~ Says Roy Marlin will represent DP ~
PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Sarah Wescot-Williams is not likely to attend next week’s Kingdom Political Steering Group (PSG) meeting in Curaçao, as St. Maarten takes the final lap towards country status.
Wescot-Williams said a women’s conference was being held at the same time and she would not be able to travel with the St. Maarten delegation on Tuesday, February 9.
However, the former constitutional affairs commissioner said the DP would be represented by former commissioner Roy Marlin, who had deputised for her in constitutional affairs matters when the DP was in office. “So the DP will be represented at the meeting,” she told The Daily Herald in an invited comment on whether she would be attending.
The DP leader, who has been accused of not supporting the process since she has been in opposition, said she had been informed of the PSG meeting “a few days ago” and had indicated at that time that she couldn’t leave due to a women’s conference. She said Roy Marlin’s presence would ensure “continuity” in the delegation.
Wescot-Williams, who also has been accused of abandoning the last PSG meeting held in St. Maarten in December, said she had received the official invitation for next week’s meeting yesterday, Monday.
She said information on the constitutional change process was not forthcoming and she also had requested that an Island Council meeting, a meeting of the Permanent Committee on Constitutional Affairs (PCCA) or another forum be held to give all members of the Island Council an opportunity to be apprised of the developments associated with the dismantling process and to give their input, but she hadn’t received a response to her request.
Wescot-Williams said she wasn’t given any opportunity to give an input in the PSG talks and had requested in the past that preparatory meetings be held in St. Maarten prior to the steering group convening. The first PSG meeting for the year is scheduled in Curaçao for February 11. The St. Maarten delegation is expected to have bilateral talks with Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten a day ahead of the talks.
