More about Elections

By James Milnes Gaskell

A Government in Office can choose which part of its performance it wishes to emphasise. An Opposition will want to claim that that performance has been inadequate and that it could have done and will do better. The UK poll suggests that the Government should concentrate on just three things it has done or intends to do, and that the Opposition should not attempt to show that every policy of the Administration is misguided, but should focus on not more than three.

Beyond this, and in particular in a very small island where politics is conducted so personally, there is an overriding need to act fairly and to be seen to be acting fairly.

It is now five years since I wrote of the then CCM Governing Party’s actions or rather non actions in their refusal over a period of 12 years to pay the Barrett family for a small piece of land required as access to the Charlestown Primary School. There was a valid contract of sale and purchase effected by exchange of letters, and the Administration entered into possession. However, all requests for payment were met with prevarication and delay, lasting 12 years. I wrote (in January 2005): “The whole affair is one in which justice and fairness, the hallmarks of a genuine democratic society, have been thrust aside. No one deserves this kind of treatment from their Government, least of all the Barretts. They never sought to press for the higher price which an access road normally commands. They have served their country well…The whole affair is either one of stupefying incompetence or it is deliberate…”

No apology was made. Indeed Ted Hobson sought to deny the existence of a contract at all, in spite of the clear agreement revealed in the exchanges of correspondence.

I hope that the present Administration is not about to make the same kind of mistake.

It is the right of everyone of us to be treated fairly by those we have chosen as our representatives.  I refer here to the case of Lyndeta Martin and her ‘Double Deuce’ Restaurant and Bar. I am aware that legal action has been taken by Newfound (Pinneys) Ltd. to evict Lyndeta from Double Deuce, and that the NIA and the Nevis Housing and Land Development Corporation (NHLDC) has been joined in the action. The purpose of this article is not to discuss the legal position. That is a matter solely for the Court, and may, for all I know, fall to be determined on technical legal points. I am concerned with the political ramifications. It is quite possible for an Administration to win a case in the Courts, but to lose politically thereby.

So what are the facts and how should the Administration act to convince the voters that it has been fair to all.

The broad outline is this. In about December 2003 Lyndeta met the late Malcolm Guishard, then Minister of Lands and Chairman of NHLDC, and he, verbally, gave her permission to occupy the land in dispute for the purpose of a beach restaurant and bar. Some of us thought of Malcolm as the Minister of Promises. Lyndeta knew that she had to have his agreement in writing, and that is why she can now produce a letter dated April 21st 2004 signed by Tyrone O’Flaherty, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism (another of Malcolm Guishard’s Ministries):

“Ms. Lyndeta Martin-Beauregard,
Craddock Road.
Dear Madam,
Acting on the advice of the Hon. Malcolm Guishard, the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Housing, Co-operatives and Fisheries, hereby grants permission for you to occupy that piece of land located at Pinneys Beach, across the pond opposite Pinneys Beach Hotel for the purpose of operating a  Beach Bar and Restaurant. This arrangement is at Her Majesty’s pleasure.”

Lyndeta then contacts the Planning Policy Unit, (PPU), Nevlec, the Water Department and the Health Department. Each one becomes involved in the development of the now disputed land as a Beach Bar and Restaurant. In May 2004, monitored by the PPU, Lyndeta starts work on a permanent structure at a not inconsiderable expenditure. In November 2004 she applies for and obtains a business licence to operate a Restaurant and Bar. In December 2004 Lyndeta has the land she was occupying demarcated. The area was 30430 sq. ft., just under three quarters of an acre.

On 26th November 2004, the NHLDC acquired the 730 acre Pinneys Estate of which the 30430 sq. ft. forms a part. In May 2006 the NHLDC transferred 600 acres including a section of 49.89 acres, which incorporated the 30430 sq. ft., to Newfound Pinneys Ltd. Throughout the time the land was owned by the NHLDC Lyndeta continued to operate her business and expend money on it, all without let or hindrance or comment from that Government owner. This continued after Newfound Pinneys Ltd. acquired the land until May 20th 2009 when Newfound wrote to Lyndeta telling her that she was a trespasser on its land and must remove all buildings and give up possession.  Newfound served a Writ in October 2009. Lyndeta claims to have been in lawful possession since November 26th 2004 or before. How should the Administration react? What action will be seen by the people to represent justice? The Administration may not wish to be involved but it is bound by the actions of its predecessor the CCM Government. It cannot disown agreements which it may not like and would not itself have made. We have to acknowledge that the letter of 21st April was an encouragement by the CCM Administration to Lyndeta to go ahead and establish a Restaurant and Bar on the disputed land, and that she acted upon this encouragement and spent time, effort and money to establish Double Deuce. Whatever may be the narrow or legalistic meaning of the phrase “…at Her Majesty’s Pleasure”, in the letter of 21st April, Lyndeta took it to mean “for the foreseeable future”. The use of this phrase that I know of is when applied to the sentencing of a criminally insane person, in which context it means for the rest of that person’s life unless the Home Secretary, as advised by the Prison Authorities, think that he has been in prison long enough and it is safe to let him out.

In May 2006 the NHLDC, under the CCM, transferred the lands of which the 30430 sq. ft. forms a part to Newfound as if Lyndeta’s interest did not exist

I hope that the Administration will apply the wisdom of Solomon and not whatever narrow legalistic approach might extricate itself from the matter. In the pleadings they have taken an unfortunate position by saying that the then Minister of Agriculture (Malcolm Guishard) facilitated the exercise (of Lyndeta setting up her Restaurant and Bar on the site) by erroneously granting permission for her to occupy the lands in question. (‘Erroneously’!  He shouldn’t have, but he did, so what is the point?)

Further, they say that the letter of 21st April 2004 is misconceived having regard to the fact that the lands at the material time were now owned by the Crown. This is saying we gave you a letter granting permission but you cannot rely or depend upon it because we were not at that time the actual owners, only becoming so later in the year. In other words, we gave you a letter which we had no authority to give, so it is of no effect.

So, Solomon, what are you going to do? On the one hand, you have Lyndeta Martin, a Nevisian of humble origins, who has been doing exactly what successive Administrations have wished to encourage, in becoming an entrepreneur, and has developed from nothing a nice little family business employing seven or more persons. The Double Deuce has established an excellent reputation serving tourists and locals alike. It is a credit to Nevis. You get good food at reasonable prices. The premises are clean and well organised and you certainly would not expect the K9 sniffer dog to become excited. You, and your predecessor Administration, have encouraged her to set up shop and spend a lot of money. It is not reasonable to suggest that she thought that it was quite possible that at no notice she could lose all the money and effort she and her family had put into the place. That is just not how a sane woman of middle age and a large family invests her life savings...is it?

On the other hand, you have this company called Newfound Pinneys Ltd. set up with great fanfare by some Canadian Real Estate hustlers five years ago. They bought some 600 acres of our NHLDC land and promised a 5 Star Hotel, 400 high quality villas, an eighteen hole golf course, tennis facilities etc., and jobs for 700 Nevisians. They were given the most extraordinarily advantageous tax concession by the CCM Administration. For a while we would hear that this hotel group or the other was coming to Nevis. They didn’t. But in March 2007 the new NRP Administration renegotiated the deal thereby recovering some 172 acres of land, land which could have but did not include Lyndeta’s 30430 sq. ft. We were told the Starwood Hotel Group was to develop 40 acres, that Newfound would work together with the Administration to restore the beach in front of their property, that they would increase the width of the beach by 200 feet, that they would offer the equivalent of off island scholarships for training for higher level employment, and that they would establish a vocational school on Nevis. In five years not one of Newfound’s promised investments has even begun, and yet their first action on our soil is to try to get rid of the only successful local business on their entire acreage.

It is plain that when this NRP Administration renegotiated with Newfound for the ‘return’ of 172 acres they should have included the disputed 30430 sq. ft. within it. If they were able in March 2007, on account of Newfound’s failure to comply with its undertakings to require a new agreement, surely after another three years of non-performance by Newfound they would be in a similar position to effect a return of at least this ¾ acre. After all, this Administration made special arrangements for Sunshine and Chevy when they as squatters were evicted. It would look bad, I believe, if the Administration allowed Newfound to pull down the curtains on this splendid little Nevisian business. If they think it doesn’t matter, then they have lost touch with their voters.  Standing up for this Nevisian business would earn respect and much needed support.