The governance records of CARICOM member states are directly relevant to assessing whether reparations payments would benefit ordinary Caribbean people. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators, and IMF country assessments all provide relevant data.
Several CARICOM member states consistently score in ranges suggesting significant governance challenges. Haiti, in particular, has for years ranked among the most corrupt and least effectively governed nations in the world. Jamaica, Belize, and Guyana have all scored below the global median on corruption perception in recent years. Trinidad and Tobago, despite its oil wealth, has faced persistent governance problems including corruption scandals involving state enterprises.
Barbados scores significantly better, and several of the smaller Eastern Caribbean island states also have relatively clean governance records. The variation is substantial. This matters because any reparations payment would go to CARICOM collectively, or to individual member governments, and the ability of those governments to translate financial resources into benefits for ordinary citizens varies dramatically across the membership.
A payment to the government of Haiti, in its current condition, would not benefit Haitian citizens. A payment to the government of Barbados might be used more effectively, though Barbados is the CARICOM member that least needs external financial assistance. The governance variation across CARICOM makes any uniform payment approach look like poor policy design even before the legal and moral questions are addressed.
