Last Updated on October 2, 2019, 2:57 AM AST by Anthony Morris
Community activist, Ira McMahon said Tuesday that the re-engineered Citizenship By Investment Programme by St Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, The Right Hon Dr Denzil L Douglas “was the single most transformative policy instrument that powered the St Kitts and Nevis economy and funded the majority of projects in recent times.”
Acknowledging recent compliments by Messrs. Douglas Wattley and A U Browne on the stewardship of Dr Douglas during his term in office, McMahon said that “no amount of propaganda can erase that fact.”
The retired Head of the Technical and Vocation Division of the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) said recent statements by Browne and Wattley “are a good counter to the silly 5 is greater than 20 narrative being promulgated by Timothy Harris’ three-party coalition “in an attempt to distract from their failure to deliver the good governance and prosperity for all that they promised. Even though there was a focus on projects.”
McMahon is of the view that “the people just have to be reminded at the right time and they will do the right thing and reward the real architects of our advancement from third to first world living standards.” “Even more telling is that Unity has failed to keep the momentum going and have not been able to attract even one major Foreign Direct Investment,” said McMahon, pointing out to that fact that the Timothy Harris-led coalition has “presided over declining growth rates and have no new ideas for recovery.”
“Labour’s superior intellectual capacity is obvious,” McMahon added.
“Labour did things. Labour did productive things, Labour did things that spread the wealth throughout the country,” said Douglas Wattley, during a special edition of “The Rebuttal” on Sunday night.
Off the cuff, he listed over 50 projects initiated by Dr Douglas during the 20 years the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party was in government “to show why the Labour economy was better than the Team Unity economy.”
The number of projects has since increased to nearly 100 and counting.
Businessman, A U Browne in his post pointed out that it took the Douglas administration to actually bring development and life to Port Zante and the Southeast Peninsula.
“One would also be mindful that it was the late Robert Bradshaw that designated the Frigate Bay area for hotel and tourism-related development. Simmonds tried to follow that designation by constructing a highway named after himself, but falling rocks and other impediments prevented investors from developing the South East Peninsula,” said Browne, who boldly stated that “all the development that has taken place there, were done during the 20 years that Dr. Douglas and Labour managed the affairs of the federation.”
In 2013 and 2014, just before the Labour Government demitted office, the St Kitts and Nevis economy grew 6 percent in each of those years.
The 2015 International Monetary Fund (IMF) Report on St Kitts and Nevis (No 15/248) dated September 2015 had stated “that stronger growth in 2013 and 2014 and sizable advance repayments have improved the debt outlook of the twin-island Federation and the St Kitts and Nevis’ Debt-to-GDP ratio declined to 79 percent of GDP at the end of 2014.”
Since taking office in mid-February 2015, the economy of St Kitts and Nevis has decelerated to 2.2 percent in 2015; 2.3 percent in 2016; 1.2 percent in 2017 and 2.5 percent in 2018.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
