By Micahail L. A. Herbert, MBA, BA, U.S. Air Force veteran
In life, you must think big to be big. The Caribbean is not moving forward much because it hasn’t tried anything new for a long time now.
Costly imports from the United States. Costly energy from overseas. The same reliance on tourism, maybe some financial services.
There’s no wonder we Caribbean folk continue to live and work abroad which I did when I joined the United States Air Force. There’s not a great deal of opportunity here in multiple sectors, even though the culture and lifestyle is unique. Oh yea, and Nevis nice!
On Nevis, we have a special thing going. This is the most beautiful island in the Caribbean. We’re one island of a stable, peaceful Federation.
But we’ve been bobbing in the waves, not moving powerfully forward. There hasn’t been a groundbreaking development on Nevis since the 1990s, when the Four Seasons resort opened. Successive local governments have invested heavily in the water, energy and road infrastructure which has positioned us to boast one of the most stable grids across the Caribbean.
Most of us get this. That’s why the Destiny project, the proposed Special Sustainability Zone, has been welcomed by most.
The economic benefits are handsome: lots of jobs, 20% of profits to our government, 5% direct to Nevisians, USD $1 million yearly in scholarships and USD $50 million in infrastructure investment. Why hasn’t the focus been on what is proposed; is it because a selected few have engaged in a debate among themselves where they have declared themselves the winner? Why has the discussion not centred on what is actually proposed but fallacies? A vocal minority are furiously against the project. Destiny is a land grab, they say. For them, this is a step back to colonial times. That’s just not right. Is it how loud you speak or the substance of what is said, that determines your patriotism?
It’s not just those with degrees from top international universities who stand to benefit. In a recent interview on Fox News, Jensen Huang Co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nvidia, one of the largest tech firms in the world indicated that the next generation of US millionaires will be electricians and plumbers. How can we position ourselves to maximize this opportunity? At the signing of the proposal, with land purchases alone, this project may have already created millionaires across our island, more capital more potential home grown investment. With the commitment in scholarships, we have the opportunity to build out both academic and vocational opportunities across the island to the point of having at least one skilled or degreed person in each household positioning our people to benefit most from whatever opportunities this development is projected to bring to our shores. This is not a “talking point”, it is achievable.
Let us focus the debate on using some of the available USD $1 million funding for scholarships to go directly for vocational training, ushering our own generation of millionaires in the technical field. Let us debate how the proposed USD $50 million dollars in infrastructure can transform our public sector, setting us decades ahead. Let’s talk about the possibility of investment into our transport, energy, tourism and health sector.
I’m pleased that the Destiny zone has been scrutinised every which way. In legal terms, the Federation’s Attorney General agrees it’s ‘constitutional’.
That’s a big word for saying it doesn’t break the spirit of Saint Kitts and Nevis as a free nation, which was all about us managing our own affairs.
In our democracy, it is the people who are in charge. The politicians serve us. If we don’t think they’ve done a good job, we can kick them out.
Whatever the politics, I’m confident that this will be transformative for our island, its economy, and environment.
The approach of the critics has only strengthened this belief. I haven’t seen a clear response to Destiny from those against. They like to hit the man when they should be kicking the ball.
If they don’t like Destiny, I suggest they come up with another policy that is going to keep Nevis moving forward into the 21st century. That won’t be easy.
For my part, I’m ready for something transformative.
No big change is ever embraced by everyone. But Destiny has put funding on the table. They’ve also done things the right way, setting protections in law and speaking direct to the public rather than working behind closed doors.
If we get this right, Nevis could overnight reclaim the title of undisputed Queen of the Caribbean. We could be the economic centre of this special region, a template for progress and sustainability in a turbulent world.
A high bar for a little island? We often use talking points like sustainability, diversification, 25 by 25, climate resistance and energy independence as merely talking points but here we have it, right before us a project that can bolster our current product and truly diversify our economy.
Let us position ourselves to be ready for the possible boom. The focus should be, how can we be a part of this and the developers have already received over several hundreds of registrations for jobs and over 100 local companies have signed up to provide their services within the Zone. I understand they also have had around 200 scholarship inquiries.
We have to be ambitious; it has always taken its chance. So, let’s seize our own opportunity. History has shown us that those who were adamantly against the Four Seasons Resort were wrong, we are at another critical point and I choose to be on the right side of history.
Author bio: Micahail L. A. Herbert holds an MBA and a BA in Political Science and is a U.S. Air Force Veteran.
