Dear Editor,
As a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda, I write with deep concern about the ongoing rhetoric coming from Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines regarding the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program.
Time and again, Prime Minister Gonsalves has publicly attacked CBI programs, calling them reckless, unsustainable, corrupt, and vulgarizing them as nothing more than “passport selling.” But what is most alarming is not just the tone of his remarks. It is the damage they may cause to a program that has helped Caribbean nations like mine build resilience, create opportunity, and secure our economic future.
In Antigua and Barbuda, the CBI program has helped finance critical infrastructure, fund healthcare, create jobs, and provide scholarships to our young people. We have used this tool responsibly. So have Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Dominica is building an international airport and a geothermal project with CBI funds. Grenada has built hospitals and tourism infrastructure. These are not fantasies. These are real outcomes.
Yet Prime Minister Gonsalves, who hails from a country that has among the highest youth unemployment rates in the region—over 42 percent—has decided to lead the global chorus against CBI. This is despite the fact that Saint Vincent and the Grenadines suffers from crumbling infrastructure, aging public buildings, struggling hospitals, and economic stagnation. SVG desperately needs new, sustainable revenue. A well-managed CBI program could help provide that.
Instead, Dr. Gonsalves is undermining the very program that is lifting other OECS countries out of hardship. And worse, his words give ammunition to those in Europe and North America who want to end visa-free access and tighten immigration restrictions on our citizens. His voice, sadly, has become a weapon against his own people and against the region he so often claims to champion.
We understand if Washington, Ottawa, or Brussels take issue with CBI. They are far removed from our struggles. But when one of our own, one who speaks of Caribbean integration and regional unity, chooses to tear down what works for others, it is no longer critique. It is sabotage. It is a betrayal.
Let me be clear. No one claims the CBI program is perfect. It must be governed with transparency, diligence, and accountability. But to denounce it outright, when it has helped thousands and could help thousands more, is short-sighted at best and destructive at worst.
It is time for Prime Minister Gonsalves to consider the harm his words are doing, not just to his own people, but to a region that depends on creativity, cooperation, and economic tools that work.
Sincerely,
Nigel A. Lewis, BA, MBA
Citizen of Antigua and Barbuda
The views expressed are not those of Asberth News Network