Consider that Four Seasons Resort brought here by the herculean efforts of the NRP- led Administration flung open its doors in 1991. NRP demitted office in 1992 some say as ironic punishment for bringing said development. The CCM came to office with the Four Seasons pot done cook: done curry: ready to eat. And eat they did without recognizing their mandate to not only keep the Four Seasons going but complement same by bringing another resort. In fourteen (14) hard wintry years the CCM led Administration milked the Four Seasons Resort to sustain itself in power. In time the hotel provided 1,000 direct jobs to say nothing of suppliers and independent contractors along with the multiplier effect of said employment on existing businesses in St.Kitts and Nevis. Four Seasons then for 14 years was allowed to be what I am calling in gambling terms: A ONE ARM ECONOMIC BANDIT wielding considerable and unconscionable power over the economy of a small fledgling island administration.

Under the CCM the Four Seasons enjoyed some halcyon days to the detriment of the good people of Nevis. They paid no corporate taxes and were given a further tax holiday up to 2016 by the CCM. Their villas were pegged for property taxes along with the hotel at a mere $50,000.00 per annum. Their villas were exempt from payment of the 10% alien landholding licence. They had duty-free on all food and supplies even toilet paper used at the hotel. What was frightening is the fact that the solicitor for the Four Seasons Resort was the self-same Legal Advisor and Chairman of the CCM led Administration. Boy that was a sweetheart of a deal. The good people of Nevis had no representative. The should-have =been representatives were all in the Four Seasons pocket. The CCM politiburo was feted, fed, frolicked at the Resort as they liked. This one arm economic bandit was allowed to roam and ride roughshod over the economic, social and political landscape of our island paradise. Many a student leaned early in his life even if he did not darken a school room the proverb with a warning "never put all your eggs in one basket". Not so big men in the CCM who allowed this one arm economic juggernaut to masquerade and dictate terms on Nevis. Nevisians remember the boulders placed on the beach at Pinneys along with the permission to dredge sand form a sandbank on Nevis. It was everything and anything for Four Seasons Resort. The two lawyers who acted for the developers and the owners were really big and are still so big in the CCM political party. Their pockets were lined to the detriment of the good people of Nevis.

It is not that the CCM were not warned about placing all economic eggs in one basket. 1999 some full seven years after they took office Hurricane Lenny gave Four Seasons a back-shot. The Resort lay forlorn for one full year. The workers were sent home with very little notice and pay. We saw firsthand that having one car to carry all the passengers was dangerous and risky. The people of Nevis were forewarned. The CCM should have been forearmed. They tried and all their efforts were worthy of a fluke. One was to have Nevisians vote for Secession in 1998 with the unveiling of a project to develop Pinneys by a group called Apollo. When next we heard the promoters were all in jail. This was always an economic way to mask a political hoax. It went up in flames. In 2004 when the accusation that the CCM had done nothing to bring a large employer to Nevis they contrived to give a group of poor, small boys called Newfound 600 acres of land the CCM had acquired at Pinneys for next to nothing touting a great Resort. The good people of Nevis saw through this crystal hoax and threw them out of office. Since then Newfound cannot and will never be found with a Resort in Nevis. The small boys have been made millionaires by selling their company and their debt. Newfound has changed hands with a frequency rivaling underclothes. All the king's horses and all the king's men seem unable to put Newfound to work for the people of Nevis again.

Enter NRP Administration in 2006. The Resort was full speed ahead. NRP successfully put an end to the property taxes at Four Seasons and Villas that was capped at a meager $50,000.00. Indeed all owners agreed to pay the property taxes at market rates of value. The NIA was bringing in millions from property taxes. The hotel was paying its share and its due. The Neroes consisting of operators, owners and their lawyers were blue vex. Here was the NRP interfering in this sweetheart deal where the owners were charging villa owners property taxes and restricting the good people of Nevis to a miserly sum. Unusual property profits were being made off the villa owners. NRP immediately set about to encourage another world class developer in Nevis. Indian Castle was selected and contracts were passed between developers and government. Mark you government owned the lands. I know. I was in the thick of things. I held meetings with a number of persons in the Hanley's Road area to clear the way for this world-class resort. Thanks to the great work of Premier Parry Nevis was on its way off the dependent syndrome that the CCM had crazy-glued us. There was geothermal, hotel, water, homework assistance, student studying abroad. You name it everything that was good was happening in Nevis. Nevis was reminiscent of France before the second world war when no less a person a person than Socrates could exultantly wish:"Oh to live like God in France".

There was however a number of factors lurking and eating away at this halcyon situation. The four Seasons Hotel was in a state of disrepair and apparently its owners were not paying its obligations to its bankers. The global economic crisis set it. To add insult to injury, neglect and international gangsterism Hurricane Omar visited in October 08 and damaged the hotel which was already in a state of disrepair. The Nevisian economy was in a tailspin. It subsisted for a while limping on the fact that the 1,000 workers were kept on for three (03) months. The villas were also being built. Since 08 there has been a number of political and economic stunts played on the good people of Nevis. Four Seasons has not served a Bryson since October 08. It has been down for two full seasons. Its suppliers, workers and independent contractors and the banks, government and people who depended so heavily on it for a living have been relegated in large measure to the WAKS factory.

You cannot blame the global economic crisis for staying closed for two (02) years when insurance money is there to provide for loss of business, repairs and replacement and even loss of profits. If indeed the loans were not being serviced even in good times you cannot blame the global economic crisis. If further a bank went to Court to foreclose on a property using the best legal brains in St.Kitts & Nevis at its disposal only to be told that something was wrong with the procedure and process then we are in a quagmire here in Nevis. If for two (02) long tormentful years the only economic mill on Nevis can be lying forlorn then in my humble opinion there is some conspiracy to cripple the good people of Nevis for reasons other than economic.

Presently we are in a quandary with three (03) politicians who are masquerading as lawyers or three (03) lawyers masquerading as politicians for the operators, owners and one of the financiers. I prefer to call them Gold (Dr. Goebbels), Frankincense (Frankenstein) and Myrrh. They form the heart and soul of CCM. One is a Candidate, the other is a Chairman and the other that bitter perfume is a Consultant. They have reasoned with some degree of merit that if the Four Seasons re-opening holds out for another year until October 2011 the NRP led administration will be broke and broken. They will not be able to start any new projects without the Four Seasons room tax and the spin-offs in the economy. The NRP will also be restricted in paying for the Commission of Inquiry that they so fear. Even if the inquiry goes on they can continue to say you see there now they have no money to hire people but they have the fictitious sum of $9M to pay Commissioner Sharpe and the legal team. Goebells, Frankenstein and Myrrh have decided to use their legal position to freeze the Nevis economy and spite the good people of Nevis for the sake of politics. . They have opined with some degree of merit that if the economy is bad the incumbent party will have to take the blame. They have said better the people of Nevis be without bread for another year and the Government change than the people of Nevis be full and they the CCM out of power. They have been emboldened by the federal elections and have said in a tough economy they will get the vote. IT IS THE VOTE THEY LOOKING NOT LOOKING AFTER THE PEOPLE OF NEVIS.

When confronted by their supporters regarding their lack of employment they have deduced that if they wait another year they may be able to scrape through because Nevisians are resilient. The Court will therefore be bombarded with petition and counter petition until 2011. Neroes and opposition politicians masquerading as lawyers will be fiddling while bare foot Bob, his woman and children burn with hanger, deprivation and starvation in Nevis. NRP will be vanquished and in the vanguard come these blind mice. Already the word has gone out that the Neroes do not wish to deal with the NRP. The NRP is a lame duck government rendered so by the Federal Elections and as such only CCM has the answers to the ills of Nevis. I understand why the Neroes do not wish to deal with the NRP. The NRP is not led by spineless jellyfish who will kowtow and be obsequious and subservient to the Neroes. The NRP does not wish to have a Four Seasons only resort on Nevis. There must be some other resort.

The Neroes though prefer the CCM. Goebells will be Premier/Minister of Tourism, Frankenstein and Myrrh will be Advisors and the heart will be sweeter than before. The owners will get a 50-year tax holiday and exclusive right to develop hotels on Nevis like the Medical University of the Americas and all will be well. CCM will then be able to boast that though the NRP close down Four Seasons it was they who revived and resurrected it. In addition they will have geothermal and wind energy at their backs as Nevis sail towards paradise. Boy oh! Boy what a day that will be when tourists, geothermal and wind energy knocking dog s in Queen City. CCM politicians will then be crown master of all we survey. The conspiracy is worth it. The hardship is worth it. Who survive, survive.

There is what we all call the gambler's dynamics. For all of its players and platitudes it may not work. The Four Seasons Resort/Nevis has almost lost its franchise and its mileage. In the world of sharks and whales everything is temporary and can be eaten at will. You cannot have anything closed for a while and have it revived overnight. The parable of the talents tells us that the harshest treatment is meted out to those who do nothing. Four Seasons/Nevis is now near extinction as a brand. The reason is simple: it has been closed for 24 four long, long interminable months. If it goes beyond 2010 it is déjà vu in terms of business and appeal. Nobody buys anything that has been closed for 2 years at current market prices. The Wall Street Journal in a recent article "Nervous in Nevis with hotel down" has detailed the woes the Four Seasons Resort is facing. It appears that there is no will among its investors and there may be none among its patrons either. Behold what a tangled web we weave when at first we set out to deceive. Here in Nevis lawyers are playing politics while their retainers being in excess of $30,000.00 a month while barefoot Bob, his muma and pickney suffering. I hear no clarion call that the hotel should be opened soon from the CCM. The only party that is out there ringing off its ears, mouth and energy for the good people of Nevis is the NRP. The opposition is licking its lips while it coops to see if the Nevisian economy can be crippled by it without it taking the blame. Some politics! Some smartness! Some patriotism?

Here is a call for an all parties' conference on the Four Seasons Resort. I want the Chamber of Commerce to lead it. There must be representation from the Federal Government, NIA, civic society, the Bar association, the Church and all else. The meeting should be called soon and held at the Four Seasons Resort. I need some hard answers to hard questions. I need to find some hard facts and figures. The Four Seasons is indeed a economic juggernaut. Too many decisions have been made or not made without adequate transparency. In the public interest we want to know. BRING ON THE TASK FORCE!