BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS – The incompetence and lack of ideas in the three-party coalition government of Prime Minister Dr the Hon. Timothy Harris are responsible for the downturn in the St Kitts and Nevis economy, Leader of the opposition, the Right Hon. Dr Denzil L. Douglas said Wednesday.
“The deception and the hypocrisy that has been committed against the investors and developers, especially those who were engaged in the Citizenship by Investment Programme which under my St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party Government was a globally leading programme,” said Dr Douglas.
He said the Citizenship by Investment Programme was the main revenue earner for the country and Government of St Kitts and Nevis and the main economic engine that drove the economy.
“It provided support for the service providers – our lawyers, accountants and their support staff in the very many offices that were processing applications for citizenship. It provided thousands of construction jobs at the sites for the scores of development projects underway.
It provided through the SIDF, the capital support for many social development programmes including the People Employment Programme (PEP) that trained thousands of our young people and readied them for the world of work. It provided support for the start up, mushroom, growth and development of small businesses and also provided support for the one-to-one laptop computer programme which has gone missing and for which thousands of our secondary school students are asking for the return of the programme if they are to be able to be computer literate and compete with their counterparts around the world,” Dr Douglas told listeners to “Issues” on Freedom Radio on Wednesday.
He told listeners that the Sugar Industry Development Foundation (SIDF) also provided financial support to students at secondary schools and the CFBC under the REACH programme.
Dr. Douglas said investors and developers are nervous are also concerned about the instability in the Timothy Harris government “because of the apparent falling out and falling apart of the coalition that today is the regime.”
“We know that the Peoples Labour Party (PLP) led by Dr Harris is virtually non-existent and is almost a one-man party headed only and supported by Dr Harris, when the major officers of that party have already left it. It is now almost non-existent as a coalition partner except that one person – Dr Harris – the prime minister and this has the investors and develorers very very concerned,” said Dr. Douglas.