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Letter to the Editor:

The Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew led St.Kitts and Nevis SKN government has taken a sledgehammer to our CBI program by suddenly increasing the level of investment needed for citizenship and downgrading the appeal of CBI-supported construction programs. The result is that the partnership between investors, marketing agents, developers and government that has lasted for decades and helped build the country has been thrown in the trash. What is going on?

CBI is one of our most precious national assets. While the beauty of our country and the character of our people are God-given, CBI was truly man made. Since 1983 it has helped our twin-island federation become prosperous, independent and resilient. CBI has helped us to rebuild following hurricane seasons and it made a huge contribution towards supporting our people, particularly our old and most impoverished, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have been blessed for years with governments that have recognised its importance to the national good. No matter if you voted Douglas or Harris for Prime Minister, most people would agree that they were men who recognised the importance of protecting and promoting the program in a fiercely competitive world. CBI was something precious to be handled with care.

Those efforts meant that in August 2021, just two years ago, the Financial Times newspaper’s Professional Wealth Management magazine recognised our CBI program as the best in the world. It was an accolade that acknowledged the program’s professionalism and stability, and reflected well on all of us. It was something for us to be proud of.

So why are potential investors across the world now suddenly refusing to seek citizenship in

SKN? Why are long-standing local and international developers – the people responsible for CBI construction projects that have benefited the people of SKN for so long – now speculating that our program is at risk of collapse?

The answer sits with the current PM Dr. Terrance Drew’s SKN Labour Party government’s decision to amend CBI regulations not once, not twice, but three times since taking office last year. In fact the regulations have been changed 3 times in the last 6 months . But it’s this third set of changes to CBI regulations, announced suddenly last week by the government without consulting everyone affected, which has thrown a hand grenade into SKN’s carefully-grown CBI program. Those overnight changes included increasing the levels of investment needed to secure citizenship and downgrading the appeal of the programs that build hotels and infrastructure, arguably the most beneficial to the people of SKN, in favour of the new “Sustainable Island State Contribution” that does not require any investment in construction schemes.

Worst of all, these changes treat existing investment applicants like dirt. Imagine a grocery store advertising a product at a particular price and the customer driving to that store, finding that product with the correct price tag, only to find at the checkout that the price has gone up. That is exactly what has happened to investors who have already filled in their SKN CBI application forms, gone through arduous due diligence processes, had their applications processed fully by agents and developers in line with the appropriate regulations, and who have been waiting for final citizenship approval from the government before transferring their investment contribution and government fees. For these willing investors the soccer goalposts have now been moved three times during the length of the match. No wonder they are upset.

CBI marketing agents across the world who have for years promoted SKN’s CBI program are left to answer the angry and confused phone calls of investors. In a flash, SKN went from being the most reliable and stable CBI program in the world to being a country that changes the rules and breaks its word whenever it likes. Developers have not been told whether the successful applications awaiting citizenship approval will be honored and if they will be able to complete their development projects.

Everyone is asking whether any of this is legal. No one knows for sure but everyone involved, except apparently the government, is anxious. Why did they make these changes when the SKN CBI appeared to have a good reputation and function well? Who do these changes benefit? Not SKN by the look of it since no one else in the Eastern Caribbean has put up their investment prices. Rumours and fake news blogs claim that the EU has announced a crackdown on CBI, yet there is no evidence of this on any credible channels. The crisis of confidence among Caribbean CBI programs risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy.

The current turmoil over the CBI is more serious than the political dance of politicians in red, yellow, orange and blue. Those of us who care about our country need to know why our future prosperity, and the life chances of our children, are being put at risk.

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