Across North America, it is beastly cold. It is the dead of winter, the time of the year when thousands of visitors seek an escape from the bitter cold for a brief respite on our little island that has come to be known as Paradise. This is the way we earn a living. This is the means by which we keep a roof over our heads, and provide food and clothing for our families.
Our flagship Four Seasons Resort, ranked Number 6 among the Top-ten resorts in the Caribbean is bully booked for the season. There are great expectations that the outstanding performance of the tourism sector in 2006 and 2007 would be surpassed in 2008. Now we learn that the American Eagle, the primary mode of air travel to Nevis, is not flying to Nevis. And, the stated reason — the failure of a cash-strapped Ministry of National Security in Basseterre, to find a few hundred dollars in its $4 million fire and rescue services budget to repair the transmission of the fire truck in Nevis. It is crying shame.
The Central Government of Basseterre did not elect to cut any of its 101 budgeted fire and paramedic staff positions on the other side of the Narrows. Nor, did it elect to ground any of its own fire trucks that are allocated to the airport in Basseterre and various other jurisdictions in St. Kitts. Instead, in an open declaration of war on the hopes dreams and aspirations of the People of Nevis, the Labour Government of Basseterre went all the way back to 1957. They resurrected a 50-year old decree issued from the steps of Warner Park by the late Honourable Robert Llewelwyn Bradshaw that called for a steady diet of Bones in Their Rice and Pepper in their Soup (BIRPIS) for the People of Nevis. And, by so doing, the Government of Basseterre dealt a crippling blow to our delivery of tourism services at the peak of the tourism season.
To his credit our newly-elected Honourable Premier has pushed all the right buttons in seeking a better deal with St. Kitts for the people of Nevis. But, at every turn, his overtures have been utterly rebuffed by a heartless and uncaring Central Government.
On August 11, 2006, many of us were ecstatic when we learned that our Prime Minister had, at long last, given consent for a federal loan guarantee for completion of the Main Road project. With this guarantee in hand our Premier would be able to secure a deeply discounted low-interest loan from the World Bank in the neighbourhood of 3 to 5 percent, with a five year grace period. This loan is estimated to reduce the cost of completing the Main Road project by an estimated $5 to $8 million. Every penny of this loan would be re- paid by the sweat and brow of hard-working Nevisians. In a few months, it will be August again, a full two years later, and we have not heard one word regarding an approval our Premier’s request. He has been utterly rebuffed.
In his September 19, 2007 Independence Day address at Grove Park, our expectations were again raised when our Premier spoke of plans to lengthen the runway at the Vance Amory International Airport. He further stated:
“….Next month I will go to a World Bank meeting to firm up that project and by the end of this year everything should be fine. In fact I must say to you that a sum of money of US $12 million was assigned to St. Kitts for a project for themselves. That sum of money will be reassigned to the Government of Nevis ….”
The eventful day came on October 22, 2007 when the Central Government announced that our own Honourable Premier was part of the St. Kitts Nevis delegation that attended the World Bank Meetings in Washington DC. Little did we know then that the Labour Government would again invoke the BIRPIS decree after giving its good faith commitment to our Premier to support the airport expansion project in Nevis.
The report from Washington that followed this announcement was devastating. We learned from the Central Government’s October 23rd press release that Prime Minister Douglas met with the Deputy Director General of the Kuwaiti Fund For Arab Economic Development, Hesham I. Al-Waqayan at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington D.C and discussed the funding of a water project for Basseterre and a second cruise pier for Port Zante. Attending the meeting with the Prime Minister were the Financial Secretary, Mrs Janet Harris; St. Kitts and Nevis Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Ambassador Izben Williams and His Excellency Wendell Lawrence. There was no mention of the Prime Minister’s commitment to transfer US $12 million for the expansion of the airport in Nevis, and there was no mention of our Honourable Premier’s attendance and participation at the meeting with the Kuwaitis. I was devastated.
The grabbing never ends. We learned last week of what, appears to be a re-run of the trip to Taipei that gifted Basseterre a $32.5 million cricket complex. Invoking the good name of Nevis in the sale of a joint St. Kitts-Nevis commitment to vote at the UN in favour of Taiwan’s long-standing quest for political independence from mainland China, it is expected that the delegation will again return with millions of ALL FOR ST.KITTS – NOTHING FOR NEVIS dollars.
Taiwan will pocket a commitment from St. Kitts and Nevis to vote at the UN where we hold joint membership, in favour of Taiwan’s interests and St. Kitts will pocket the proceeds from the sale of that vote; while Nevis remains without the Federal funding to repair its fire truck. On this junket to Taipei the six-member ALL-ST.KITTS St. Kitts-Nevis delegation has no representative from the Nevis Government.
It is important to note how this process of selling votes for money works. On January 28th, the Prime Minister, in his face-to-face meeting with President of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian said the following:
“The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis continues to look forward to the time when you [Taiwan] will be given recognition and you will be able to take your rightful place among the Nations of the World.”
In return, Taiwan will pay for this verbal commitment to vote at the UN in support of Taiwan’s independence with a multi-million dollar check. When the check is delivered to Basseterre, President will be equally gracious in his praise. He will thank the PM for supporting Taiwan’s bid for independence. Mr. Premier. It is called easy money. It beats picking cotton down in Indian Castle and you don’t even have to break a sweat. It is this sequence of multi-million pay-off from this commitment to vote in favour of the interests of the developing countries that we are denying ourselves by our failure to invoke Section 113, while riding merrily along at the back of the St. Kitts bus, as Basseterre pockets all the benefits of this union.
Mr. Honorable Premier, the time has come for us to take the bull by the horns and to do what we must do. There is absolutely no reason why we should allow ourselves to get mixed up in another worthless and expensive federal election charade. Former Premier Amory has pledged his full commitment to standing with you. The Leader of the Opposition in the Federal Parliament, Mark Brantley, is fully committed to supporting you. In some ways, who delivers independence is irrelevant. What matters is that we come together as one to get the job done.
There is no reason to tarry any longer. Impediments are being strewn in our path at every turn. When they cripple our tourism plant, there is no place else for us to turn. There are a whole bunch of us out here who are deeply committed to this cause who are prepared to stand with you every step of the way.
Let this be the year. There is a considerable amount of ground work that has already been done in preparing an 86-page draft Constitution. An 11-Chapter Explanatory memorandum has been prepared which can be easily tailored to your liking. Let the educational process begin.
OUR TIME HAS COME!!
