UPDATE
NA MPs Rodolphe Samuel and Romeo Pantophlet leave the hall during Thursday’s meeting.
PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) passed three motions on Thursday, one of which was a motion of no confidence against six of the seven ministers in the Marlin Cabinet, ending attempts by Prime Minister William Marlin to form a national Government and dismissing calls from coalition MPs to pursue this route.
The motion of no confidence, passed by the recently formed coalition of eight, was against Ministers Marlin, Silveira Jacobs, Christophe Emmanuel, Rafael Boasman, Melissa Arrindell-Doncher and Richard Gibson. Democratic Party (DP) Minister Emil Lee was not included in no-confidence motion.
Six of the seven MPs of the now minority parties in Parliament voted against the motion of no confidence, but were not present for the voting on the two other motions tabled and passed (see related story). MP Ardwell Irion was absent from the meeting with notice.
The no-confidence motion stated that Parliament has no confidence in the ability of Government to rectify its impasse with the Dutch Government; to correct its shortcomings and to address the urgent needs of St. Maarten. The motion also said there had been “gross neglect” by the Prime Minister in his capacity as chief of disaster management, that Marlin’s repeated confrontational attitude is setting St. Maarten backward rather than forward and that his neglect and attitude have had serious consequences for St. Maarten.
“This is evident in the standoff to get aid from the Kingdom Government on conditions attached for receiving aid,” the motion read. This has jeopardised the flow of reconstruction funds from the Netherlands and it is unlikely that Government’s last-minute agreement with these conditions will have any positive effects on the flow of the funds, it stated.
The motion also said that two months following the hurricane, there still has not been any damage and needs assessment done and Parliament is of the opinion that Government has failed in its responsibilities to protect the people of St. Maarten in the wake of the disaster.
The tabling of the motion of no confidence by United People’s (UP) party MP Tamara Leonard drew a reaction from National Alliance (NA) MP Rodolphe Samuel, who was critical of no confidence being expressed against the Ministers, who he said were hard workers.
He said the motion in particular against Gibson shows that the coalition is not serious. Samuel said that Gibson, as the country’s Finance Minister, had brought fiscal responsibility to the country and had created history by presenting three balanced budgets for St. Maarten, a first for the country.
“You have got to be ashamed of yourself to bring a motion against the Finance Minister for the kind of work that the Minister has done for this country,” Samuel said. He said also that while Lee was not mentioned in the no-confidence motion, Lee had admitted to the Prime Minister that Marlin had taken “blows” for him.
He also highlighted the work of Arrindell-Doncher, who he said had been in contact with the cruise lines and had multiple meetings with the business community and Emmanuel for the clean-up efforts.
However, he said that Lee, who is responsible for collecting information on residents whose roofs have to be repaired, is holding on to this information knowing that money has been made available by the Council of Ministers to fix roofs.
Earlier in the meeting NA MP George Pantophlet underscored the importance of working together and called on his fellow MPs to do so.
“We can work together on behalf of the people of St. Maarten,” he said referring to the call by Marlin for a national Government. He said the current issue is not about Dutch aid, but rather about power and position.
He reminded the community that St. Maarten was struck by the most powerful hurricane that came off the coast of Africa and persons were blaming Government for not doing anything. He said also that the fact that 70 per cent of businesses will reopen if sufficient security is provided is a sign that St. Maarten is on its way to recovery.
“St. Maarten has done a tremendous job. I am convinced that if we put our minds and heads together that St. Maarten will rebuild faster than anyone,” he said, noting that being divided benefits no one.
UP MP Tamara Leonard urged Marlin to “do the honourable thing.” She said the Prime Minister does not know how to show compassion and does not tell the truth. “How do you trust a Prime Minister who you have to force to tell the truth?” she asked. She said that when she sees Marlin, she sees a person with a big ego, big arrogance, “a load of excuses and a lot of untruth.”
She said that while it is true that Parliament can be dissolved, it does not have to be done. “It’s time to put the people first. He has to go,” she said.
Samuel had said earlier in the meeting that everyone should try to give the national Government a chance. He said Marlin does not want to be Prime Minister of the national Government. Everyone can get together and chose a new one, he said. He suggested that this could be done for a year and a half and parties could then decide to “rumble again,” but said at least the people would be helped by the national Government.
“We will be political and we will tell each other what we have to say, but we need at this time to put the people of St. Maarten first,” he said.
He said also that when the coalition got together it had been decided that if anyone from the coalition goes independent and “throws down the coalition, we will call for re-election. Everyone knew the rules. Don’t act now as if you don’t know.” He called the breaking of the coalition “a shame” which “destabilises the country and is bad for business, as investors don’t like instability.”
UP MP Sidharth “Cookie” Bijlani said he takes no pride in forming a new coalition, but stressed that the present Government had failed the people of St. Maarten on numerous occasions. He said Government was inefficient and lacked leadership. St. Maarten is in need of the Dutch aid and if it had been accepted already, the country would have been in a much better position today, he said.
Government, he added, never gave the population the hope they had been looking for post-Irma. He was also critical of Marlin’s comments about looting post-Hurricane Irma and stressed that calling early elections now would be a waste of the country’s resources. “Yes, it’s time to form a new Government. The current one has failed us and failed the people,” he said.
United St. Maarten Party (US Party) MP Silvio Matser made a passionate call for the various parties to work together. He said all MPs had worked together at one point or another.
“It always happens that marriages break up. This happens in politics, but one thing we must understand is that things happen.” Matser said, adding that there is still a chance for a national Government, which he supports 100 per cent.
“Let’s put egos aside and come together and form this broad-based Government and let’s help the people of St. Maarten. We should be mature enough to work it out in the best interest of St. Maarten,” he said, noting that if there is no national Government there will be early elections.
UP MP Franklin Meyers said there is no excuse for the incompetence of the incumbent Government.
“Government showed nothing but inability to deliver to get the country back. Yes, we have been able to clean up and yes, we have electricity, but it’s a false comfort, because the economy before Irma is not the same as before Luis so the economic recovery will take longer and that’s why I have decided to be part of this new government,” he said.
Meyers said an olive branch had been extended for a broad-based Government during a Parliament meeting after Irma, but there had been no response to the call. He gave Government a score of 3.5 for its performance.
UP leader MP Theo Heyliger said that during the first meeting after the hurricane he had chosen not to be critical of Government and had tried to get a direction from Government where the country was going.
He spoke about the coming together of the two largest political parties to form the Government of reconstruction after Hurricane Luis 22 years ago. At that time, he said, there had been trust amongst parties. To make a country move forward, Heyliger said, there must be trust among persons in the coalition, noting that he did not trust the present Government.
He said he did not see any trust in the present Government over the last weeks and months. He called Marlin “the most popular unpopular politician in the history of St. Maarten” and said if the PM “makes the mistake of calling elections; you might have the opportunity to prove me right. I don’t think the most popular unpopular politician should get away with that. There is no reason to call elections in December.”
MP Chanel Brownbill said that if he had jumped ship, he had done so for the people of St. Maarten, not for himself. He said a major hurricane had hit the country and politicians were just fighting amongst each other.
“I have to set an example. I am real and I want to see change and I can’t sit two, three years and collect a cheque,” he said. “I don’t blame anyone. Now, after the hurricane, all they do is bicker about who wants power and who don’t. I stepped up and made this decision for the betterment of St. Maarten. We don’t have funds. I don’t care if I don’t make it back in re-election, but in the end I stood up for the people of St. Maarten and that’s what counts,” Brownbill said, to applause from his new coalition partners.
