If his meeting with Prime Minister William Marlin in Aruba next week doesn’t lead the latter to cooperate with establishing an Integrity Chamber for St. Maarten the Kingdom Government will issue an instruction, warned Dutch Minster of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk (see related story). In his view, Philipsburg must simply stick to the 2015 law enforcement protocol, despite the fact that the terms it mentions have long passed.
These comments come on the heels of a written order by acting Prime Minister Rafael Boasman to all civil servants telling them that no officials are allowed to meet with The Hague-appointed Quartermaster for the Integrity Chamber Hans Leijtens, who arrived on the island last Sunday. Plasterk wisely chose not to react directly on the letter pending his talks with Marlin.
If the threat is acted on, a General Measure of Kingdom Governance now on hold at the Council of State will be reactivated. However, exactly what this would entail remains unclear.
After all, the Government of St. Maarten did actually present a National Ordinance to set up such a chamber that Parliament passed too. It was subsequently struck down by the Constitutional Court at the request of the Ombudsman for being in possible conflict with the rights of privacy and to a fair trial.
Surely, the idea cannot be for the William Marlin Cabinet II to go against that ruling. The most one could imagine is being “instructed” to amend the law so it will pass legal scrutiny.
Officially that was already being done, but it’s also true that both the Council of Ministers and Parliament have stated recently that they no longer want it. Unless this changes, reaching a compromise seems unlikely at this point.
Of course, the Council of State may still have something to say about the matter, although the announced nomination of controversial former State Secretary of Security and Justice Fred Teeven as member doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Talk about integrity!
