By: Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Thursday 5th June 2025)-Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew, Minister of Finance and National Security, has accused immediate past former Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris, of secretly negotiating a “horrible deal” concerning Christophe Harbour during his (Harris’) tenure between 2017 and 2018 which his present government struck down.
“I met that deal on the table when I entered [office]…“I did not reveal it because there was an audit that was taking place with the SIDF,” PM Drew stated during his The Roundtable media session held on Tuesday 3rd June 2025.
“Did any of you know about the deal they were making? Was there a press release, a press conference, an address-any type of information to say to the country that the Timothy Harris-led administration was seeking to establish a deal…”
PM Drew’s statement came one day after Dr. Harris delivered a national address raising questions about the government’s recent handling of the sale of Christophe Harbour’s marina assets.
“It’s unfortunate that the former prime minister went on radio and gave a national address-he’s not even the leader of the opposition-out of order, and lie to the people; just lie to the people,” PM Drew commented.
He outlined what he described as a “secret deal” negotiated by the Harris-led administration between 2017 and 2018. According to Drew, the former government sought to hand over an overwhelming majority stake in the Christophe Harbour without public disclosure.
Dr. Drew emphasized that while the government owns no land on the Southeast Peninsula-which was always private-St. Kitts and Nevis, through the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation (SIDF), had invested EC $17 million into the Christophe Harbour project around 2012–2013 which gave the country a 30% ownership stake.
“In this deal that Timothy Harris was seeking to do in 2017, 2018, [he was] to turn over almost all of the ownership to Christophe Harbour,” Drew revealed. “Giving up over 30% interest-that’s about EC $80 to $100 million in today’s value.”
PM Drew claimed the deal was being done in secret and would have left St. Kitts and Nevis “the laughing stock of the region,” adding, “The Harris-led administration began secretly negotiating an outrageous deal with Darby. Nobody knows about this deal. This deal was done in the dark.”
In his address on Monday 2nd June, Dr. Harris criticized the government’s lack of transparency regarding the recent sale of marina assets to Safe Harbour Marinas, calling it “glaringly devoid of actual transparency.”
“[Prime Minister Drew] proclaimed openness,” Harris said, “yet he has refused to reveal the terms of the purchase agreement, the identity of all beneficiaries, or the concessions extended to the new owners of one of our nation’s most prized coastal assets.”
Dr. Harris questioned what tax breaks and incentives were promised, for how long, and how the proceeds from the sale were distributed, stating, “Why is the public still in the dark about the value of the sale and how the proceeds were in fact distributed?”
PM Drew, during The Roundtable session, highlighted that his administration halted the deal inherited from the Harris administration saying: “It was a bad deal-a horrible deal-that was throwing St. Kitts and Nevis and the SIDF under the bus.”