The country can, once more. exhale...Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and all of the expenses and the "hype" associated with it closed with a grand finale. Visitors boarded their planes and returned to their countries, maybe after paying courtesy calls on their way home. Hoteliers are preparing for Christmas; maxi taxis are, once again, plying their trade uninhibited by traffic restrictions; the vendors are clamouring for places on the pavements, and the politics of the country continues to take its usual twists and turns. It is the country that never "sleeps"... CHOGM was merely an "interruption."
To the uninformed, CHOGM, or the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, means little more than a meeting of a number of heads of government across the world. CHOGM, though, is actually a biennial summit meeting of heads of government from all Commonwealth nations. Every two years, the meeting is held in a different member state and is chaired by that nation's respective Prime Minister or President. The first meeting was held in 1971, and in 2007 the one before ours was held in Uganda.
CHOGM, though, is part of a long history of these kinds of meetings. Internet accounts reveal that in 1887 the First Colonial Conference was held, and this was followed by Imperial Conferences from 1911 of government leaders of the Empire. From the ashes of the Second World War, 17 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conferences were held between 1944 and 1969. With continuing decolonisation, there was an increasing demand for the reformulation of the meetings. One such change was the venue for the meeting. No longer were such meetings held in London, but it was rotated across the membership, subject to the host country's ability to host the meetings.
It is noted that the core of CHOGM are the executive sessions, which are the formal gatherings of the heads of government to do business. It has also been suggested that CHOGMs are the highest institution of action in the Commonwealth, and are rare occasions on which Commonwealth leaders all come together. Some sources also indicate that CHOGMs have been the venues of many of the Commonwealth's most dramatic events. On one occasion–1995–Nigeria's execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others led to that country's suspension, while in 2003, Robert Mugabe announced Zimbabwe's immediate withdrawal from the Commonwealth.
But apart from the satire, such as quotes from the Australian Press stating that CHOGM stood for "Coons holidaying on government money" (see Carol Thatcher, 1996, "Below the Parapet-the Biography of Denis Thatcher" Harper Collins), or according to one of Lady Thatcher's former aides and as broadcast in the 1994 PBS video, The Windsors: A Royal Family, CHOGM stood for "Compulsory Handouts to Greedy Mendicants." CHOGMs also have been famous for raising contentious issues affecting countries, or focused on specific issues relating to member nations. CHOGMs, for instance, have discussed the continuation of apartheid rule in South Africa and how to end it, military coups in Pakistan and Fiji, and the allegations of electoral fraud in Zimbabwe.
At the summit in Kampala, heads of governments endorsed a report that updated the rules for countries wanting to join the Commonwealth. This year, the issue of climate change and its impact took the spotlight. The continuing relevance of CHOGM, however, is being questioned. Apart from the cost of hosting such meetings (in the case of Uganda the cost was estimated to be well over SHS 380 billion or US5.10 billion, while in Trinidad it is estimated to be $235 million, a cost payable by taxpayers), there are considerations as well. The economic expert suggests, for instance, that because of the expansion in the number of Commonwealth countries, the links between these countries have declined.
The large number of countries participating also results in the lack on any political consensus. One fear, too, that has emerged is the issue that the Commonwealth's agenda has been monopolised by the African states. The challenge, though, for CHOGM is more than this. There is no doubt that the meeting of Heads of Governments from the countries of the Commonwealth is a good thing. Such meetings should allow for the raising of issues that are applicable to countries and, perhaps, countries could arrive at common solutions. Trade ministers and foreign ministers, if they are diplomatic enough, should also seek out possible ways of getting the necessary linkages within the forum.
No doubt, there are trade and economic benefits to be derived, if the diplomats are capable of using the opportunity. The problem, though, is although the meeting may be well-meaning, the decisions taken may not actually be implemented at the country level. Each country, as any first-year student would know, has a number of pressures or forces which direct the decision-making process within that country. External forces include lending agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, who dictate to a large extent the economic policies undertaken by a country, especially if these countries have borrowed or are about to seek funding from these agencies.
Within the country, as well, there would be other internal dynamics, such as the political or economic agenda of that country. Thus, what has been found in many instances, such as decisions taken with respect to money-laundering, drug trafficking, human rights, etc, is that in many cases decisions are taken, but are not implemented. In short, it amounts to a trade off–governments agree to agree, but not agree to implement. It is hoped, then, that the CHOGM in Port-of-Spain will agree to agree, as well as to implement the decisions taken. After CHOGM, civil society should hold their meeting and insist that decisions are implemented.