In Jamaica, Cameron nixes reparations

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller (right) looks on as Chief of Defence Staff Major General Antony Anderson is introduced to British Prime Minister David Cameron (third right), by British High Commissioner to Jamaica, David Fitton (left).

Cameron’s commitment to contribute millions in funding for a new Jamaican prison and infrastructure development is misplaced, said Carr.

The UK Prime Minister said he hoped the Caribbean region could “move on” and help to eliminate modern slavery around the planet.

While being aware of “obvious sensitivities”, Miller indicted that “Jamaica is involved in a process under the auspices of the Caribbean Community, to engage the United Kingdom, on the matter”.

Cameron is coming to Jamaica against a background of statements by at least two British ministers who have made it clear that Britain has no intention of paying reparations to the Caribbean for the slave trade, despite the fact that it was one of the biggest players, and several firms, such as Barclays, that still have interests in the region have built their wealth on the blood of African slaves.

“While there is indeed much to celebrate about our past, it would be wrong to do so while ignoring the most painful aspects of it – a period which should never be forgotten, and from which history has drawn the bitterest of lessons“.

“Slavery was and is abhorrent in all its forms”.

Cameron said he would be ensuring Jamaica gets a few of the nine million USA dollars that Britain recently pledged for climate-change financing over the next five years.

Sir Hilary, a historian and Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI), said that the legacies of slavery “continue to derail, undermine and haunt our best efforts at sustainable economic development”.

However, he does not think slavery reparations are the answer.

Jamaica and Britain were involved in negotiations for years over the prisoner transfer agreement, which would allow Jamaicans imprisoned in Britain to return home to complete their sentences, and their sticking point had been the poor conditions of the existing prisons in Jamaica. But we do ask that you recall that the Caribbean region was once your nation’s unified field for taxation, theater for warfare and space for the implementation of trade law and policy.

He said the regional infrastructure fund, which will be delivered in collaboration with the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and would help support economic growth in the Caribbean. “Seeing the region as one is therefore in your diplomatic DNA and this we urge that you remember”, the letter said.

National Security Minister Peter Bunting has defended the Jamaican Government’s decision to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Britain on the offer.

Even if the Britain was willing to provide the full cost for the construction, the Jamaican government should still reject the proposal as the maintenance cost would still be exorbitant, the organization said.