prepared or willing to listen to any concerns the public has on this matter.
This whole statement read and had the tone more akin to a petulant tantrum about not getting praise and flowers, despite this being something the public has not wanted or asked for.
Instead, we got this irrelevant question of full CARICOM membership thrust upon us by a government that believes shoving this down everyone’s throat without providing neutral pros and cons of the decision is prudent decision-making and governance. News flash – it ain’t!
No Caricom before referendum!
We are a democracy, we are not David Burt’s plaything!
First of all, how much was someone paid to put together the fancy platform and the survey?
Will the results of the survey be made public? Of course not. So there’s nothing to stop the Government from saying that ‘everyone who responded was overwhelmingly in favour’.
If this was an OBA initiative, you can bet there would have been people in the meetings drowning out the speakers by shouting ‘No, no, no!!’.
Oh you can be sure that Alaska Hall did NOT pay for the pro Caricom effort. We, the taxpayers are paying for it. So much for the PLP “listening” to the public, being “accountable”, practicing “fairness” and “operating in the sunshine of public scrutiny”, plus all of the other buzz phrases that they like to use which in practice mean nothing at all.
How many days/weeks of civil servants time was used in endless meetings putting this slick campaign together? Did they not have something more important to do, something beneficial to the people of Bermuda right now?
That Green Paper should be called Three-Ply.
The PLP Government portal says it all, “togetherforcaricom.gov.bm”
The PLP Government has spent millions on Caricom expenses and the glitzy sales effort. All with nothing to show for it.
How many dilapidated Government owned residential properties could have been renovated and restored to use for low income families for the money spent on Caricom?
These low income families must agree. They repeatedly vote for the party that keeps them struggling for accommodation while the party elite warms airplane seats headed south on public money.
The people do not want this. If this comes to a vote in the house, choose to represent the people.
When it comes to a vote in the House the Whip will be out. Will any of the cowardly backbenchers defy the Whip? Highly unlikely. They are there to do as they are told.
The views of the voters who put them there count for nothing. It is party first.