Mahogany CoConut Blog

One Caribbean Nation. Diaspora leaders: Come with a plan so we can help by Marlon Madden Yvette Clarke Political leaders in the Caribbean Diaspora have urged tourism officials in Barbados and the rest of the region to come up with a viable plan for post-COVID Caribbean tourism and development and approach them for assistance. While insisting that this must be done in a collective way, political leaders of Caribbean heritage told an online Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) forum on Wednesday that it was also imperative that the region explore other areas for development beyond tourism. New York Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, who is of Jamaican heritage, stressed that the region must build on existing relationships and agreements with more developed nations as it seeks to expand beyond tourism and attain “first world status”. She said: “I think that there has been a benign neglect of the region and I have my theories why that has been the case. However, we are facing new times and new d...

The Caribbean Is One Nation. Submitted by the Mahogany Coconut Group Throughout the Caribbean there have been calls for good governance. Unfortunately we continue to look to the political management class for the answer. We are afraid that seldom do the perpetrators of any wrongdoing seek to effect change to curb their transgressions. While we wait for the introduction of integrity legislation and other instruments, to deter improper behavior on the part of the political management class, we sink further into the cesspool that we are trying to escape. We firmly believe that the real engines for proper governance must be those who are governed. In other words, the citizens are the best weapon against corruption and graft. They are also the best engines for social and economic change and must be in the forefront demanding change. However, we often find that while the citizens criticize the political class and are vehement that it changes its ways, the citizens themselves are also...