A finance sector analyst disagrees with the view of the Unity Labour Party administration in St. Vincent and the Grenadines that a citizenship by investment programme would cheapen citizenship.
“The reaction to it, I am disappointed with the reaction,” chartered accountant Kirk Da Silva said on Tuesday at a town hall meeting held to analyse the C$993.5 million fiscal package for 2018 that Parliament approved in February.
Da Silva told the meeting, which was organised by the Teachers Union, Public Service Union, and Employer’s Federation that CBI programmes have their strengths and weaknesses.
“I think that it’s an area that we can benefit from significantly and we just need to look at other countries. So when we hear talk about it’s a programme that may cheapen our passport and cheapen citizenship, I don’t go for it,” Da Silva said.
He said there is significantly high unemployment and there is a lack of direct investment in SVG.
“We have completed an airport and we have to think about room stock and increasing our room stock and I think a pertinent question must be, ‘why aren’t we going for citizenship by investment programme?’” he said.
He said other countries have benefited, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and European nations.
“There is some talk about it and I think people are not very acquainted with it, are not very well informed because there are various different programmes,” said Da Silva, who in 2015 failed in his bid to become an election candidate for the ruling Unity Labour Party and now seems to be estranged from the party.
He said that, for example, Portugal has earned some US$4 billion over a four-year period with the CBI programme. Portugal issues a golden visa, and, after six or seven years, the recipient can apply for a passport.
“So you are not merely paying for a passport in that instance. So to say that you are simply cheapening your citizenship and you are selling it to anybody, the argument really does not hold. And I mention it because I think we are losing out and if we don’t, maybe, make a move quickly, then we will be left behind.
“But I think, bearing in mind the economic situation in St. Vincent that it needs to be looked at. And I pray and hope that the government can look at it.
Speaking during the open forum of the meeting, Member of Parliament for Central Kingstown, St. Clair Leacock, an opposition lawmaker, said that Vincentians, not the political parties, will have to determine “the extent to which we are, by ego, punishing our people”.
He said that Grenada has just returned its government to office, giving them all 15 seats in parliament in a nation that has a CBI programme.
Leacock said that Antigua, the largest economy in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, of which SVG is a member, has also just returned its government to office, 15 seats to 2.
Antigua has a CBI programme, as does St. Lucia, which just reduced unemployment from 25 to 20 per cent, Leacock said.
“Whether the programmes are sustainable or not is irrelevant. It is what you do with the money at the time that you had it. Did you take the money and put it into investment opportunities to grow your economies?”
Leacock said that EC$50 million could transform agriculture in St. Vincent and the Grenadines by agro processing.
SVG is the only independent OECS nation that does not have a CBI programme.
The Ralph Gonsalves government says it is opposed to a CBI programme because it amounts to selling passports, adding that the passport is the outward sign of the inward grace of citizenship — the highest office in this land.
There have been, however, questions about how the government has granted citizenship to a number of persons who have invested in SVG and what criteria were used.
I am opposed to any scheme that equates to our passport being obtained for a price. This included clear CBI programmes or some of these “shaddy” instances where Vincentian citizenship was obtained.
Po-ta-toe or Po-tat-oe…..THEY ARE BOTH WRONG in my humble opinion.
You support everything the Prime Minister says. Are you trying for a position in his employ…or are you already working for him?
This have both negative and positive effects. If the positives greatly out weights the negative and proper provisions are put in place plus guidelines I believes it favors the country to give citizenship through investments… VINCY LAWYER
I do not care even if due diligence is perfect. I have never and will never support any Citizenship by Investment Program.
No matter the cost, there will be some unfavorable person out there who may escape due diligence and just end up with our passport. All it takes is one person, one wrong act for more unnecessary and negative stigma to be drawn to our country.
Years before the Canadian government ceased the no-visa policy on Vincentians, I warned in many articles about all these false refugee status claims. It was met with much criticism but I was spot on. Many will like to blame politics etc. for the Canadian governments decision but it cannot be denied that the high volumes of these false claims (sanctioned by many Opposition members, who publicly declared they wrote letters in support of these applications) is one of the main causes of that decision.
So Al, NO to any CBI Programs and a hope that even citizenship acquired through other means e.g. marriage, years of living in a country etc. is revamped and restructured.
Our passport must remain sacred!!!
Realize that the Prime Minister already does support Citizenship by investment but only when he can keep it covert.
I hear you but the visa requirement was going to come either way because of the terrorism policies also many countries worldwide not only the Caribbean have similar programs. If it brings more good than bad I say go for it!!….. We will agree to disagree on this one
Yes we will agree to disagree 🙂