by RICKEY SINGH

APPARENTLY INSPIRED by the spirit of that great elder statesman and one of the primary architects of the Caribbean Community, Errol Walton Barrow, on Errol Barrow Day a week ago yesterday, Prime Minister David Thompson was to reveal a rather expansive mood on matters of regional integration.

He even ventured as far as to suggest constitutional changes in CARICOM member states that would make it possible for nationals of one country to be eligible to hold political office in another.

Whether this would be by appointment (as senators?) or election on a party ticket is one of the questions that must await answers, when "talk" is translated into "policy" and "implementation" processes take shape.

Mr Thompson feels the time has come to do away with constitutional provisions that debar the national of a Caribbean state from serving as a parliamentarian in his/her own country because of having citizenship and the possession of passport of another country of the region.

As reported, the Prime Minister was being quite liberal in his political thinking, one may say. And perhaps it was merely coincidental that of Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit was among his special guests when he sent out his message for political service by Caribbean nationals without the restraint of geographical boundaries.

It just so happens that among five petitions filed in Dominica's High Court on January 8, following the outcome of that country's controversial general election last month, is one pertaining to Skerrit's own acknowledged French citizenship and holder of a passport of the Republic of France.

In a few CARICOM states, Jamaica for example, that had to contend with such a constitutional problem, by-elections had followed the relinquishing of dual citizenship and surrendering of passports by the politicians involved.

The Dominica court battles are expected to get under way in April. First comes a scheduled ceremonial opening of the country's parliament on February 4, an event the oppposition United Workers Party (UWP) has decided to boycott pending the outcome of the filed petitions.

Be that as it may, another quite interesting political idea generated by Prime Minister Thompson at that Errol Barrow Day event was his advocacy for "tapping" the "knowledge" of former political leaders who are still around, in the interest of Caribbean regionalism.

Well, a good place for the Thompson administration to start could be right at home by making use of, for instance, the recognised "knowledge" of former three-term Prime Minister Owen Arthur.

Good ideas need to be followed through and, therefore, we must await the Prime Minister's work agenda on some of those ideas he generously offered on Errol Barrow Day.