Cover Photo: Premier, Hon. Mark Brantley
By Erasmus Williams
Charlestown, Nevis, July 1, 2020 – With three ministers in the Federal Cabinet, the Charlestown-based Nevis Island Administration (NIA) of Premier Hon Mark Brantley, has called for an urgent meeting with the Federal Government.
Brantley has expressed the view that Nevis is not getting the percentage share that was agreed to in the Charlestown Accord in 2014 and has called for talks with prime minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris to rectify that situation.
“There have been issues that have bedevilled the relationship between St Kitts and Nevis over the years, and one of the fundamental issues was the sharing of resources. And the Charlestown Accord sought to address that, sought to ensure that the talents that were available in Nevis were unleashed for public and national development as well. We have made good progress, for example in the area of foreign affairs, the fact that Nevisians are now participating in diplomacy a role that they had been hitherto denied and I take great pride that as minister of foreign affairs,” said Premier Brantley at a recent press conference..
“I have shepherded that particular aspect where Nevisians since 2015, and for the first time in the history of the country, are ambassadors and working in the diplomatic core at home and abroad. … And we have seen Nevis and Nevisians getting a better share of the national resources that flow from the Citizenship by Investment Programme,” said Brantley.
According to WINNFM, premier Brantley is of the view that what was promised in the Charlestown Accord has not been fully delivered, and he wants to see that happen.
“I, however, have been on record saying and I continue to say, that the full rigor of the Charlestown Accord has not yet been implemented and that is something that I have already telescoped to the prime minister has to be done and done early in this term that we have to give full rigor to the terms of the Charlestown Accord particularly as they relate to the sharing of resources from the Citizenship by Investment Program. Those resources continue to be lopsided in terms of the share that goes to our brothers and sisters in St Kitts compared to what comes to the island of Nevis.
“And so, while Nevis is getting more than it has ever received in the history of the country, we know that we are not getting what was agreed in terms of percentage shares and that now has to be a matter of urgent discussion and resolution between the NIA and the federal government,” Brantley, who is also Minister of Foreign Affairs and Aviation in the Federal Cabinet.
The other two full-time ministers in the Nevis Island Administration who are also full-time federal cabinet ministers in Basseterre are Hon Eric Evelyn and Hon Alexis Jeffers.
Evelyn, who is Minister of Culture, Youth, Sports, Community Development and Telecommunications and Information in the Nevis Island Administration in Charlestown is also the Federal Minister of Environment and Cooperatives in Basseterre.
Jeffers, the Deputy Premier of Nevis and that island’s Minister of Agriculture, Lands, Housing, Cooperatives and Fisheries, Natural Resources and Disaster Management is also the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine Resource in the Federal Government in Basseterre.
Brantley, the Premier of Nevis and that island’s Minister of Finance, Statistics, Economic Planning, Education, Library Services, Human Resources, Industry, Trade and Consumer Affairs, Health, Tourism and Information Technology, Public Utilities and Energy and Foreign Investments holds the portfolio of Foreign Affairs and Civil Aviation in the federal cabinet.
As elected representatives in the Nevis Island Administration in Charlestown and the St Kitts and Nevis National Assembly in Basseterre and holding ministerial posts in the Cabinets of the Nevis Island Administration and the Federal Government in Basseterre, Brantley, Jeffers and Evelyn are entitled to receive two ministerial salaries, two constituency allowances, two travelling allowances and two telephone allowances monthly.