By the Caribbean Journal staff

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves told the assembled Heads of Government this weekend that it was time for a new, permanent secretary-general of CARICOM to replace acting Secretary-General Lolita Applewhaite.

“On this there can be no further delay, no further temporising, no further provisional or ‘ad hoc’ leadership,” Gonsalves said. “We must know our times and what is good for the Caribbean.”

Gonsalves, one of the longest-serving heads of government in CARICOM, urged improvement on the issue of free movement of borders.

He said that at nearly every port of entry in the region, “we simply do not treat our CARICOM brothers and sisters as well as we should. In some cases, the treatment is wholly unacceptable.”

Gonsalves said, pointing to immigration officers at points of entry, “it is not beyond our civilised regimes to accommodate visitors in a manner which is not dehumanising, insulting, belittling or embarrassing.”

It was not clear whether Gonsalves was referring to an alleged incident involving a Jamaican national earlier this year at Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados.