197 Nevisian refused entry into Nevis for two hours after shopping in Statia!!
By Pauline Waruguru
Nevis Reporter, SKNVibes.com
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At the centre of a commotion on Monday evening
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CHARLESTOWN, Nevis - IN a bid to cushion the effects of the continuous rise in cost of living, 197 Nevisian shoppers left at 6.00 a.m. on Monday for duty free Statia only to return on the same day at 7.00 p.m. to find Custom Officers not present to clear their goods.
Information reaching SKNVibes state that the Nevisian shoppers were atop the waters of the Caribbean Sea aboard the Sea Hustler for approximately two hours waiting to be cleared by officers of the Customs Department, who it is said “walked away from the shoppers at the Charlestown pier”.
SKNVibes was also informed that the shoppers had made their way to their respective destinations without the goods being inspected and free of duty.
This media house learned that there are two ports of entry for cargo and passenger vessels - Long Point and Charlestown respectively. However, according to Winston Skeete, captain and owner of the Sea Hustler, the dock at Long Point cannot accommodate two large vessels at the same time, and when such situations occur the Charlestown pier is used as an alternative.
Skeete explained that Monday fiasco was uncalled for and he had permission to moor his vessel at the Charlestown pier, and the relevant authorities were notified two weeks prior to his departure for Statia.
He however claimed that what angered him most was not what transpired at the Charlestown pier on Monday night, but the statements made the following Tuesday night on VON Radio and on Mark Brantley’s Wednesday night’s programme “On the Mark”, also aired on the same radio station. ~~Adz:Right~~
“What bothered me is to hear Webbo Herbert, Theodore Hobson and Edric Stanley on Tuesday night at VON Radio saying that Mr. Parry didn’t have the right to give me permission to land in Charlestown. But when the NRP Administration took office and Parry stopped me from going to Charlestown pier, these very guys said how Skeete is a very hard working guy from Jessups and he donated a lot of things to Nevis...and he does all kinds of things and Parry should not have stopped him from coming to Charlestown.
“But,” he continued, “these are the same people, including Mark Brantley, who are now saying that Parry should not have given me permission to come into town to put off people from the church with their goods.”
Skeete said the shopping expedition to Statia was organised by a certain church as a fund-raising activity and “church-raising fund is church-raising fund, you don’t have to be a church member to go to Statia to purchase basic food items. All the church members would not go there; different people would go and on their return make donations to the church. And I am saying that when Mark Brantley said that Nevisians are church-loving and Christian people he is not preaching that. He is saying on one side and then on the other side he is saying nobody knows what is inside the barrels”.
The Sea Hustler’s captain further explained that when the Nevis Reformation took office the Premier had made a campaign pledge that the boat from Dominica would go to the Charlestown pier to eliminate some of the prices, because the transportation cost from Long Point to the market was high and it would have reflected on the prices of goods.
“The Premier decided to allow the boat to come in to Charlestown on Tuesdays, because it would have already been to St. Kitts on Mondays and would have been cleared by Customs over there. I can see the logics in that, but my concern is if you can do it for one you should do it for all.
“However, the difference is that the Dominican boat will be coming from St. Kitts and I will be coming from Statia, but many times Long Point port may be blocked up because it can only take one tropical ship. So they would say go to Charlestown and provision would be made for all examinations and the payment of duty,” he said.
Skeete also noted that when the former Administration demitted office some of its members said drugs and guns were going into Nevis through the boats, including the Sea Hustler, that were making shopping trips to St. Martin and Statia, and that was the main reason for the NRP Administration imposing the restriction.
He added that after the Sea Hustler was still making trips to Statia and St. Martin for residents of St. Kitts and not Nevis “members of the former Administration said the reason why they did not want the Sea Hustler in Charlestown was because the lighting system was poor on the pier”.
“Now,” he added, “I understand they said the Sea Hustler had aboard 197 passengers and that was too much to offload at the Charlestown pier. But the constant change in opinion by these people has me baffled and we don’t know the real reason why they don’t want me to land in town...I really don’t know!”
Skeete explained that he recommenced trips for Nevisians earlier this year after a female had pleaded with him to go to Statia with some 37 passengers, and on his return they disembarked at Long Point. “However, the second trip, on Monday, May 5, was arranged as a fund-raiser for a church and instead of blessings it created confusion”.
Skeete also told SKNVibes that whenever he leaves for either of the two islands with passengers to make purchases, he would inform the police to make the sniffer dogs available at whatever port he enters on return to the Federation.
Captain Skeete holds the conviction that politics played a major role in creating the commotion and called on Nevisians to co-exist peacefully. Skeete said he called in to Mark Brantley’s talk show to inform Nevisians about what transpired and to remind that “we are one people”.
Sources confirmed that Skeete did get permission to have his passengers disembark at the Charlestown pier with the aim of ensuring Nevisians have easy access to affordable transportation in reaching their destinations.
Police in Charlestown have admitted that there was an incident at the Charlestown pier on Monday night, but they did not elaborate on it.
SKNVibes also contacted Oral Hanley, Head of Customs in Nevis, for a comment and he too did not elaborate, but said the issue is being handled by his Department “accordingly”.
