MP Akeem Arrindell
~ Buncamper ranks highest ~
PHILIPSBURG--Member of Parliament (MP) Akeem Arrindell, who recently declared himself Independent, has registered the lowest attendance record for Parliament’s public and Central Committee (CC) meetings for the 2020-2021 parliamentary year, while Independent MP Claudius “Toontje” Buncamper scored highest with a perfect attendance record for both public and CC meetings and an almost perfect record for meetings of the various Parliamentary committees. Arrindell could not be reached for comment on his attendance record.
According to figures published in Parliament’s 2020-2021 Annual Report, Arrindell was only present for 40 per cent of the CC meetings of Parliament. He was present for 18 CC meetings, absent without notice for 15 and absent with notice for 12.
When it comes to public meetings, he was present for 65 per cent – he attended 17 public meetings, was absent without notice for seven and absent with notice for two.
When it came to meetings of the various committees of Parliament, Arrindell has zero-attendance records for meetings of a number of Parliamentary committees. He attended zero meetings of Parliament’s Committee of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI (one absent with notice and one absent without); zero meetings of Parliament’s Committee of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) (absence with notice twice and absent without notice thrice); zero meetings of Parliament’s Committee Country Expenditures (absent without notice once and with notice once); zero meetings of the Committee of Parlatino Matters (absent with notice for the one meeting held); zero meetings of the Committee New Parliament Building (absent with notice for the one meeting held); zero meetings of the Committee for District Councils (absent with notice for the one meeting held).
Buncamper stood out with an almost perfect attendance record for public meetings, meetings of the Central Committee and the various committee meetings of Parliament. According to the figures in the Annual Report, he attended every meeting except one meeting of the Constitutional Affairs and Decolonization Committee, for which he was absent with notice because he had to appear in court for witness hearings.
He has a 100 per cent attendance record for public meetings, meetings of the Central Committee and for every other Parliamentary Committee with the exception of one meeting of the Committee of Constitutional Affairs and Decolonization.
According to the report, for public meetings of Parliament, National Alliance (NA) MPs Angelique Romou and Solange Duncan registered a 100 per cent attendance record; Party for Progress (PFP) MP Raeyhon Peterson and United People’s (UP) party MP Grisha Heyliger-Marten both registered a 96 per cent attendance record, being present for 25 of the 26 public meetings held; NA MP George Pantophlet has a 92 per cent attendance record; UP MP Sidharth “Cookie” Bijlani, Independent MP Christophe Emmanuel and NA MP Hyacinth Richardson 89 per cent; PFP MP Melissa Gumbs, UP MP Rolando Brison, United Democrats (UD) MP Sarah Wescot-Williams and NA MP William Marlin 85 per cent; and former MP Omar Ottley, who left Parliament to take up a post in the Council of Ministers, registered an 85 per cent attendance record. UP MP Ludmila de Weever, who returned to Parliament just before the close of the parliamentary year after serving in the Council of Ministers, is marked as absent with notice for three meetings.
For meetings of the Central Committee, Pantophlet attended 98 per cent of the 45 meetings held; Emmanuel 93 per cent; Heyliger-Marten 91 per cent; Duncan 89 per cent; Richardson, Gumbs and Bijlani 87 per cent; Peterson 78 per cent; Marlin 76 per cent; Ottley 75 per cent; and Brison 67 per cent. The attendance statistics for Romou, Wescot-Williams and De Weever were not included in the record for Central Committee meetings in what appeared to have been an inadvertent error.
