We’re hearing from the intellectuals on this matter of CBI — citizenship by investment — economic growth strategy. We have lawyers sprouting on concrete and occupying parliamentary offices in droves. One would swear that something like CBI is more legal than it is an economic igniter. How about we hear from regular people? Let’s hear from the regular man what this economic strategy of CBI means to him.
Let’s hear from the drivers and vehicle owners whose vehicles are screaming for a stretch of good road. Let’s hear from residents in the Grenadines whose neighbours in Carriacou have been back up and running for months now, since they both were destroyed by Beryl.
Let’s hear from consumers who can’t get a local orange, tangerine, or lime to buy.
SVG has a national debt that could very well be understated, if one were to deduce from recent audit reports of the public accounts. What’s our plan to pay down on this debt and not straddle future generations with it? Do we plan to leave the hook in our grandchildren’s gills?
Let’s hear from public sector workers who can’t identify a salary increase if they see one. How about students who are graduating from flea-infested school campuses? Let’s hear from them and their parents.
How about those people whose barbecue grills must constantly fire up to cover medical bills? Let’s hear from them.
In the meantime, how is it that Dominica can build an airport without a strain on the country? In SVG, we’re still owing millions for ours, though it was not supposed to cost a cent. How are they able to build a cable tram system? How is it that St. Kitts can have tax-free shopping days?
In June 1982, the Sunday Sun covered a story on the economic approach of the government, with statements made by former foreign minister in the St. Vincent Labour Party government, Hudson Tannis. Quoting from the story: “Tannis said however that many problems faced the country’s development efforts. He said it is very difficult for small developing countries like St. Vincent and the Grenadines to produce viable long-term strategies for economic development, since they did not control the major marketing and financial institutions of the world … He declared that large inputs of finance and technology were required to facilitate St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ return to the 1979 level of economic growth.”
We’re way past 1979, or so one might think, but we seem stuck in perpetuity with the same perennial issues of economic development and appear to be a colony of the EU or some other foreign power that dictates to us our development strategy.
If not something like CBI, then what exactly is our plan — without any more intellectual, bureaucratic, or legal onanism– to help our citizens realise some form of prosperity?
Our plan cannot be to strap more taxes on our citizens, while we ask them to take little and live. That is not acceptable. Let’s hear from regular people.
Observer
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Hear, hear!