Oloye Orawale Oranfe, of Egbe Onisin Eledumare, makes
a contribution to an attentive audience during the
question and answer segment at the Summit Action meeting
of all civil society sectors at the Daaga Auditorium,
University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus,
yesterday. Photo: Dilip Singh

Hazel Brown, co-ordinator of the Network of Non-Governmental Organisations for the Advancement of Women, says the Government is trying to control every aspect of the Summit preparation, in particular, setting the agenda for the Civil Society Forum.

Brown made this comment during a Summit action meeting of all civil society sectors held at the Daaga Auditorium, University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, yesterday. She said: “The most challenging aspect of the preparation of the Summit forum for us has been getting the National Secretariat, who are appointed by the Government and the Office of the Prime Minister, to recognise and value the contribution that civil society can make and that, to me, is one of the most important reasons why we are here today—because we have to find a way to make them understand.”

Brown said the were several challenges during the Summit process, such as changes in personnel within the Secretariat. She said: “As soon as you started getting accustomed to working with somebody about something, that person would be changed and so it kept going... in particular, their attempt to control every aspect of the preparation, including setting the agenda.” Brown was the third presenter at the meeting and spoke on the topic: Matters relating to the agenda and civil society management of and participation in the three civil society forums. She also made a call for the latest version of the declaration be released.

Brown said: “In previous Summits, we were able to see the draft the heads are coming to sign because, as you all know, the said heads are coming here to sign an agreement that has already been negotiated and agreed. “They are just going to sit down on Sunday and sign. But she said: “We want to see it. We want to know where it is and after all the efforts that have gone into making contributions to something, we need to see it and we need to say today that we want to see the declaration.” She said “one of the communications persons” said it would be ready on Friday but that was not good enough.