By CMC NEWS From Caribbean National Weekly

Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to the Organisation American States (OAS), Sir Ronald Sanders, says a financial situation is forcing the hemispheric body to be unable to conduct “a mountain of mandates” as well as face an exodus of staff “seeking better security elsewhere.”

Sir Ronald, addressing the 52nd Regular Session of the OAS General Assembly said the hemispheric body “is financially broke.

“We are trying to run an organization that costs US$118 million on an unrealistic budget of US$81 million. The result is that the secretariat of the organization is unable to conduct a mountain of mandates from a hill of meagre financial resources.

“Sadly, because of this, the staff of the organization live in uncertainty. Many are seeking better security elsewhere, and there is an exodus of talent, as skilled people flee to seek refuge in destinations with better prospects. “

The Antigua and Barbuda diplomat said it is little wonder “that the peoples of our countries do not see the benefits of the OAS and, therefore, place little or no value in it.

“Member states with the financial capacity to pay, withhold their due contributions, and others seek incentives to pay on time what they agreed to pay, and have an obligation to meet,” he said, adding that the OAS is still booking as receivable income, contributions from countries that have severed their ties from it, in fictional transactions that claim these monies, running into tens of millions of dollars, are somehow payable.

“If the OAS was a public company, its auditors would have declared it bankrupt. The organization is also structurally broken. The OAS is hardly known by the people of our states. And, collectively, we do not seem to know if we are an organization of 35 states or of 34. “

Sir Ronald said the OAS has a Charter and rules of procedure that were produced in the days before cellular phones and the internet, before the world became a neighborhood, and before interconnectivity between nations occurs in a fraction of a second.

“Yet its ancient Charter and rules of procedure have remained the guide of an organization, operating in the modern world with unprecedented challenges. The result is that the organization moves at the slow crawl of a turtle when it should be moving at the pace of Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, responsive to the needs of people at every level.

“That is why a general assembly can impose a violation of the Charter by 19 votes including a disputed representative but cannot change it by 19 votes of fully qualified and accredited representatives as happened” on Thursday he said.

He said the OAS has an obligation to respond to the needs of its people because its member governments have promised to do so.

CMC/

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