Dear Editor,
So Emmanuel gave out land on the ring road. So what! I will say it again, so what! Didn’t Claret Connor give out 10,000 square meters of land on the ring road to Chamber of Commerce when he was leaving office, although there was a motion from parliament instructing him not to do it? I don’t recall any motion as such being levied against Emmanuel. So until his last day in office, being January 15, 2018, he was authorized to issue land!
It has been said that Emil Lee provided the information to the media. Is it because he is angry that locals received a piece of land? Is it because it was not the moneybag-holding foreigners that they rather empower on this island? So I ask the United Democrats the following questions:
1. How many locals have you issued water rights to in the Simpson Bay Lagoon over the years?
2. Who gave out large stretches of beachfront to Italians, Iranians etc.?
3. Who sold Spanish Fort in Pointe Blanche to who some have called an international criminal?
4. Who sold out Fort Amsterdam to foreign investors?
5. Who revoked the works for the building of a basketball court in Great Bay so that it can be issued to an Italian?
6. Who gave away the land that Lee Roadside Grill was occupying to a foreigner?
7, Who gave the entire stretch of Simpson Bay beach to a foreigner?
Shall I go on?
So you found it fit to release the names of LOCAL young business persons to the entire world to get at Emmanuel. You have shown clearly that you do not have the interest of locals at heart. Locals should not receive anything in their own country. They should not get an opportunity. They should not own or benefit from the hard work their ancestors have done.
You, however, Emil Lee can come to St. Maarten and own a hotel. You can prosper off a country that you know nothing about. You can benefit from the hard work our ancestors have put into this country, but our own cannot according to you. You can speak your nice grammar and dress nicely and pass judgement on our people.
Tell the people of St. Maarten what role your company Atlas Construction Company will play in the construction of the new Hospital that you have been working on forever. Tell the people how you have cost the country 1 million in settlement costs.
I have had enough! I have had enough of the Democratic Party, the UP Party and definitely the United Democratic Party. I will not stand for my people to be treated like they do not matter in this country.
I say to Christophe Emmanuel BRAVO! BRAVO! and BRAVO! again. You have worked for this country. You are one of us. You have taken a serious stand to empower our own. I salute you for this. And I would like to tell every single St. Maartener who has received a parcel of land from you or has received work from you, to stand with their head high. This is OUR country and we must be able to prosper!
I say FINALLY there has come a politician who is willing to stand in the fire for his own!
I stand with you Mr. Emmanuel!
Name withheld on Author’s request
Editor’s note: For the record, The Daily Herald did not get information for the story referred to from Minister Lee. Neither did we choose to print the names of would-be recipients.
