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SSZ OR SELL-OUT? DUBAI DREAMS, CRYPTO KINGS, AND THE FUTURE OF NEVIS

September 22, 2025

by James Gaskell

Many people have most kindly thanked me for providing some clarity about the SSZ matter. Actually it is impossible to bring further certainty because the N.I.A goes no further than advertiser’s puff. Witness Minister Spencer Brand suggesting that the project might make Nevis ‘The little Dubai of the Caribbean’. I have not been to Dubai, but I first came to Nevis in 1963 and have been living here for 45 years. I know Nevis and am very happy to be a part of the community, where we look after each other. Why should I or any of us want to be like an Arab country in the Middle East? The population of Dubai is varyingly reported to be between 80 and 92% expatriate, and substantially more male than female reflecting the nature of that majority, construction laborers.

To call in aid Dubai is to whistle for pie in the sky. Dubai is extremely wealthy. It has oil and has long been a centre of trade. As I pen this on our Independence Day I detect a curious coincidence. For Nevis the year 1833 celebrated the first step towards our freedom. For Dubai 1833 was the year that the current ruling family, the Maktoums, established their authoritarian hold in Dubai. money does not feel bound by other people’s rules and regulations. And if you give mega money the right to make its own laws and by laws under a SSZ contract there may be unexpected consequences. One possibility apparently permitted by the [Act], is the importation of virtually indentured cheap labour from India and other poor countries where there are millions willing to make a few dollars to send back to save their wife and children from starvation. This may become criminal people trafficking.

Mr Brand ‘…emphasised the importance of constructive debate, urging critics to focus on what the project offers the people of Nevis, rather than what he termed ‘constant negativity’ and ‘anti-development rhetoric’.  Sorry, but we cannot have that debate, which must happen, until you have provided the people with a written copy of the draft Development Agreement, the identities of the investors, and some semblance of a business plan, reports of reputable economic consultants and details of the finance needed and available (as required by the Act). The sooner the better for everyone’s sake. We are in limbo and we all need to know on the merits whether we should support this scheme or not, Whether to commend our leaders for their ability to attract massive investment beneficial to all of us, or to condemn them for attempting surreptitiously to sell us out. Or something in between.

Perhaps more fundamentally, the powers planned to be devolved  to Crypto Bros are very broad, to the point where their very legality is surely in question.
Other Libertarian Crypto funded people went to Honduras in about 2012 to see if they could set up their version of a State within a State. They persuaded the government to cooperate. The equivalent of our SSZ is a ZEDE in Honduras. The two have many features in common. The ZEDE made arbitration under CAFTA-DR the agreed forum for resolution of disputes, not the Honduras courts. ZEDE and SSZ are cousins. They have the same aims. I will presume that Crypto Bros drafted both sets of legislation tailoring them to the respective local Constitutions. We are not a member of CAFTA-DR, but we do belong to the WTO. If the agreement with our Crypto Bros ever comes to light expect to find that  the PM and the Premier have signed up for WTO arbitration in Washington to settle disputes between the parties. Things can go wrong. Honduras is in grave trouble, their Supreme Court declared these zones unconstitutional, and a new government repealed the law, so Honduras is now being sued for $10.8 Billion. Some want to charge the public officials with treason. I doubt if that latter has merit but apparently the damages case is serious.

The SKN Constitution surely did not envisage that parts of Nevis could be sold off and become virtually a self-governing entity, where the laws of Nevis do not apply. This was the thinking which prompted the Honduras Supreme Court to strike down the equivalent regime, with retrospective effect.  Both the NIA and investors would presumably wish for legal certainty so the courts should be asked to declare in advance the legality or illegality of what is being proposed. Otherwise, the Premier might be liable in his personal capacity, the NIA and perhaps even the people of Nevis might also be held financially to account for any losses suffered by Crypto Bros.

A gentleman calling in to ‘On the Mark’ with Troy hosting instead of MB, said ‘ What is the proposal  before the government?…It might be good for the opposition to write to the government requesting a meeting. Let them outline what is before them.’ Troy batted this away, ‘ It is very preliminary’. The caller tried again ‘ Govt should afford opposition that opportunity to take a different approach and sit down and get the facts.’ Troy repeated that it was very premature.  He is wrong. So much of the anxiety derives from the perception that something is being forced on Nevis in secret. It is arrogance to foist a ‘gamechanger’ project on the island without allowing that the people might have critically valuable input. A decent thriving democracy cannot be based on the arrogance of leaders who see no role for the people in a matter which they describe as fundamental.

It is often said that investigative journalists tell truth to Power. That is not quite right. Power is not interested in the objective truth. They know it or don’t want to hear it. Rather, in the public interest, that truth and an objective interpretation of it should be disseminated as widely as is possible. In this case we need to compare two documents, the SSZ Act and the Bill which preceded it and comment on the differences.
I note a few. s4(3)which gave the minimum size of an area in Nevis for which a Development Agreement would be granted as 500 acres. This is not mentioned in the Act.     s 5(1) (d) which required a commitment to preserve historically significant structures has been omitted.    And s5(2) which refers to an independent  oversight body which may be  set up by the Premier has been removed. These features of the Bill were commented on favourably by MB when the Bill was launched. My guess is that the Crypto Bros proposers thought that the 500 minimum had to go so that they could add bits of land to their area easily as they bought more. Heritage structures might be in the way. And an Oversight body might well be inconvenient. In general this piece of legislation is permissive having few or no sanctions, expressing aspirations not obligations. The Act gives great power to the PM and the Premier. They can agree to a SSZ development and that the preconditions have been satisfied without the rest of us knowing  what the economic or sustainability reports say or indeed if they were submitted at all.  Good lawyers acting for the people of Nevis might put a red pencil through it all. There appears to be no accountability to the people of Nevis. As Crypto kings the developers may receive their receipts in that way, by passing the banks and leaving no paper trail. How would we know what is due to our treasury? And if we do not know what is due we cannot enforce a claim.

A possible scenario is that the formal proposal be taken to the House with minimum notice and voted on using the 3 to 2 majority, and  passed immediately into law. Given the public anxiety and the declared ‘game changer’nature of the project and its  geographical scope it would be most irresponsible to do that.

The SSZ reminds me of the Cuckoo, a migratory bird that breeds in Europe and winters in Africa. It does not make a nest. It lays a single egg in a smaller bird’s nest and removes one of the smaller birds eggs. It hatches quickly and the chick out competes the host bird chicks so that they starve. Then it elbows them out of the nest. The female host bird continues to feed it until it fledges, by then baby cuckoo is bigger than its ‘mother,’ and it flies off singing out its name. This parasitic bird may lay more than a dozen eggs all in separate host nests.

Those wishing to find out more may wish to join DJ, a great St Kitts Nevis patriot, on the march in Basseterre this very Friday September 26th. Meet at downtown ferry terminal Basseterre 2.30pm, march at 3.00pm.

James Milnes Gaskell