CARICOM and sport

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Inevitably, he got the job and became the first head of the CARICOM Sports Desk.
After a short while it became evident to all and sundry that Sobers could not do what was expected.
In fact the truth may well be that the CARICOM Heads, in their seeming anxiety to assist Sobers, never gave due consideration to the former cricketer’s background and training and therefore his suitability or otherwise for the job that they had created.
Thus Sobers did not last long at the position and nothing was really achieved.
One would be hard-pressed to find any country or institution at the national or regional level that can lay claim to having benefited from the CARICOM Sports Desk at the time that Sobers was at the helm.
After Sobers’ arrangement/employment with CARICOM ended, St Lucia’s Ishmael was appointed to head the CARICOM Sports Desk, a position for which the St Lucian administration at the time would have lobbied tremendously.
Unfortunately, the CARICOM Sports Desk was never really accorded the resources needed to establish itself as a truly regional institution of substance and so it eventually died a natural death.
CARICOM, probably ashamed of itself and its failure to accord sports a place in the overall scheme of things, opted to place sports under the ambit of the Council for Human and Social Development, COHSOD. The CARICOM website declares:
     1. The Council for Human and Social Development shall consist of Ministers designated by the Member States. Each Member State shall be entitled to designate alternates to represent it on COHSOD.
2. Subject to the provisions of Article 12 (Functions and Powers of the Conference) of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy , COHSOD shall be responsible for the promotion of human and social development in the Community. In particular, COHSOD shall:
 
(a) promote the improvement of health, including the development and organisation of efficient and affordable health services in the Community;
(b) promote the development of education through the efficient organisation of educational and training facilities in the Community, including elementary and advanced vocational training and technical facilities;
(c) promote and develop co-ordinated policies and programmes to improve the living and working conditions of workers and take appropriate measures to facilitate the organisation and development of harmonious labour and industrial relations in the Community;