CBI POLITICAL WAR IN LOCAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA AMONGST SAINT KITTS OFFICIALS OVER MISSING 800 MILLION; TROUBLE IN PARADISE

Amidst the background of  USD$800m in unpaid CBI revenue owed by the program as a distribution to Nevis, and the subject of a major complaint lodged by its Premier, MARK BRANTLEY, both the current Saint Kitts Prime Minister TERRANCE DREW, and former PM TIMOTHY HARRIS, are hotly engaged in a dispute over which one's administration was guilty of mismanagement, recklessness and compromise. Drew has been using the government-controlled captive media in the two island nation, to criticize Harris' CBI decisions whilst he was in office, and the former PM is publicly airing his claims that Drew's administration is solely to blame for the many problems currently facing the CBI program, which saw a major decline in new applications in 2025.Their very public catfight, especially coming at a time where U.S. intelligence services, and the European Commission are looking at everything coming out of the Caribbean CBI countries, and in view of the American new policies in the Western Hemisphere, exposes the program to additional, and definitely unwanted, attention from abroad.

Kittitians are all asking: Where did $800m of CBI money go, since it was never disbursed to Nevis? The posts of Timothy Harris' party raises good questions, as do the social media of PM Drew; all are asking about who was responsible for the missing money? To add to the confusion, rampant rumors are flying around Basseterre, the capital, that CBI money has been illegally comingled with the accounts of the largest Saint Kitts embassies, where it is outside the control of the CIU, the government agency tasked with administering the program, and holding the funds in escrow.

There is an additional problem; the acrimonious dispute between these two national leaders is playing out very publicly, while America is watching this on social media. Also, we learned that some CBI applications were funded with cryptocurrency, making it virtually impossible to properly trace Source of Funds during mandatory due diligence inquiries, and creating fears that the CBI program will be unable to comply with the new regional guidelines and requirements, making it subject to potential regulatory enforcement, which will greatly reduce its attractiveness in the very competitive economic citizenship industry.

We cannot say whether the Saint Kitts & Nevis CBI program will end up terminated, like the  similar programs that formerly existed among three Members of the European Union, but the problems appear to be multiplying in 2026 for Saint Kitts.