Dear Editor,
Sometimes I think the governments of the last thirty years have intentionally not made sure that civics was not one of the focal subjects in the schools on St. Maarten. Consequently the people have permitted government to get away with derelict of duties all those years.
It seems as if the Minister of TEATT has also been bitten by that bug, because according to what I read the Minister did not hesitate to encourage bus drivers to determine the bus routes and also look for an adequate spot to put down a bus terminal. WOW! Mr. Bannis in his limited view of how government should operate has done much more than what government should be doing. Sorry to say that is exactly what those people who earn the big bucks are paid to do.
They should not let so called amateurs fool around with projects concerning the whole population as well as tourists. The TEATT Minister should not have fooled those bus drivers into letting them believe that they are the authority in public transportation, which should be set aside for St. Maarteners in the first place any way. I hope that “company-owner” agrees with me in this case. The next thing would be, if things do not go well the Minister will say: "Not me, the bus drivers." And should I be surprised if the VROMI Minister permits them to lay out bus stops? Even if the Ministers concerned do not know, their legal staff should tell them that they are committing boo boos.
All of what is taking place in public transportation these days should have been in the works since 10-10-'10. Drastic changes should have been made in the public transportation ordinance and a transition period should have been implemented to regulate the compensation for certain permit holders.
This should not be difficult because real figures would come to light and the rightful taxes will be paid also. By now so many people know of the wrong things that have been going on in public transportation and who were and are still involved. I do not believe that the Minister concerned is of the opinion that giving it a quick fix before elections is the way to go about regulating the public transportation.
It cannot work. It has been and continues to be proven daily that bus drivers do not give service to the public, but are hustling to avoid each other from making a dollar. Should we really trust people with an attitude like that to fix our public transportation? Mention is made of drivers learning the history of St. Maarten.If these jobs were set aside for St. Maarteners, would not the history of St. Maarten have already been taught to them in school?
The Prime Minister continues to permit his fellow ministers to govern in this unprofessional manner. Has all of the integrity and fraud predicament not taught them to be better safe than sorry? Commissioner Elton Jones for years had a great plan for our public transportation system, but again “there was nothing in it for me” and the powers that be did not cooperate to have it carried out. We need a complete revised transportation law, which will give back the reigns to government and implement a transition period so that eventually public transportation would be back in the hands of the public. Election year or not, it is time for the public to be able to make good use of what belongs to the public. Especially the seniors.
