PHILIPSBURG--The letter from Acting Prime Minister Rafael Boasman instructing civil servants not to cooperate with the Dutch Government appointed quartermaster remains in place and the gag order will only be lifted when a consensus has been reached by the Governments in St. Maarten and The Hague.
When asked at the Council of Ministers Press Briefing on Wednesday, what happens to the orders issued in the February letter while Ministers on both sides of the Atlantic continue to discuss a resolution to the impasse over establishment of the Integrity Chamber, Boasman said, “As far as I am concerned as long as that issue is not yet resolved; as long as the Ministers are still talking then the letter remains in force.”
“There is no need to come talk … in what capacity … to talk about what? Let us wait until the Ministers have resolved the issue and then we will know better,” Boasman said.
The Dutch Government appointed a quartermaster in January without consultation with the local Government. The quartermaster’s first visit to the country in February sparked the letter to civil servants from Boasman.
Prime Minister William Marlin and Finance Minister Richard Gibson Sr. met with Dutch Minister for Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk last week in Aruba ahead of the Overseas Territories and Countries-European Union Conference.
