Dear Editor,
My phone was inundated on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, with the recording of an interview that involved former Member of Parliament (MP) Romain Laville. As I watched, I wondered why does character seems to be secondary or even irrelevant, when someone is placed in a position to defend his or her behaviour. As he glorified himself, several questions came to mind, but I will focus on just a few.
If the former MP is so qualified (of which I’m not doubting), how come he was not appointed in the capacity of chief executive officer at Port St. Maarten in 2021? And, why is he not working with the NRPB [National Recovery Program Bureau – Ed.], if his expertise is so valuable to the organisation and country? This is a question that I wished an MP would have asked during the discussion in parliament last week.
I’m curious to know when was the company formed? When did the bid take place for the new mental health facility in order for his company to have won it? The timeline is critical because Minister Richinel Brug’s request for advice from Legal Affairs was prepared and dispatched in less than a month being in office. That was super-fast, seeing that the minister was in the learning phase of his ministry and the workings of government.
When Mr. Laville claimed that he financed the URSM [Unified Resilient St. Maarten Movement] party, lots of unanswered questions flooded my mind. Was this party conceived by him and his spouse and then they invited the board members and the candidates to join? Because, the president of the board could finance this party 10 times over. Why would he be the financier of a party that belongs to someone else or a group of persons? Was there a trade-off for being the financier? What are we not seeing?
I’m really curious to know who the original founders were. This is important, because it will clarify a lot of misconceptions of what is happening to the URSM party. It was quite interesting to see how he defended Rollocks Jr., when the party did not accept him to fill the position as a minister. The amount of votes he received and all kinds of reasons were stated to substantiate why this young man should have been given the opportunity to serve as a minister.
What caught my attention the most was when Romain Laville claimed that Rollocks Jr. pushed the party non-stop before the elections of January 11, 2024. Was that his initiative or former MP Laville’s? Because, when Rollocks Jr. backed out, the former MP was quick to push forward his school friend and long-time buddy, parliamentarian elected, Richinel Brug. Why? What is Mr. Laville’s real position in the USRM party?
Maybe I won’t get the answers to these questions. What I do know is that a leopard does not change its spots. Here’s my proof. On Monday, August 29, 2016, I penned an article entitled, “Twins of deception.” It was directed to MP Romain Laville at the time and another MP. I stated that, “More and more, politicians are piercing the integrity of this community because they profit from their ability to chatter skilfully. When will the guilt become too much for them to keep quiet?”
I continued, “Even when their reputation is under severe scrutiny, they still fail to understand that the true individual is revealed through their conduct. And, they have neglected the fact that lack of evidence is not the same as proof of evidence.” I concluded by saying, “These are the types of politicians who have used the people’s desperation for change to funnel their interests. They will never change because people do not go contrary to their nature. Time is the factor that will extract their true character!”
As I reminisce on 2013 (13 years prior), who can forget when Mr. Laville stood up in parliament and instructed the then Minister of Tourism Ted Richardson to hire anybody he wants? Then, he cautioned the Council of Ministers that he will be walking the halls of the government building to see if they were carrying out their duties. Finally, he dared any minister and fellow MPs to touch him. No one with good intentions behaves that way.
During the same period, another MP declared on air that it’s he, another MP and former MP Romain Laville run the government and not the then Minister of Justice. People, go back to the tape and draw your conclusion on what took place after the elections of January 11, 2024; August 19, 2024 and up until present.
Friday, May 29, 2026 parliamentary deliberation to dismiss Minister Richinel Brug did not come as a surprise to many, because anything that started wrong, will end up wrong. It was a sad moment to have witnessed another political miscarriage – one that was orchestrated by his own buddy – a confidant, who remains hell bent of putting self above country.
Joslyn Morton
