Photo 1- Mrs. Hermia Morton-Anthony
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS – The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis is being governed by a “set of gutliss, greedy, unconscionable, cowardly people, that have neither moral compass nor an iota of understanding of geopolitics.”
“The evidence of gutliss is well ventilated in the media and is popular knowledge,” said former Chairperson of the Board of Councillors of the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation (SIDF), Mrs. Hermia Morton-Anthony, in response to a FaceBook posting by Hon. Mark Brantley, Deputy Premier of Nevis and MP in the Federal Parliament of St. Kitts and Nevis and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Federal Cabinet.
“I declare that I am writing as an unemployed Kittitian national, highly skilled, but unable to attract local clients or find work to generate in my country of birth because political slander and partisanship has ruined my chances for gainful employment. I hold a grudge but on this matter I hope to be impartial,” she stated.
Focusing on the geopolitical aspect of the Citizenship by Investment Programme, Mrs. Morton-Anthony is of the view that “St. Kitts and Nevis party politics has no moment in Uncle Sam’s decision to cut off our country’s legs, to immobilize it or make it crawl. That’s what’s happening in St. Kitts right now.”
“Our country recovered from one of the highest debt to GDP ratio to boasting an unprecedented 7% growth in its economy by 2013. It had borrowed and spent and innovatively regrown its legs, cut off by the WTO’s Lome agreements and the US anti-drug protocols that choked inflows (crumbs) of drug money that filtered in the island from its unintended role as a trans-shipment point for drugs on this way to the US market during the period 1980 to 1995,” said Morton-Anthony, who resides in Canada.
“Secondly, only rich people can afford to participate in economic citizenship programmes. All nations need to attract their money and to put in place measures to protect the country from new and potential citizens who could put it at risk. For example we can attract a Trump-like billionaire who is adept at hiding his money from the US government for we don’t have personal income tax , but she can neither vote nor run for office in St. Kitts and Nevis,” she added.
Mrs. Morton-Anthony pointed out that while theShahs of Sunset, a reality show, exposing the extravagant lives of rich Iranians who had sought citizenship in the United States to escape the repressive government in Iran, anti-terrorism protocols introduced by the U.S. “militated against St. Kitts processing Iranian applications of those who wanted to escape Iran or the risk of holding a US passport. St. Kitts caved, but refused to recall passports of upstanding economic citizens.”
Photo 2 – Hon. Mark Brantley
“I’ve said all of this to say to you (Mark Brantley) that every step you have outlined so far as strengthening the integrity of the programme is having a deleterious effect on its viability. We need to accept that sovereignty is elusive for small states, and that we must constantly find innovative ways to attract new monies to serve our people, grow their businesses so that they can feed their families and inspire optimism,” she said, adding:
“Clearly, throwing money after a reputationally-damaged CBI, that has become the target of the white settler countries is ill-advised.”
“Circumventing is always an option descendants of enslaved Kittitians have creatively subverted our oppressors for years. Call in the best brains, the experienced, pragmatic achievers and out of the box thinkers regardless of their political affiliation to identify the new ways to be tried,” said Morton-Anthony.
She further stated that she has not listened to or looked at the CBS “60 Minutes” Report.
“I refuse to invite people into my home to throw shit on my walls or to listen to negativity, but I read your response Mark Brantley and as citizens who should be interested in the good of the country, we need to attack this monster covertly or overtly. Let’s get to work and stop missing the point by getting mired into petty politics,” Mrs. Morton-Anthony concluded.
Prior to the airing of the CBS programme, Foreign Minister Hon. Mark Brantley, whose law firm Daniel, Brantley & Associates is a service provider in the Citizenship By Investment Programme in Nevis, lamented whether the programme “will ignore similar programs outside the Caribbean.”
“If so, why? Canada was able to benefit from thousands of Hong Kong Chinese who settled in British Colombia. Even now the real estate market in Florida is booming because of the US EB5 Visa program. Within the EU, Malta and Portugal have CBI programs. St Kitts and Nevis gave the world the idea of citizenship by investment in 1984 and others have used that idea with various iterations ever since to boost their economies,” Brantley wrote.
*This article was posted in its entirety as received by SKN PULSE. This media house does not correct any spelling or grammatical errors within press releases and (or) commentaries. The views contained within are not necessarily those of SKN PULSE.
