Desert Star Holdings proceeding to the courts, is St Lucia’s CIP next?
By Melanius Alphonse
The ‘self-help administration’ of Prime Minister Allen Chastanet is more comfortable formulating a 2018/19 fiscal and policy statement for “family, friends and foreigner interest” (FFF) – selling influence, the land and the people, while turning-off the light(s) and peddling Machiavellianism – unscrupulous politicians of the sort Niccolo Machiavelli described in “The Prince.”
All the signals indicate a cascading approach that relies on sordid irony, manipulation by pranksters and tricksters ‘fleeting proposals, never mind the list of aspiration’.
Recognizing that former prime minister and Member of Parliament for Vieux-Fort South, Dr Kenny Anthony, has indicated that the Desert Star Holdings (DSH) project will be proceeding to the courts in a few weeks, key venture capitalists are perhaps not eagerly waiting to invest in risky financial returns.
“What I promise the minister for finance (Prime Minister Chastanet) when he embarks on whatever he embarks on, I will make sure that he reaps the whirlwind for his actions.”
There is also the salient point that the self-serving camouflaged agendas and election deal-making projects are becoming problematic on account of the enormous debate and protest surrounding the proposed Dolphin Park, citizenship by investment (CIP), $24 million Sandals tax write off, the prospect of Sandals acquiring as many as ten properties in Saint Lucia, and the status of the Range Development project in Black Bay, Vieux-Fort.
The 2018/19 fiscal year government outlook lists the following, with the Range/Ritz Carlton project notably absent:
? Fairmont in Choiseul expected to commence in the second quarter of 2018;
? Marriott Courtyard at Pointe Seraphine;
? Sandals La Source and the Gregg Norman Golf Course;
? Bay Gardens residences;
? Dreams and Secrets in Canelles, Micoud; etc
? And continued development of the Pearl of the Caribbean Project.
In addition to theories surrounding OJO labs expansion, primarily subsidized by taxpayers, the government outlook is a copy and paste of last year’s announcements.
“With the number of pipeline projects in the tourism sector our room stock is expected to increase by approximately 2,000 rooms over the next 3-4 years. This is a 50% increase in our present room stock.
“Since we have identified tourism as our main economic driver we must develop, either in partnership with the private sector or as a totally private sector enterprise.”
The irony of the prime minister is supported by who seeks and responds to his nudge and wink.
“Several foreign direct investment projects in the pipeline are at an advanced stage and are expected to come on stream in 2018.
“This will mean the creation of more jobs, more opportunities for personal advancement and a better quality of life for all Saint Lucians. All of these projects are transformative, and will each in some way impact the lives of all Saint Lucians.”
But really, the enormous degree of hypocrisy in public consultation, citing privacy concerns, results in a best case scenario of the administration’s lack of a clear policy, instead of building on a strategy to reframe economic development and aggressive new measures to improve the cost and infrastructure of doing business.
With that in mind, policymakers must focus on clear investment strategies and not risky ones. Business executives will only invest where there are clear signs of future returns, which means, with such discouraging signs and short term government policy, investors cannot make long-term business decisions and Saint Lucia could miss out entirely.
In the backdrop of Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) and the intricacies of campaigning, leading up to the 2016 election, even though SCL claims it “does not get involved in political campaigns”, Henley and Partners highlighted Saint Lucia’s citizenship by investment program (CIP), as having “risk for Saint Lucia and no benefits”, and that “the program as it appears now is unfortunately not well designed and has a number of issues including structural problems and lack of transparency,” and “fundamental problems.”
Of course, Henley’s preoccupation is more likely to have been “no benefits for Henley”.
Two years later, the industry dynamics have not distinguished Saint Lucia in the marketplace, except escalating a race to the bottom! The milieu is even more problematic over slogans that read “come as a tourist, leave as a citizen” and require a nudge of incentives, transforming business expectations.
More importantly, the difficulties in the situation that “St Lucia goes cheap” are not consistent with the new branding for the island, Let her inspire you!
What exactly are the offerings in terms of economic development in the public interest should be highlighted for better policy support and, more importantly, given the existing financing model, there is no greater protection from money laundering, terrorism and tax evasion.
But while the CIP is underperforming its own financial projections and in the light of statutory instrument, 2018, No. 27, to revoke six persons that are said to have “committed acts which may bring Saint Lucia into disrepute,” the government is currently actively pursuing a residency by investment program in addition to the CIP as a major initiative to impact the economy.
This is therefore not an opportunity to compare but to inquire if legal recourse will become a prevalent feature of the CIP in the coming months, to settle revocation issues, commission fees, two percent lending fees on passport sales for development projects, and the future of CIP money in escrow account(s) outside of Saint Lucia and not under the direct control of government.
“Of critical importance is our ability as a county to work assiduously and urgently to remove the barriers to growth that are within our control,” said the prime minister.
But what should be clear is the pattern that Saint Lucia goes cheap with CIP, local businesses disfranchised, our lands sold cheaply and, in the case of DSH, given away for 99 years.
How does that reflect a fundamental transformation, rather than a colonial operation of extractive industry and its indigenous people?
What are the advantages of Saint Lucia’s CIP to deliver on national financial expectations and, in terms of economic development, where the business community and the wider community can reap financial returns?
The key takeoff is that, even after selling off major assets for “capital revenue including the proceeds from the sale of assets in the amount of $7.72 million” to finance fiscal year 2018/19, “Building a New Saint Lucia” on the policy statement set out is parasitic, rather than an all-encompassing, productive system, producing long-lasting economic performance.
Of greater future concern to the nation’s credibility is the claim to accountability and transparency by an inherently na?ve administration, absent a portfolio of long-term investments free from the constraints of litigation.
https://wp.caribbeannewsnow.com/2018/04/10/commentary-desert-star-holdings-proceeding-to-the-courts-is-st-lucias-cip-next/