Governor Eugene Holiday (left) shaking the hand of Chris Wever (right), St. Maarten’s new VROMI minister.
HARBOUR VIEW--Governor Eugene Holiday administered the oath of office to Chris Wever on Friday, August 30. With that, Wever is now officially the Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI.
During the ceremony, Holiday advised Wever and his colleague ministers that the successful rebuilding of a sustainable and resilient St. Maarten will depend on the degree to which they work together. That is why article 39 of the constitution requires that the Council of Ministers meet, deliberate and take decisions to promote the unity of government’s overall policy, Holiday said.
Holiday congratulated Wever and wished him wisdom and strength, both individually and together with his colleagues, as he seeks to meet his constitutional responsibility to the people of St. Maarten.
“I feel good, but I know there is a lot to be done … to make sure St. Maarten rebuilds and continues to rebuild,” Wever said on Friday.
When asked what are some of the first things he wants to do as the VROMI minister, Wever said, “I would like to assess the internal [workings – Ed.] of VROMI. I want to have meetings together with the SG [VROMI’s Secretary-General] and department heads, because often we look at the issues what’s happening on the outside, but to fix what’s happening on the outside, we need to fix what’s happening on the inside, if there are any issues.”
