BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THERE is no question that many persons in St. Kitts-Nevis are heavily indebted and, for some, it is to one or more government corporations. It is in light of this that the implementation of a consolidated payment scheme is up for consideration.
The issue was discussed on Tuesday (May 15) by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance the Right Honourable Dr. Denzil L. Douglas in the context of arrears owed to the now corporatised St. Kitts Electricity Company Ltd (SKLEC).
On that day’s edition of his radio programme ‘Ask the PM’, a caller made the suggestion that debts owed to government corporations should be consolidated and a regularly paid sum be paid, to be spread across those entities.
“I think this is a very excellent suggestion…In fact, this is something that we had been looking at in the sense that persons who owe large arrears and who we know are really having great difficulty in paying these arrears, and that really has been my main focus and concern. It has been a concern of the party, concern of the government for some time now.
“It is something that was discussed foremost just last week Friday in a joint meeting between the Minister of Finance, the electricity company, both management and board level. And we believe that we have to find a way of tackling the problem of these arrears. Because a lot of our people are not able to pay in the way that we are asking them to pay and something has to be done.”
Dr. Douglas said he would take the suggestion back to the relevant bodies for further discussion.
“This suggestion that has been made by our caller is an excellent suggestion which I would also take back because, as I said, it is part and parcel of some discussion that we’ve had involving the possibility of Development Bank playing a role. And having mentioned that a number of government corporations are involved and private entities are involved which are owned by government, I think it’s an excellent suggestion that needs to be fleshed out some more. But the thought and the idea of doing something like this is very, very good because this is what we have realised ourselves.
“A lot of these people, they are now owing electricity or water. They also owe for their houses and they owe maybe other people. And we have to be careful here in realising that we don’t allow them to fall through the cracks. But at the same time we know that their arrears are critical especially for the continued operations of these different entities which are owed.”
The Finance Minister promised that the government and the other relative agencies are working to resolve this problem and promised that a solution would be found.
