Who would have thought that the drab, dull and damp affair that was Saint Lucia’s Tuesday morning weather, could have been the prelude to the utter chaos that ensued at the September 17 Sitting of the House? Wading through the endless accusations of theft, dishonesty, nastiness, wickedness and corruption, to find a modicum of coherence and sense, has been a challenge, to say the least. Nevertheless, as is oft-repeated, a try remains unbeaten.
Tuesday’s House session kicked off with a question from the Castries South MP, Ernest Hilaire: “Given that the Estimates of Expenditures for 2017/2018, 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 show that government has collected revenue from the Citizenship by Investment Program, can the Minister provide an account of how the revenue has been expended, stating the recipients or projects and the purposes for such expenditure?”
By “the Minister”, Hilaire referred to Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Allen Chastanet, who read out an account of where CIP funds have been allocated, to the obvious glee of opposition members. The subsequent back and forth between Chastanet and Hilaire was, at best, forgettable, with both sides of the House cross-talking over one another, for too long typical of House debates. Over and over the Speaker appealed for order, with little success.
Up next was Hilaire’s “negative resolution” that sought approval for the reinstatement of regulation two and ten provided by Statutory Instrument, 2015, No. 89. This reinstatement would, said the mover of the resolution, help remedy the ills still plaguing Saint Lucia’s beleaguered CIP. The Financial Times Professional Wealth Management (PWM) CBI Index had, for two consecutive years—2017 and 2018—cited the island’s Citizenship By Investment as the worst option in the Caribbean, although it jumped one spot from the bottom this year.
The first to seriously address this fact was the Opposition Leader Philip J. Pierre. He sought to address the heart of the issue: Why has Saint Lucia’s CIP been so underwhelming to date? Pierre proffered his own finding: “From the beginning, this government has tried to sully the name of the CIP in an attempt to gain cheap political mileage.”
As if to bolster his point, the opposition leader referenced public statements by the current prime minister that demanded greater CIP transparency from the then government and the sacking of Ernest Hilaire as Chairman of the CBI program. He quoted a statement by Chastanet during a press interview: “Forever, the CIP program is going to be afffiliated to politicians.” By Pierre’s measure, what he said served to prove Chastanet’s “undermining the CIP all the time, for political purposes; because an election was near.”
Pierre concluded that “this government had to adjust the CIP because they had sown the roots of distrust and of improper motives by their own utterances when they were in opposition, in public and in private; both at public meetings and by the written word. Any time you mention this they’ll tell you ‘bring the proof’.”
Before proceedings began, Pierre seemed relaxed as he perused a copy of last Saturday’s STAR. Who knows whether something in the paper inspired the following? “I know the history of this country. I’ve been around long enough to understand the history. And that’s why I’ve advised young people, when they speak and write, to know the history of what they speak of and what they write on, and do not look at it only as pictures on Instagram.”
The following from the MP for Micoud South suggested he too was a local history buff.
“Mr. Speaker,” he said, “members on the opposite side have made these wild allegations that we tried to undermine the CIP when we were in opposition. Hopefully I’ll be able to put that to rest.
“If I can make reference to a press statement by the SLP on April 7, 2017, the following is from the representative of Castries South, who said without hesitation: ‘When the Labour Party resumes office we will reinstate the net worth requirements and will undertake another due diligence assessment on each and every application granted under the UWP—with our promise to revoke any passports of applicants who do not meet the $3 million net worth requirements or does not meet the strict due diligence requirements, which Saint Lucians accept. Applicants applying for citizenship in Saint Lucia should be warned that when the SLP is returned to office we will also demand that citizens who do not donate the full contribution amount of $200,000 will be compelled to top up the contribution that they made in the time of becoming citizens.”
The MP for Castries South East, in his own turn, picked up Chastanet’s cue. With his own copy of the STAR in hand, Guy Joseph read a republished report from Financial Times Professional Wealth Management (PWM) CBI Index. This report, the MP observed, described Saint Lucia’s [CBI] program as “the Caribbean’s most politically divisive”. The Financial Times also referenced the opposition SLP’s promise “to review all successful applications for citizenship if and when they are returned to office” as not working in the program’s best interests.
Joseph went on: “The report reads in part: ‘There are concerns with respect to the real estate arm of the program, which has seen project cancellations and suspensions, and which currently only features one approved development. There are also continued claims by the Saint Lucia opposition party that legislative changes to the program ‘will be repealed upon a return to governance’.’
“Thank God, Mr. Speaker! They will not return to office.” Joseph continued: “That is reckless and irresponsible behaviour by people who have held the highest office in the land. They know very well that you cannot legislate retroactively and penalise anybody on the basis of legislation passed after the fact.”
He was not quite finished: “What is their intention, Mr. Speaker?” asked Joseph. “This is not the first time this has happened. The same honourable members who today want to stand in this honourable House and claim they want to protect Saint Lucia; they want the program to do well; they want it properly administered, are the very ones who for cheap, political reasons would undermine the effectiveness of a program that can bring substantial benefits to the people of Saint Lucia.”
Ernest Hilaire got the final word: “The Member for Micoud South spoke about the SLP press release and said it was the highest demonstration of irresponsibility to have made that statement. Honourable Member, we’ll disagree.”
To quote once more the CBI Index: “There are concerns with respect to the real estate arm of the program, which has seen project cancellations and suspensions, and which currently only features one approved development. There are also continued claims by the Saint Lucia opposition party that legislative changes to the program ‘will be repealed upon a return to governance’.”
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