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Former Prime Minister warns of a ‘state within a state,’ slams foreign control, and vows PLP will dismantle the controversial SSZ law

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3RD PM HARRIS BLASTS SSZ LEGISLATION, WARNS OF FOREIGN CONTROL AND PLEDGES FULL REPEAL

In one of the most blistering political takedowns of the year, former Prime Minister and PLP Leader Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris has launched a fierce, uncompromising assault on the Drew Administration’s Sustainable Special Zone (SSZ) legislation—branding it dangerous, exclusionary, and a direct assault on the sovereignty and dignity of the people of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Speaking at a high-stakes PLP press conference this week, the 3rd Prime Minister dismantled the SSZ framework piece by piece, warning that the law opens the door to foreign-controlled enclaves, private jurisdictions, and elite communities operating above local laws, beyond local courts, and outside the reach of national accountability.

What Harris described was nothing short of a constitutional and cultural invasion cloaked in development language.

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“A STATE WITHOUT A GOVERNMENT — BUT WHO IN CHARGE?”

In a fiery, unscripted and emotional moment, Harris delivered one of the most sobering warnings ever heard in modern Kittitian-Nevisian politics:

*“History, if we don’t remember it, we are going to have to live it again… People come into our country and want to create their own state. They don’t want your laws to apply. They don’t even want our courts—let’s go to international arbitration.

They have money to pay for those kinds of courts. They’re not you and I. It is not about us. It is for themselves.”*

Harris warned that the SSZ model creates a quasi-independent jurisdiction, equipped with its own internal systems of authority:

*“They will have their police. They will have this. They will have that.

And YOU will have obligations to THEM—
but they have no obligation to ANYBODY.”*

With those words, Harris articulated what many in the public have feared: that the SSZ bears uncomfortable similarity to colonial compounds—a new plantation ideology wrapped in glossy investor brochures.

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“A SPECIAL EXCLUSIONARY ZONE!” – THE MOST DAMNING LABEL YET

In a searing renaming of the Drew Administration’s prized legislation, Harris dropped the phrase that is now reverberating across the Federation:

“We are not in support of the Sustainable Special Zone.
In fact, it is a Special EXCLUSIONARY Zone — because they want to exclude US!”

The former Prime Minister painted a chilling picture of ordinary Kittitians and Nevisians being treated as outsiders in their own land:

*“They want when we go, we have to say, ‘Who you going to? Could I get a name?’

Poor you don’t remember who live up there.

Sorry, you have to turn around.”*

For many in the audience, the imagery was unmistakable — a return to a time when locals were barred from beaches, hillsides, and estates controlled by outside interests.

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A BATTLE AS OLD AS THE FIGHT FOR LAND AND FREEDOM

Dr. Harris anchored his critique in the historical memory of a people who once fought for every acre they now stand on:

“We went through that fight for our beaches before.
We went through that fight for land ownership…
Gone are the days when our great-grandparents had to go around the estates asking for land to live or farm.”

The implication was unmistakable:
The SSZ threatens to reverse the very gains that define modern independence.

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THE “FARGATE” FLASHBACK: HARRIS CALLS OUT ELITE DEMANDS

In a surprising revelation, Harris recalled a moment during his tenure when a foreign investor attempted to impose a similar model of control at the Basseterre tunnel roundabout:

*“He told me we should allow him… to put a ‘welcoming centre.’

A code name—FARGATE.

What you mean by that?

Just to block access so that when people come, THEY assist them with the ‘forwardness.’”*

The warning was clear: private control of public space is not theoretical. It has been attempted before.

And now, Harris argues, it is being legislated into law through the SSZ.

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THE MOST EXPLOSIVE LINE OF THE NIGHT

Harris ended with a thunderous declaration, drawing a bold line between the destiny of the people and the ambitions of foreign elites:

*“We will not allow that state to return here.

That is not OUR destiny.
It may be theirs.
It may be Drew’s destiny—
but it is NOT our destiny.”*

The room erupted.
The message was unmistakable:
The PLP will repeal the SSZ. Full stop.

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POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE: WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Harris’s speech has ignited a political firestorm. Analysts now predict that:

• The SSZ legislation will become the central issue of the next general election.
• The PLP has successfully framed the SSZ as a sovereignty crisis, not a development initiative.
• The Drew Administration will face escalating pressure to defend a law increasingly seen as elitist, foreign-driven, and exclusionary.

In a country still haunted by colonial property regimes, Harris’s message hit deep, emotional, historical nerves.

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BOTTOM LINE

Dr. Harris has issued the clearest and most forceful threat yet to the controversial SSZ legislation:

“PLP WILL REPEAL IT.”

Whether one agrees or disagrees, one thing is certain:

This battle over the SSZ is no longer about economics — it is about identity, land, sovereignty, dignity, memory, and the future of St. Kitts and Nevis itself.

And the political war has only just begun.