Opinions were pretty divided, certainly on the Dutch side, over the caretaker Council of Ministers not attending official St. Martin/St. Maarten Day celebrations hosted by the French side. Some considered it a justified response to the recent incident at Captain Oliver’s in Oyster Pond, while others believed they had broken with a long-standing tradition and only made things worse.
That Parliament passed a unanimous motion to condemn what took place in support of Prime Minister William Marlin was to be expected. The boycott by cabinet members came as somewhat of a surprise, although technically outgoing Minister of Public Health, Labour and Social Affairs Emil Lee was there, be it also in his new capacity as Member of Parliament for opposition party DP.
There were a few inquiries as to why neither Governor Eugene Holiday nor Acting Governor Reynold Groeneveldt showed up. It’s important to remember that in addition to representing the Crown and the Kingdom Government, the Governor is formally the head of the Government of St. Maarten.
Due to the latter, still attending might have been seen as going against the Council of Ministers. It’s a rather complicated matter, but then it regards an international border conflict.
DP leader Sarah Wescot-Williams in any case questioned the role of the Governor and chided Parliament President Claret Conner (UP) for joining elected representatives of the incoming UP/NA coalition and others in staying away from the ceremonies. In her opinion, the Chair must always represent the entire legislature and there was no decision for Parliament to boycott the proceedings.
Maybe she has a point, but the President is very much considered as one of his party’s fraction members when voting or taking positions during meetings. In that sense joining them might seem understandable, even if perhaps not according to protocol.
Rather than quibbling over who was right, what’s needed now is to resolve this ongoing dispute once and for all, while establishing clear guidelines on what is and what isn’t permissible in the meantime.
