THE Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis was all abuzz with the buzz word “progress” leading up to the opening of the Southeast Peninsula on Friday, December 22, 1989. Construction began on the six-and-a-quarter-mile road in January 1988.
Funded mainly by grant and loan funds from the United States Agency for International Development (U.S.A.I.D.), the road lengthened the total land mass of St. Kitts by nearly 20 percent.
SKNVibes pored over copies of The Democrat and Labour Spokesman Newspapers published in 1989 and found that, back then, the ruling political party pegged the buzz word “progress” to the Southeast Peninsula Project. The ruling People’s Action Movement (PAM) did so, much in the way the ruling Labour Party is doing it in the present day.
Our investigation also found that, two decades ago, the Labour Party accused the ruling PAM Party of underplaying the former ruling party’s contributions to infrastructural development. As is the case now, 20 years ago, the opposition party claimed that completed and ongoing projects it embarked upon while in power helped to lay the foundation for progress.
Looking at the Southeast Peninsula as a debutante or society lady, we can say that she was fathered by a political leader whose name she carries. However, another leader, whom we can call her adopted father, raised her into puberty and adulthood. Both gentlemen surely hold high hopes and strong ambitions for her because their political legacies are tied closely to the type of lady she will become.
So the adopted father scarcely mentions her paternity. Rather, he emphasizes that he and his comrades not only groomed her but also facilitated for her the right connections with people and opportunities.
A May 19, 2008 story by the Communications Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister (CUOPM) quoted Prime Minister the Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas as saying, “Comrades, there is now a discernible buzz in regional and international forums concerning the continued activities and continued progress in St. Kitts and Nevis. Foreign investors are excited about the prospects for investment in our Federation and competing nations have their eyes firmly fixed on the developments here in our Federation. Indeed, St. Kitts and Nevis is now poised to assume a prominent position among the high-end luxury tourist destinations in the world. This is a most remarkable achievement in view of our heavy dependence on sugar production and the absence of viable projects and prospects when Labour assumed office over a decade ago.”
Then, in January 2009, a CUOPM story paraphrased the Prime Minister, stating he noted that, when he took office in 1995, “the Southeast Peninsula was merely a home for cattle and goats, with little or no immediate prospects for development.”
Born two decades ago, the Southeast Peninsula will soon have her coming-out party when the Christophe Harbour development project is completed. From then on, the Southeast Peninsula – the debutante or socialite – will live in the lap of luxury. The shi shi sound of the development project, which has a French first name, certainly was calculated.
Déjà vu?
Nineteen eighty-nine’s Budget Day, which fell on Tuesday, January 17, rankled Labour so much that its mouthpiece, The Labour Spokesman, retaliated with a story the very next day.
It was titled “An Exercise in Deception – Simmonds’ 1989 Budget.” The sub-title was “Country saddled with National Debt of over $200 million.”
The Labour Spokesman story estimated that the National Debt was well over $200 million. It also said of the budget that, “It is predicated upon a lie, namely that PAM took over the country where there was hardly any development and the infrastructure was inadequate.”
It stated that, “Labour left many projects completed and on-going and Labour left the Simmonds government plenty of money – a surplus of over $7 million. Dr. Simmonds said that his government has been accused of putting the country into heavy financial debt. He denied the accusation but refused to say how much the debt was.” [Twenty years later, PAM now accuses Labour of accelerating the National Debt.]
The Labour Spokesman’s rant seemed only to encourage PAM. On Saturday, January 21, its mouthpiece, The Democrat, declared in an editorial that, “Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Right Honourable Dr. Kennedy Simmonds, in a very eloquent style delivered what can truly be called a Budget for progress.”
It boasted that, “Since 1980 a great deal of infrastructural work had been undertaken and would continue during the current year.”
Tourism expansion reportedly accelerated in the late 80s
If PAM appeared cocky, this could have been due to the Party’s assurance that it would win the upcoming General Elections.
On March 21, 1989, PAM won six of the eight seats in St. Kitts, as it had in 1984.
One month later, the Saturday, April 22 edition of The Democrat stated that, “Visitor arrivals in St. Kitts and Nevis increased significantly in 1988 and the recorded figures are 25% higher than the previous year. The disclosure was made here by the Deputy Director of Tourism, Mr. Goldwin O. Caines, who added that last year’s count amounted to 123,250 as against 97,890 in 1987.”
It added that, “The Tourism Official further stated that there was a tremendous hike in Yacht and Cruise Ship passenger arrivals. In that category, 56,650 tourists arrived here in 1988, representing a 70% increase over the year before when the tally amounted to 31,440. According to Mr. Caines, there were 197 Yacht and Cruise Ship calls last year compared to 136 in 1987.”
The newspaper also noted that Mr. Caines said the visitor arrivals trend so far for the year indicated there would be “an even greater overall increase in 1989.”
Labour Spokesman: only one hotel was benefitting, focus should not be on one road
This news did not stop the Labour Party from continually ripping PAM’s tourism record. For instance, in its Saturday, July 1, 1989 editorial titled “100 More Days of Simmonds,” The Labour Spokesman declared that only one hotel on St. Kitts was benefitting from tourism.
“So what is the report on the tourist industry after the first 100 days of the new government? Except for Jack Tar Village, the hotels are generally scrunting lots of empty rooms, in spite of special rates and package deals. The hotels are desperately trying to snatch the bits and pieces which have reached the guest houses,” The Labour Spokesman editorial read.
The editorial continued: “And where were the big cruise ships during June? Where were the thousands of tourists to push us down on the streets of Basseterre, as Powell boasted?
Ask the specialized shops that cater for the tourists how things are going.”
It concluded: “The truth is that the tourist industry’s ‘dull season’ has sunk its teeth into the industry’s neck and all taxi-drivers, tour operators, hotel and guest-house owners, shop proprietors and their staffs are focused on one matter right now – SURVIVAL!”
In its Wednesday, October 18, 1989 editorial, The Labour Spokesman wrote, “Let us become more aggressive in our marketing plan. Let us become more creative. We must see Tourism as being more than an East Peninsula Road…Tourism will have little meaning if only Jack Tar is full, while other hotels and guesthouses are quite empty.”
Simmonds: Southeast Peninsula development project is a shining example…
On Saturday, April 29, 1989, The Democrat featured the Southeast Peninsula development project.
The story was titled: The Southeast Peninsula Development Project Is A Shining Example…
The sub-head read: Prime Minister Simmonds said at a luncheon for the OECS Financing Workshop at Jack Tar Village, Friday 28th, April, 1989 (Text of his Address Below).
In his speech, Prime Minister Simmonds said that, “The Southeast Peninsula development project, which is currently being implemented, is a shining example of my Government’s initiative in infrastructural development.”
The Prime Minister added that, “The project entails a comprehensive development programme including the provision of a penetration road running from Frigate Bay to Majors Bay, the installation of utilities including water, electricity, telephone and Cable T.V., the implementation of a land use and environment program and the execution of a fiscal recovery programme.”
In a speech delivered to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce almost one month later on Friday, May 19, Prime Minister Simmonds said – as reported by The Democrat – that our improved infrastructure had been one of the more important factors in encouraging, as he put it, “the massive inflows of foreign investment capital.”
The Democrat outlined the sale of some SE Peninsula lands
Just two weeks before Prime Minister Simmonds’ Chamber speech, The Democrat ran the following front page headline on Saturday, May 6, 1989: “Banana Bay Sold – St. Kitts-Nevis Gearing Up For The 21st Century…New 200 Room Hotel To Be Built At Banana Bay.”
The accompanying story detailed the sale of the 30-room Banana Bay Hotel to the Sandals Resorts Group of Jamaica. [A later edition of The Democrat said Sandals purchased the site from local hotel pioneer Colin Pereira.] This new luxury hotel would be the fifth hotel in the chain and the first outside of Jamaica, the story said.
The May 6, 1989 story stated that, “The Minister [of Tourism, Honourable Michael Powell] declared that the new owner, Jamaican Mr. Butch Stewart, was referred to him personally by Mr. F. Delora, a Vice President at American Airlines, who has indicated that his company has every confidence in the economic situation in St. Kitts as their projections have shown that St. Kitts-Nevis will be the premier tourist destination in the entire Caribbean over the next decade.”
It added that, “In relating further developments in the area, Minister Powell stated that on 20th March the day before the last General Elections, he was happy to be present to toast the closing of another Peninsula transaction in which, Mr. Kamal Alsultany, the former owner of Mullet Bay Hotel in St. Martin, concluded the purchase of 151 acres of land in the Cockleshell Bay area, next door to Banana Bay.”
The story continued: “He also recalled that in 1987 the Dumez Group of France who have just broken ground for a 200-room Four Seasons Hotel in Nevis, purchased 1042 acres of land on the Peninsula, including the Great Salt Pond. They propose to build another major hotel at Sand Bank Bay on the Atlantic Coast, which is considered to be the best ‘undiscovered’ beach in St. Kitts. At the moment, negotiations are under way by another group for the purchase of the Little Salt Pond, which would be the centre of another massive tourist development project including a marina.”
It also stated that, “This area holds the best beaches on the island, and projected development on the Peninsula as of now is expected to be in excess of $1 billion before the turn of the century,” adding “The Democrat welcomes the Sandals Resorts to St. Kitts-Nevis and congratulates the Honourable Minister and the PAM/NRP Government for their dedication to the development of tourism in the pursuit of progress for our twin island federation.”
Unlocking of the Southeast Peninsula a cause for great anxiety?
Down the line, the Sandals project did not come to fruition, but PAM still had every reason to gloat in December 1989. So it did this in a Saturday, December 16 editorial titled “Opening up the Peninsula to the People.”
The Democrat editorial said that, “Based on what has been published in the Labour Spokesman over the years and what has been preached by high officials of the Labour Party, the Government is wrong to allow the ordinary man and woman easy access to the Southeast Peninsula.”
It continued: “The ceremony that will take place next week will therefore be a great affront to the officials of the Labour Party as they believe that only top party officials and the kings of capitalism should be allowed such ‘luxuries.’”
The editorial added that, “The leaders of the Labour Party believe that there should be special areas and special shops reserved for party officials as happens in East Germany and the rest of the communist world. So the unlocking of the Southeast Peninsula will cause them great anxiety.”
It should be noted that SKNVibes used the Charles A. Halbert Public Library as its research source. According to its staff, the library does not have copies of newspaper issues prior to 1989. So SKNVibes could not confirm through its research source that the Labour Party actually expressed this view “over the years” before 1989.
Prime Minister Douglas has said publicly though that Kittitians and Nevisians always must have access to the Southeast Peninsula.
SKNVibes used extensive quotes from both The Democrat and The Labour Spokesman Newspapers to offer a primer on the history of the Southeast Peninsula and to show how politicians and their mouthpieces have used it – along with the development of the tourism industry in general – as a convenient political football since its inception.
Hopefully, you will be spurred to do your own independent research on the 20-year-old saga of the Southeast Peninsula.
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