Dear Editor,
We have read with much concern that immediate past minister Ted Richardson is the top candidate for the post of managing director of PJIAE N.V. Strangely enough, this subject was broached some months ago, and the minister in charge denied there was even such a consideration. To our amazement, we learnt that Richardson, whose claim to fame is that island hero and patriot Alec (the butcher) Richardson was his grandfather. We have witnessed the functioning of this good gentleman in the past government at the behest of his first cousin MP Master as minister of TEATT and his main contribution was to impose a moratorium on vendors’ permits, an activity that primarily serves the interest of the small man, while lifting the moratorium on casino licenses.
The jury is still out on whether that had to do with the fact that his first cousin MP Matser and the leader of the US party were out speculating with a casino license that by all accounts should have been withdrawn. After all, that is the way these outstanding licenses were handled for all other persons to whom they were granted. This is verifiable by the honourable Prime Minister.
Be that as it may, while we are informed that this good gentleman is the top candidate for the managing director post, we were strangely enough not informed who the other candidates were. Are we to believe that with all the people in active duty at SXM Airport not one could meet the requirements for the managing director’s post? It seems that for political convenience and personal enrichment we are willing to sacrifice the entire country and its future. A Moody AAA rating is better than country St. Maarten presently enjoys.
The SXM airport has recently acquired a multi-million dollar loan to expand and upgrade and it seems we are willing to risk it all for partisan politics with people who are either convicted or indicted for action alleged to be felonious.
The minister of TEATT, God bless her good soul, is an affront to what is actually taking place. The real threats to our well-being are the leaders supporting a coalition that puts themselves above the interest of the population. Just that we are sure of who we are referring to, they are PM Marlin, President of parliament S. Wescot-Williams, MP Richardson and independent S. Matser. The N.A has spent all its existence complaining about the modus operandi of the Wathey regime and more recently the overreaching of the UP.
Today we are able to see their real colours, absolutely no transparency, no indication of the candidates as was done in the TelEm case simply turning a blind eye to the coalition partner MP Matser, who supposedly owns a minister and his brother, who is the chair of the supervisory board to hand pick a director for our most successful and lucrative company and put our economy at super high risk.
Because I am convinced that there are candidates presently in house at SXM airport, I am willing to file a class action suit (kort geding van belanghebbenden) to avoid the dangers of defaulting and losing our preferred status.
Nepotism is wrong; it is a form of corruption and contrary to the press release. Richardson could not be the top candidate in a fair and open process. Corruption must stop and today is as good a time as any.
Elton Jones
