Basseterre, St.Kitts (TUCOM):- As the country reflects on the wasteful electioneering expenditures of the government and the lawless behavior of the regime we note that the Financial Secretary, regrettably does not have the oversight over the bulk of monies which are being used at the whims and fancies of Denzil Douglas to finance his electioneering campaign priorities.
Public resources acquired through the (SIDF) Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation are directed to meet the political agenda of the invalidated Douglas regime.
The majority of the projects being done are not financed by central government resources that is the Consolidated Fund/Treasury but by what is known here as a political slush fund nicknamed the SIDF.
The Foundation masterminded by the parasitic oligarchy and headed by friends and lackeys of the administration is now the most important provider of public resources/ expenditure.
SIDF not only has given away millions to support Douglas pet projects in the South Peninsula and White Gate it has done so without parliamentary oversight and approval.
The Slush Fund has been used to build by pass roads, roads in various constituencieswhere the incumbent is trailing, to finance PEP, REACH, renovations at Basseterre High School and various schools, etc.Contacts are being awarded by the invention of the Douglas candidates rather than through proper bidding and tendering processes.
This creates opportunities for misappropriation of public monies, corruption, misfeasance and malfeasance. Ultimately the people pay for this election through higher taxes, increasing Vat, electricity, social services levy and generally high costs of living and a society falling apart because of corruption and kickback.
We must save our country from this wasteful and corrupt use of public expenditure and the illegal use of public resources to fund the election of the incumbent. A new era of honesty decency and sensitivity must return to St. Kitts and Nevis. Team Unity is willing and able to lead our country.
This bifurcation of public monies between the Treasury/ Consolidated Fund and the SIDF has reduced the role of the Financial Secretary to one of irrelevance since the real government action is not happening via the Treasury but rather through the SIDF.
SIDF is operating from proceeds of our people’s most sacred asset ietheir citizenship should such public monies be going into the Consolidated Fund. Contrary to law, the illegitimate Douglas regime has placed those monies in the SIDF.Unlike Antigua, Dominica and Grenada there is no Parliamentary oversight of SIDF. It operates as the personal Slush Fund of the Denzil Douglas cabal.
There is no reporting of the number of passports processed via that route. What we do know is that on 20thMay 2014 the US Treasury publicly declared that illicit actors were using the Citizenship by Investment Programme of St Kitts and Nevis for their nefarious purposes including to evade U.S. Security and to commit financial crimes. United States alerted all financial institutions to be wary.
Since that announcement the government has been talking about reforming without effecting real reforms. The illicit actorsappear to be holding the programme captive. Meantime a press release from the U.S Embassy in Barbados warned that holders of St Kitts and Nevis passports will experience delays and increasing difficulties in obtaining US visas.
Our passports are diminishing in value. Several fugitives of the law have acquired them, some of those who have been charged with criminal offenses still carry our diplomatic passports. The Douglas regime has scandalized our country and people for too long. It is time for it to go.
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