Dear Editor,
My brothers and sisters ... as this New Year dawns, many face it with slumped shoulders and downcast eyes because we are still feeling the shockwaves of disasters just past – both natural and manmade like physical blows.
How can we not when workers who have given their all for years are being asked by companies to either agree to a pay cut or go home permanently? Any way you slice it they are going home with less money than their agreed upon wages.
How is it that in the period preceding Hurricane Irma, when these companies enjoyed significant profits the powers that be never suggested raising the wages of the workers to directly reflect their profits? Yet today these workers, who have the same financial obligations they had before Hurricane Irma and in some cases more, are expected to show gratitude for being deprived of half their salary when they need it most. I can see how in a situation like that it may be difficult to find the strength to face the coming year with anything but slumped shoulders.
There are thousands of people and more who lost their roofs and are wondering when will they receive some type of assistance. We have learnt that the government has awarded the contract to a company to start the roof repair program and that the repairs should start very soon. But it behooves the government to contact those home owners who lost their roofs to let them know that help is on the way.
2018 is one of our defining moments here on St. Maarten. Yes, we have a right to be angry and you should be angry. Angry that our right to self-governance continues to be undermined by the Kingdom Government; that after working for years on so-called six-month contracts you are left with nothing when that company gets rid of you; angry that you seem to spend more time at the electoral polls than you do at the beach because it always seems that as soon as you learn the names of the new ministers they have been booted out and a new set coming.
This New Year 2018 is, as I have said, a defining moment for us. It is up to us what we choose to do with this justified anger we feel particularly when we look at the daunting task of rebuilding. We must take this anger and channel it into passion to keep on fighting to not roll over and play dead because the truth is that even if we have not made the progress we set out to in our respective areas, most of us can look ourselves in the mirror and admit “I made some headway.” The truth is that when things are at their worst is when you are called upon to be your best.
There has been much talk about the 550 million euros in Dutch aid. There is nobody against the aid. This aid is necessary to rebuild St. Maarten stronger and better than ever, it must move this country forward financially and economically. As we enter this New Year we must stay focused and use this opportunity to develop our country in a manner that reflects our culture. We must develop a plan as to how we really want our capital Philipsburg to look in the future.
Our people must play a pivotal role in this development and any other way is unacceptable – no longer will we sit by and have decisions made for us and be relegated to the status of observer. We expect that a part of that aid would be allocated to provide low interest rate loans; a program to convert cruise passengers to stay over guests; the establishment of a loan and mortgage guarantee program to help rebuild our economy including agriculture and to set up programs to eradicate poverty on the island.
Thirdly, the much needed hospital will be built thus allowing more specialists to be available to our people resulting in less people having to travel abroad for medical reasons. Huge financial savings and better health care will be derived making St. Maarten a medical tourism destination.
The allocation of funds for our educational infrastructure is of utmost importance especially that of the University of St. Maarten. The USM should never have to go through what it went through in 2017.
We had no input into whether we got battered by Hurricane Irma but we can all choose to let St. Maarten rise from the ashes. It will take all of us to pull this off so it’s time to square those shoulders and look 2018 – henceforth the year we rebuilt – in the eye. This is a golden opportunity for us to build better homes for our people and eliminate the construction of shacks forever. We must work with private land owners to establish the public and private partnership program assisting succession property owners to build affordable low income homes.
The writing is on the wall. This is our time to rebuild St. Maarten including its people once again to become the leaders in their country financially and economically. While it is understandable to feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task that lies before us, let’s ask ourselves “are we less noble than our sires?” We are St. Maarten and together we have always been strong so let’s be strong together again.
Today, I am making myself available on the list of the NA to you the people in the upcoming election on February 26, 2018, to serve you as a Member of Parliament of St. Maarten.
Citizens of St. Maarten please allow my family and I to wish you and your family a very prosperous New Year 2018. May God bless this Island Nation, St. Maarten and its’ people as we move it forward, stronger and better than ever.
Lenny Priest
