Published 18 October 2017
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
Did PM Harris stay away from IMF/World Bank meetings to avoid other Caribbean and international leaders?
Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 18th 2017 – Speculation that the Federation’s Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris, stayed away from the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, D.C., to avoid facing fellow Caribbean prime ministers and world leaders over the hastily conceived Hurricane Relief Fund and other related issues.
“Several important meetings have been missed by the prime minister and minister of finance. The questions that loom large in our minds and the minds of the people of St. Kitts and Nevis are what is Dr. Harris hiding from the international community? Why? Is it after severe criticism for slashing by 50 percent the so-called platinum Citizenship by Investment Programme of St. Kitts and Nevis? Why has Dr. Timothy Harris started a race to the bottom of the industry with regard to the St. Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Programme? With concern why is Dr. Harris, who loves to travel, hiding from his colleagues not only from the Caribbean but also from the international community as well?” asked the Right Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, the former prime minister and minister of finance.
Dr. Douglas is of the view “that Dr. Harris has become tremendously embarrassed over the introduction of the Hurricane Relief Fund, which has been appropriately labelled a slush fund and which the international community and leaders begun to frown upon, especially based on his deception on which the Hurricane Relief Fund – a slush fund – of Dr. Harris has been initiated.”
The controversial fund which has been riddled with contradictions even at the highest levels of the government of St. Kitts and Nevis and has stakeholders wondering whether the option will be pursued to the end or reversed.
Dr. Harris was not among finance ministers from Latin America and the Caribbean and senior officials attending the annual IMF and World Bank meetings as well as sessions with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the US Treasury Department which discussed policy options to promote inclusive financial systems and deeper regional integration to help strengthen economic growth prospects.
Dr. Harris was also absent from several other very important meetings including the Caribbean Partners Dialogue on Hurricanes with the Organisation of American States (OAS); the World Bank-CARICOM meeting, the Small States Forum chaired by the prime minister of Grenada, Dr Keith Mitchell, and the Virgin Group led by Sir Richard Bronson at which hurricane recovery was discussed.
Local stakeholders wonder why Dr. Harris held meetings of the Estimates Committee in Basseterre to coincide with the annual IMF/World Bank meetings.
