Nevis: Premier Brantley addresses virtual address on Incentivizing Work Effort

St Kitts and Nevis: The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Aviation of St Kitts and Nevis and Premier of Nevis Mark Brantley virtually addressed a Special Meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) on March 9, 2022. The special meeting discussed the topic “Incentivizing Work Effort”.

Everson Hull, Permanent Representative of Saint Kitts and Nevis, conducted the Special Meeting was proposed by the Chair of the Permanent Council and shed light on a topic.

During the virtual integration, Minister Brantley noted that the decline in productivity was deeply troubling. He further was quoted, “It is a major national and regional issue as it dampens the flow of Foreign Direct Investment to the region. It snuffs out employment as well as the flow of income and, it propels a human capital flight, as our best and brightest head for the exits, in search of better alternative opportunities.”

He further stated, “If the practices of compensating everyone at the same level are continued it means that some of the individuals will not give that extra effort because there is no reward in it for me and now we would dampen down the performance of everyone, by not incentivizing those who do well.”

Foreign Minister Brantley further notified, “If the authorities of St Kitts and Nevis were to incentivize the performance of those who do well, that would have a bottom-up effect, in the sense that others will be motivated. I want to be like them because they are making more; they are doing better because of their performance.” He further remarked, “Hopefully, this conversation will lead to a change in policy across the OAS, across the member states and certainly here in Saint Kitts and Nevis”.

In the end, he stated, “Hopefully, we can continue this discussion, well beyond the Chairmanship of Dr Hull, as we seek to reengineer our region and to make us best in class.”