An Immigration Blunder or Vote Bank Creation?

I was listening to a talk formatted program yesterday and the issue regarding the freeing up of requirement for Indians and Russians to come to this country was discussed. I must point out here that I agree fully with the concerns expressed. Those concerns relate to persons who initially would have come into the country to invest, work etc. The host indicated that after they have been here for some time and have become comfortable and have settled in they may not be willing to return to their home country considering that they may have been at the lower end of the social ladder at home.

In relation to these persons wanting to remain in this country, the host raised a very important issue related to elections. His concern (and I support this concern) was that by having persons come here and eventually being able to vote, a government can secure victory at the polls. This is very possible, think otherwise and you are fooling yourself. This was done decades ago with our neighbouring islanders.

The issue of persons coming into our country and eventually being able to vote and as voters would be loyal to a particular party has been a concern by many for a long time. We all have heard of the complaints about persons from up the islands coming in and voting for a particular party thereby giving them an unfair hold on power. Which over time contributed to the mess we are in today, because of this advantage, there was no real democracy in terms of our elections. It is in this context I share the concerns of this host

I cannot understand why any government would have to go out of their way to get persons to invest in a country, It is either we are attractive to investors or not. And if we are attractive to foreign investors, then we should be capitalising on those investments, not create a situation where persons would come in, get all these perks and then export their earnings. How does the country benefit from this arrangement? Unless of course the aim is not investment.

The same goes for tourism, tourist are attracted to what a country can offer in terms of its sites, culture etc. In other words, what that country has that is unique so as to get people to visit. Tourists, IMO would not be attracted to a country as a tourist destination because they don’t have to get a VISA, I don’t get this.